ELAINE PU/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
With Arielle,love,Daniel, Kami and Kristin LUCY HANDY & ZOORIEL TAN, Design Editors KATELYN HADLEY & CAROLINE KRAMER Photography Editors MIA RUSSO & ARIELLE FEUERSTEIN, Templating Editors EMILY LU, Editor-in-Chief EMILY GAO & BRIAN WANG, Advertising and Finance Directors PRODUCTION EDITORS BUSINESS DIRECTORS SUBMISSIONS: We welcome letters and guest columns. All submissions must include the author’s name and affiliation with Dartmouth College, and should not exceed 250 words for letters or 700 words for columns. The Dartmouth reserves the right to edit all material before publication. All material submitted becomes property of The Dartmouth. Please email submissions to editor@thedartmouth.com. LAUREN ADLER & ANDREW SASSER, N ews Executive Editors AMY PARK, Publisher MIA RUSSO, Production Executive Editor ARIELLE FEUERSTEIN, DANIEL MODESTO, KRISTIN CHAPMAN & KAMI ARABIAN , Issue Editors
Skiing, Squash and ’Sconset — What is Belonging? 27
Just as the College has evolved, you too will grow here. Our writers reflect upon their journeys throughout all stages of their college lives — from first finding their roots as a freshman to reflecting on how things have changed, entering this school year as a senior. As one writer explores, it can be hard to thrive here at first, but we are confident that you will adapt to the newfound challenges and learn to flourish. Your lives will soon take root here, and we’re so excited to watch you bloom. Welcome home ’26s!
Your First Prerequisite of Dartmouth: The ABCs 32
Lane: Go Your Own Way 22
From Orozco to Frost: A guide to public art at Dartmouth 18-19
Photo Essay: Planting New Seeds 31
Gart: Dis-Orientation 23
Allen: Spencer’s Declassifed Queer Survival Guide 22
When the Bubble Pops: A Senior’s Perspective 26
Opinion
Editors’ Note
How We Did It: Academic Advice from Students 28
Tips to Finding Your ‘Sweet Spot’ Among Study Spaces 30
First-Year Trips maintains traditions, grow 8 College’s of-campus study programs undergo change 9 Q&A with new Hanover town manager Alex Torpey 12 Students, locals share best Upper Valley fall spots 12-13
As you take your first steps onto the Green, we hope you feel the energy in the air. We are all so excited that you’ve finally arrived, and we can’t wait to meet you. Like the many distinct shades of red, orange and yellow leaves beginning to emerge as we head from summer into fall, you are all uniquely talented, accomplished individuals. While Dartmouth’s campus and the Upper Valley may seem unfamiliar at first, we know you will find your place among the many students who have come before you.
First matriculated Dartmouth women, 50 years later 4 Q&A with outgoing College President Phil Hanlon 5 NH politics keeps voters and legislators engaged 6 Native and Indigenous studies department expands 7
Your arrival coincides with many milestones at the College. This year, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the matriculation of Dartmouth’s first coed class, the establishment of the Native American Program and the founding of the Black Alumni of Dartmouth Association. The College planted these seeds of change half a century ago, and you are stepping onto campus as we look back on their growth. Dartmouth has come a long way since its founding in 1769, particularly in the last 50 years. This special issue delves into the ways in which the College’s reforms, implemented long before any of us made this campus our home, have come to fruition today.
Arts
Organic Farm ofers agricultural, food system learning 13 Students workers fnd community within jobs 14
A history of the greatest successes in Big Green football 18
Mullins: Overcommit to Yourself 24
Dear Class of 2026,
A cappella at Dartmouth: A real-life ‘Pitch Perfect’? 21
Sports
KATELYN HADLEY/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
Dartmouth is not Perfect, but it’s Home 29-30
Table of Contents
News
Mirror
A guide to club sports try-outs, competition and more 15 Varsity athletes set goals for fall, highlight team culture 16
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022THE DARTMOUTH FRESHMAN ISSUE 2022PAGE 2
Join The Dartmouth! 3
A sneak peak at fall’s Hop productions 20
Falling Into Place 29
Kim: Organize Our Way Out 23
Opinion & Cartoon
Multimedia
BUSINESS
The Dartmouth’s podcast serves as an affiliate to the paper’s daily news. In addition to campus-specifc conversations such as breaking news and student spotlights, this podcast hopes to investigate relevant college and nationwide issues. Members of the staf will collaboratively produce, host and publish the show, as well as determine topics and guests. As the frst of its kind, the podcast team will be shaping an important piece of The D for years to come.
The templating section also houses The Dartmouth’s crossword! Anyone is welcome to apply to try their hand at crossword construction — no experience necessary!
The fnance and sales staf oversees revenue generation for the paper. The staf is in charge of selling ads across the variety of advertising channels the newspaper has to ofer. Students build long-term client relationships to create mutually benefcial advertising packages and plans. The team works closely together to develop forwardlooking strategies and promotions. This staf is currently working on expanding beyond the Upper Valley and exploring national partnerships to advertise in The Dartmouth, presenting an exciting opportunity for students to engage with national businesses and partners.
Business Development
From conducting original surveys to visualizing data to complement our reporting, the data visualization team works with a variety of programs, including Qualtrics, R and Stata, to bring numbers to life.
Our opinion section gives columnists and community members a platform for lively debate on relevant campus and nationwide issues. Recent pieces have taken a stance on the College’s COVID-19 policies, climate change and the severe housing shortage on campus. Opinion also encompasses our comic section, where student cartoonists can use art as an avenue to comment on campus and popular culture. (Check out the “Badly Drawn Girl” series by Mindy Kaling ’01 for a notable example.)
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Themultimediateamtakesjournalism
People are often surprised to learn that The Dartmouth is entirely studentrun and fully independent, receiving no funding from the College. In fact, The Dartmouth is the largest student-run business in Hanover, ofering students an unparalleled level of real-world experience. The business side of our staf works to ensure that the paper’s editorial content can reach its intended audience and remain an independent, unbiased source of information. Students with a wide range of interests can fnd a place in one of the various sections comprising the business staf.
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The opinion section is also the home of Verbum Ultimum — weekly in-house editorials published by The Dartmouth Editorial Board. The Editorial Board consists of several opinion columnists, the opinion editors, the executive editors and the editor-in-chief.
Located on the second foor of Robinson Hall — afectionately known as Robo — The Dartmouth’s ofces buzz with reporters typing stories, business staf selling advertisements, photographers editing shots and editors providing guidance and banter. As America’s oldest college newspaper — founded in 1799 — we have undergone many changes over the past two centuries, and we continue to iterate upon and improve our practices every day. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, The D published daily, and now, we’re back in person, writing articles, producing videos and posting regularly to social media accounts. Our website draws tens of thousands of visitors monthly, and with over 200 students on staf, The Dartmouth is one of the largest organizations on campus. We take pride in seeking the truth, and we are fully independent from the College.
Data Visualization
Sports
Templating, Layout & Crossword
of business-related endeavors would be a good ft for this staf.
Software
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022 THE DARTMOUTH FRESHMAN ISSUE 2022 PAGE 3
BY The Dartmouth Senior Staff
The D’s weekly print schedule means that Thursday nights are an especially exciting time in Robo. Members of our layout staff learn and use InDesign software — no prior experience necessary! — and work directly with the executive editors to arrange stories and visuals into the print version of the paper you can pick up and read every Friday.
Engagement is the newest section of The Dartmouth, created in 2019 to respond to the ever-evolving landscape of journalism and media. Our engagement
The business development staff works closely with the publisher of the paper to manage a diverse array of business initiatives. Past initiatives involve brainstorming and implementing alternative revenue streams such as creating and selling a cofee table book of the newspaper’s archives, building a fundraising campaign, pursuing new strategic partnerships for the paper and exploring ways to increase our online footprint as the paper emphasizes its virtual formats. Students who are interested in economics or fnance and are willing to learn quickly about a variety
Finance & Sales
The D’s arts and entertainment section highlights creative endeavors at the College, covering everything from performances and exhibitions at the Hopkins Center for the Arts to new movie reviews. Arts also features profles on the College’s own artistic talent — such as student playwrights, musicians and painters — and features student reviews of albums, books, flms and more!
team works to package and deliver our content on a variety of diferent online social media platforms, translating print stories for online viewership and working to consider how digital mediums can serve as platforms for storytelling. Interested in building our social media presence or newsletter writing? Join Engagement!
NewsEDITORIAL
The news section keeps up with the pulse of our community, informing campus and our broader audience with happenings from all corners of the College. When news happens at Dartmouth, the community looks to The D for the important details. In recent months, we’ve covered topics such as
Our growing software staf support the paper’s digital presence. The team has recently coded and developed a mobile app for the paper, available now on the Apple and Android app stores. Software Staf at The D troubleshoot issues with our website and maintain our mobile app to ensure that we continue delivering exceptional editorial content to our readers.
Podcast
the impacts of COVID-19 policies and outbreaks on students and staf, the efects of national politics and events on the lives of students and the evolution of sexual assault and misconduct policies at the College. More investigative pieces, on topics such as the cutting of study abroad programs and analyses of the College’s budget, allow us to dig deeper into campus issues and incorporate innovative techniques such as data visualization in the process.
If you have questions about the Editorial staf, feel free to email our editorin-chief at editor@thedartmouth.com. If you have questions about the Business staf, please reach out to our publisher at publisher@thedartmouth.com.TheDartmouthwelcomes you to Hanover, and we hope to see you in our ofces soon enough! Keep an eye on your blitz for information about our inperson open houses and our applications, available online now at thedartmouth. com on the “Join Us” page and due Friday, Sept. 16 at 11:59 p.m.
Covering both club and varsity sports, the sports section keeps the Dartmouth community up to date with Big Green athletics. In the past year, we’ve ramped up our sports news coverage, showcasing profles of players and teams, coverage of Dartmouth Athletics controversies and a number of regular columns by dedicated student journalists who also happen to be sports afcionados. Now that sports are truly back, we’re excited to get back on the feld with players and provide top-notch coverage of Dartmouth teams.
Both the business and editorial staf ofer a wide range of learning opportunities to build valuable skills and to work alongside diligent and creative peers. Mentorship is an invaluable component of working at The D, and you can often find upperclassmen giving advice to underclassmen on classes, job interviews, campus social life and everything in between. We pride ourselves on our learning environment — many members of our editorial board had their frst experience in journalism at The D, going on to develop real-world skills in communication, management and editing. With a great network on campus and beyond, the D is a great place to gain practical skills while building lasting relationships. Our alumni have gone on to win Pulitzer Prizes, write for publications such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal and hold positions at elite fnance and consulting frms.
Arts
Editorial isn’t just about the written word. Our reporting would not be complete without the hard work of our photographers and graphic designers, whose visuals complement each story we publish. Photographers at The Dartmouth give our readers a visual perspective on campus news, capturing events and scenes across campus and featuring them in print as well as online through our website and social media. Our design staf works to create visually appealing illustrations, covers, and infographics for all our sections, especially Mirror and Arts.
and storytelling of the page to engage our viewers. We deliver content through various media formats, including a mix of graphics, sound and video content. Our approach is continually evolving, but the multimedia section currently produces video interviews, spotlights, live streams, podcasts and even a news broadcast show. Whether you’re an aspiring designer, an experienced video editor or a budding newscaster, the Multimedia section has a place for you!
The Mirror, our weekly magazine published every Wednesday, takes a critical look at campus culture through both long-form features and more lighthearted refections. In addition to photo essays, regular senior columns and “Through the Looking Glass” refection pieces, some of the Mirror’s recent work includes examinations of taboos, dating culture and religion at Dartmouth.
Digital media and analytics focuses on The Dartmouth’s social media and online presence. The social media team develops and implements social media strategy on all platforms, while the analytics team works on boosting the readership of the paper and internal development through data and analytics-focused research and surveys. Staf members interested in UI/UX brainstorm ways to make our website more aesthetic and interactive for readers.
The strategy staf works in teams to solve the paper’s most pressing problems and serves as the internal consultants for The Dartmouth. Where should we be distributing the paper every week? How should we redesign the website? How do we efectively recruit and retain talented staf? The Strategy Staf is a great place to work closely with peers to unpack the big picture questions involved in managing, developing and expanding a business.
Mirror
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undergraduates, 86% of faculty and 81% of alumni who graduated between 1960 and 1969 supported coeducation, according to College data. Ultimately, these support groups prevailed: After two days of deliberation, the board — spurred by both “agitation by students” and “very vocal” women faculty — voted in favor of coeducation, Carini said.
The Road to Coeducation
Fritz Hackett, who played varsity feld hockey and tennis, agreed that sports provided “a way to have a critical mass of women,” while Beattie referred to her rowing teammates as her closest friends. Waugh Page added that joining the ski team was a highlight of her Dartmouth experience.“Thatwas a great move because we had a really close group of women,” Waugh Page said. “We had this fantastic mentor as a coach. We could sit around her ofce and chat. She was like our mother, and it was a really nice group — and a group that I still get together with almost annually.”
Excelling in the Classroom
Women also excelled academically, which Baline Kleinman said created a “culture shock” as the men realized that they “did not exist solely with makeup on.” In 1973 — the frst year in which women graduated from Dartmouth — 51% of the women and only 20% of the men graduated Phi Beta Kappa, according to the timeline. Three years later, the Class of 1976 — the frst fully coeducational class — graduated a woman valedictorian, Doran added.
Jim Beattie ’76 said that the women were “probably smarter” than the men because “they were here for the academics.” Carini added that the women were motivated and “knew
First matriculated Dartmouth women share experiences and lessons learned, 50 years later
Lifelong Lessons
Many women reported a positive academic experience. Hoagland Hunter said that classroom atmospheres were “joyful and accepting,” while Beattie said “the faculty did a remarkable job of blending the genders.” In the few instances in which professors did make rude remarks, Kepes Jeton said that male students stood up for their female classmates.“Ihadtwo or three times where the professor would turn to me and say, ‘What is the women’s point of view on this?’” Kepes Jeton said. “And I didn’t even have to answer. Guys in the class spoke up to the professor and said, ‘That is such a stupid question.’”
Once they arrived, the frst women were met by a “male-dominated” social scene, according to Sara Hoagland Hunter ’76. She explained that the campus was “fraternitycentral” — the frst sorority, Sigma Kappa sorority, was not established until 1977 — and there was “no place that women [had] to gather.”
Women from the Class of 1976 said their experiences at Dartmouth left them with valuable lessons. Kepes Jeton said that Dartmouth “taught [her] to be fearless,” while Valar said she learned to stand up for herself. Doran added that Dartmouth prepared her to navigate a maledominated workforce.
Fritz Hackett added that her time at Dartmouth spurred a “tremendous amount of learning and growth.”
“I will say we were always welcomed, but I never really felt at home in a fraternity,” Doran said.
“From’79. my perspective, the overwhelming story of the ’76 women is how we adapted to, thrived in and then genuinely loved what we
On Nov. 21, 1971, College President John Kemeny announced that the Board of Trustees had voted in favor of coeducation. The following September, 177 female frst-year students and 74 female transfers matriculated at the College — becoming the frst group of women to fully enroll at Dartmouth, which historically had been an all-male institution.Overthe next four years, female members of the Class of 1976 experienced various hardships on campus — hostile fraternity basements, bricks through dorm windows, crude remarks in the campus dining hall and derogatory songs at their expense, to name a few. But the frst women were also embraced by an “intense and wonderful community,” according to Ann Fritz Hackett ’76, the frst alumna trustee of the College. Now, ffty years after the start of coeducation, former vice president of Alumni Relations Martha Beattie ’76 said she wants to change the narrative of coeducation.
The Dartmouth Staff
Although women were allowed in fraternities, they were occasionally met by antagonistic or inappropriate behavior. Stefanie Valar ’76 recalled an incident in which a fraternity brother entered the basement “wearing nothing but sneakers,” while Kipp Barker ’76 remembered the infamous Hums incident, in which a fraternity won the Green Key parody competition with their derogatory song, “Our Cohogs” — a derogatory play on “coeds,” the nickname given to women students.
consider to be our college,” Waugh Page said. “Almost all the women I knew in that frst year felt privileged to be at Dartmouth and proud to be in that frst class. Obviously, there are little hiccups along the way, but my overwhelming sentiment is that it was a really positive experience for me.”
“I can’t say enough about the fact that there were a lot of incredibly welcoming men across all the classes,” Baline Kleinman said. “The juniors and seniors in [Butterfeld Hall] were, across the board, just so happy that we were there and were very kind to us.”
“I have no regrets about anything at Dartmouth, good or bad, because I learned from all of them,” Doran said. “What I learned [at Dartmouth] about standing my ground has done me a whole lot of beneft throughout my entire career, and it’s something that I’m grateful for that I don’t notice when I’m the only woman in a room.”
Despite these incidents, most women from the Class of 1976 reported an overall positive experience, according to Ann Waugh Page ’76, Med
“It was much more than just a dorm experience,” Fritz Hackett
Hostilities also extended beyond Greek spaces. Kepes Jeton said some men would rate women’s physical appearances as they walked into the dining hall, while Fritz Hackett said a brick was thrown through her dorm window during her frst week on campus. Naomi Baline Kleinman ’76 added that men came to her residence hall to punch out the glass in the back door, kick in women’s trash cans and set their memo boards on fre.
said. “I remember the extraordinary friendships and spirit and camaraderie that we shared … It was always wonderful in those early days of coeducation to be able to come back to the dorm at the end of the day and know that 75 amazing women would be there.”
Hoagland Hunter agreed, calling her experience “magical” and her friendships with both men and women “absolutely terrifc.” Baline Kleinman added that there were more hostile alumni than men on campus.
Although the Dartmouth social scene was still dominated by fraternities, the women of 1976 found their place on campus. According to Carini, many women turned to athletics, which provided an arena to “excel on their own, without competition from men.”
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022THE DARTMOUTH FRESHMAN ISSUE 2022PAGE 4
Although coeducation ofcially began in 1972, the College had previously hosted women for various co-educational weeks and exchange programs, according to the anniversary webpage. In Kemeny’s inaugural address on March 1, 1970, the new president expressed his desire to transition to full coeducation, calling it “one of [the College’s] most urgent tasks.” The next academic year, 1971-1972, would be the last year of the exchange programs before his wish came to Kemeny’sfruition.drive to implement coeducation was met with hesitation by older alumni and the Board of Trustees, according to College archivist Peter Carini. In fact, among those who graduated between 1883 and 1925, only 46% supported coeducation. And though the board knew that admitting women “was on the horizon,” Carini said members on the Board of Trustees expected the transition to take fve or six years — not less than two years — after Kemeny assumed ofce.
Beyond athletics, Barker said that women were active in campus activities. Waugh Page said she was involved in the Dartmouth Outing Club, for example, while Hoagland Hunter said she had a lead role in a drama production and co-founded the frst female a cappella group, the Dartmouth“WomenDistractions.participated pretty fully in the extracurricular life,” Doran added.According to Baline Kleinman, women also found community within their residence halls. While Valar said she enjoyed living in a coeducational residence hall — explaining that her male neighbors were “protective” of the women — Fritz Hackett said that her all-female building, North Massachusetts Hall, helped foster strong female friendships.
Making Space for Women
Women practce in a rowing barge in the fall of 1972.
BY EMILY FAGELL
“I would love for the narrative to be changed, that [the College] was full of all these horrible-behaving males, and it was so tough for women,” Beattie said. “It was such a gift to be part of the making of this history. And there were so many men on campus that were incredible partners in making that history happen.”
“I felt like I was given an opportunity to understand a lot more about human nature, diversity and institutions going through enormous change than most people do at that phase and time of their life,” she said. “And [it taught me] to have the courage to fnd my voice and be authentic and be who I am and not shy away from opportunities.”
Though the November announcement came late in the college admissions process, women submitted their applications in droves. According to former trustee Nancy Kepes Jeton ’76, six of her classmates had already been accepted to Middlebury College, but they independently convinced the dean of admissions to suspend their early decision commitments there. Brewer Doran ’76, on the other hand, said she had “never wanted to go anywhere else.”
Support for coeducation was stronger among students, faculty and younger alumni — 71% of
what they were getting into” when they chose “They’reDartmouth.notshrinking violets,” Carini said. “They knew that things were going to be diferent here. Some of them may have found that the academic environment was easier than where they came from.”
To celebrate the 50th reunion of coeducation, the Class of 1976 has planned several on-campus and virtual events for the community this fall, which can be found on their webpage.
COURTESY OF MARTHA BEATTIE
Campus Culture
After 10 years at the helm of the College, what are your initial thoughts and reactions about retiring in June of 2023?
PH: I would say to them: Embrace everything Dartmouth has to offer. It’s a liberal arts classroom experience, but it’s
PH: If you go back to my first speeches to the faculty, there was one on Nov. 4, 2013, and then there was one to the arts and sciences faculty later in November. They together laid out a 10-year vision for the institution. It was in delivering those speeches that I started off and said, “Okay, let’s pretend it’s 10 years from now, and I am delivering the State of the College address to you, the faculty –– what do I want to say about Dartmouth?”
My hope is that, after 10 years, we’ll say that as great as this decade was in advancing our academic excellence, the next decade will be even better.
that you face in leading higher educational institutions, that challenge has been seen before, and there are people that you can ask for advice who have been through it. You can learn from them; you’ve probably been through it yourself if you’re an experienced leader. COVID-19 was different. No one alive today had been through anything like that before. We knew so little at the start. We knew that it was highly contagious. We knew that it was lethal in many cases. During that first year, especially, we really were operating with very little understanding. Vaccines changed everything, so the last year we were able to be wide open, in person with everything and have some assurance that there would be very little risk of serious illness.
I laid out a vision for what I wanted to achieve, and among those things was that Dartmouth would become a magnet for talent, that we would significantly improve our competitiveness for the best and brightest faculty, students and staff. It was also that people would say some of the best work in the world was being done at Dartmouth, and that we would improve some of the things that have held us back in the past. In particular, when I started in 2013, high-risk behaviors in the student social scene were really holding us back. We needed to be more disciplined about resources, financial resources and budgeting, and we needed to do a much better job in raising external funding. I think we’ve advanced on all of those fronts.
The College announced at the end of July that Sian Leah Beilock will be the 19th president of the College. What will you be passing along to Beilock that you hope she will improve upon? What are your hopes for the future of the College?
After graduating from Dartmouth in 1977 with a degree in mathematics, Phil Hanlon returned to the College in 2013 to serve in his current role as president. Since 2013, Hanlon has led the College through initiatives such as Moving Dartmouth Forward and the global disruption of COVID-19. The College has also achieved several goals that Hanlon set out early in his term, including being elected to the Association of American Universities. The Dartmouth sat down with Hanlon to discuss how he believes the College has grown and changed since the start of his administration in 2013 and his goals for his last year as president.
PH: I think the first thing I’d say is that the last decade has been an historic decade for Dartmouth. If you look at the advances in our core academic mission of teaching, research and creative work, that academic advancement exceeds any prior decade in the College’s history by quite a bit. We are really leading in terms of academic excellence and in terms of the talent we’re bringing to campus, such as the admissions yield going from 50% to 73%, the increase in SAT averages, the recruitment of incredible faculty, our research expenditures have increased to become higher than 50% and our election to the Association of American Universities after 130 years of being the only Ivy League institution not in there. It’s just been an incredible decade of advancement, and I feel great about that. We really accomplished a lot together, and so that feels reallyYougood.cango to other areas too, like our diversity, equity and inclusion steps that we took, our impact in the world because of our willingness to take on some of the great issues facing humankind and to put in place the kinds of centers and institutes we need to do that, and then our campus communities and student experience. And we have an awesome successor named Sian Beilock. We have a ton of momentum that she’ll build on.
BY ADRIANA JAMES-RODIL
COURTESY OF THE OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS
The Dartmouth Staff
PH: I think — without a doubt — the most difficult challenge was COVID-19. With most challenges
I had always said that 10 years was the right amount of time. I firmly believe that, after 10 years, it’s great to get new energy and new ideas. I’m looking forward to helping the College excel in any way that I can and watching all the great things that happen on campus. I’m also looking forward to more time for Gail, my wife, and I to enjoy the outdoors and live a less stressful and exciting life.
In your announcement about stepping down, you
Since taking on the role of president, what have been your most memorable moments at the College — both good and bad — that may have sparked a change to College policy or prompted a new project? And what are some of the biggest lessons you have learned?
Q&A with outgoing College President Phil Hanlon
What were some of your initial goals when you took office? Have those goals been achieved? What obstacles did you face that may have hindered your progress?
I think, on the positive side, the 250th year celebration of the College in 2018 was just awesome because of the way the community gathered together around this milestone event and at some of the events we put on, like Greenlighting Day, when places across the world lit up green. That was really an uplifting reminder of why Dartmouth is so special.
seasoned. She’s dynamic. She is very smart. She’s going to figure out what her vision is, and what direction we’ll go from here. I do hope to work with her closely over the next 10 months or so on helping her understand Dartmouth and learn about the institution because, when you come in from the outside, there is always much to learn.
a heck of a lot more than that. There’s a unique way in which this Northwoods setting shapes the Dartmouth experience, so get out and enjoy the outdoors. If you’re coming from a warm climate, get into winter sports and try it out. The outdoors is just one aspect of the amazing amount of learning that goes on outside of the classroom — through student organizations, through athletics, through performance, through the Center for Social Impact, through the Magnuson Center, The Aegis and so many other activities to get involved in. Dive into all of that.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022 THE DARTMOUTH FRESHMAN ISSUE 2022 PAGE 5
As the last class under your presidency arrives at Dartmouth, what advice do you have for the incoming Class of 2026?
mentioned it was “the right time to pass the torch.” What prompted your retirement, and what are you looking forward to most in life after Dartmouth?PH:
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
Hanlon shared the goals he set at the beginning of his tenure.
PH: Sian is the terrific choice to be the next president. She’s a very accomplished academic. She does fantastic research in psychology and cognitive science. She’s been at great academic institutions, such as the University of Chicago and Barnard College, so she is very
to a third term.
As one of the country’s smallest swing states, New Hampshire occupies a unique position on the national political stage. Every four years, the Granite State receives attention for hosting the first presidential primary and candidates campaign across the state. Beyond highly-televised primary battles, though, New Hampshire is a state whose local, state and federal politics are one of the most “difcult to pigeonhole,” according to history professor Annelise Orleck.
With a notoriously centrist electorate and a large state legislature, legislators share that New Hampshire’s government and votng paterns are unparal leled in the rest of the naton.
district, Grafton 12, said that New Hampshire voters are “genuinely centrist” and cast their ballots for both Democrats and Republicans. New Hampshire holds the unique distinction of being the only state with a Republican governor and a Republican-controlled state legislature, while also having an entirely Democratic Congressional delegation.“Many, many people in the last election in New Hampshire disliked [former President] Donald Trump, and they liked [President] Joe Biden much more; and, they very much liked Governor Chris Sununu,” Muirhead said. “That used to be much more common in the country at large.”During the 2020 presidential election, Hanover overwhelmingly voted for Joe Biden, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. and Rep. Ann McLane Kuster, D-N.H., garnering 86.6%, 84.0% and 82.5% of the town’s vote, respectively. On the national scale, New Hampshire voters backed Biden, while on the gubernatorial level, they re-elected Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican,
“There is a signifcant minority of people in the state house who are elected to ofce, who are running under the GOP ticket, who really don’t believe in government as a structure and function at all,” Hakken-Phillips said. “It’s a huge problem, because when you have the Governor campaigning for these ‘Republicans’ who are really Free Staters, he is aligning himself with people who don’t believe … in the fundamental mission of democracy itself.”Controversial political conversations and upcoming elections are strong motivators for College organizers, Dartmouth Democrats president Gabi Rodriguez ’23 said. In a state like New Hampshire where most high-profle races are competitive, Rodriguez said political action work remains “a great privilege.”“Itisareally unique opportunity and … it doesn’t let you take anything for granted; it allows you to keep working,” Rodriguez said. “It really has transformed my political experience.”Representatives of the Dartmouth College Republicans did not respond to request for comment as of press time.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022THE DARTMOUTH FRESHMAN ISSUE 2022PAGE 6
“On the one hand, in national politics, New Hampshire has become increasingly blue in the last 30 years or so,” Orleck said. “However, on the local level … in terms of the state legislature, there are a sizable number of far-right members.”
BY TAYLOR HABER The Dartmouth Staff
According to its website, the Free State Project is a mass-migration movement and educational nonproft organization. Members of the movement, who are colloquially referred to as “Free Staters,” have been linked to unprecedented budget cuts for New Hampshire public education funds, according to the New York Times.
EMIL LIDEN /THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
Orleck said she believes New Hampshire residents’ split-ticket voting — when one selects candidates from multiple political parties — is aligned with the state’s traditions. Unlike in most other states, many New Hampshire Republicans embrace a moderate style of conservative politics which are largely confned to New England, sheSeparateadded. from voting trends, the style of New Hampshire state politics is unlike any other state government in the country, according to state representative Mary HakkenPhillips, D-Hanover. For one, the New Hampshire House of Representatives is the largest in the country, boasting 400 members — an
agenda.Hakken-Phillips added that the group of state lawmakers, who are largely aligned with the Free State Project, are “the existential threat to democracy that our state is actively engaged in fghting right now.”
According to government professor Russell Muirhead, recent voting trends in New Hampshire remain an outlier among broader national patterns. Muirhead, who is also a Democratic state legislator representing Hanover’s state house
More than just a primary: New Hampshire politics keeps voters and legislators engaged in local communities
average of roughly one legislator for every 3,500 Beginningpeople.inthe Revolutionary War era, the New Hampshire legislature sought to provide every town in the state with a local representative, Hakken-Phillips said. That tradition of retail politics has persisted in the present day, allowing for constituents to more easily connect with their legislators, she“Havingadded. a deep discussion with folks at dinner, or knocking on doors or running into someone at a town meeting is really just a cool experience here in New England that really is not repeated in diferent parts of the [country],” HakkenPhillipsWhensaid.local representatives are in Concord for the legislative session, however, partisanship has fared, according to Democratic state senator Sue Prentiss. Prentiss, a former mayor of Lebanon who now represents the town in the state senate, said she has observed a disconnect between the moderate labeling of Sununu’s administration and the bills which it has signed into law.“I think [Sununu]’s less of a stabilizing force than he’s perceived to be,” Prentiss said. After Democrats regained majorities in the state legislature in 2018, Sununu helped the Republicans win back seats by “invit[ing], support[ing], endors[ing] legislators that have actively worked to dismantle public education,” PrentissStatesaid.representative Sharon Nordgren, D-Hanover, said that Speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, Sherman Packard, R-Londonderry, is “under the thumb” of a small but critical faction of right-wing Republican lawmakers, without whom the majority cannot pass their legislative
The buildup to the 2020 election cycle also saw attempts by the New Hampshire legislature to restrict student voting through Senate Bill 3, which would have prohibited students who were living in the state “for temporary purposes only” from voting in elections. In April 2020, the New Hampshire Superior Court struck down SB 3.
legislators are actively hostile to [tribal sovereignty]. They would interfere with and even limit our ability to teach the things that we do [at Dartmouth]. This is a fght we should be in.”
Ahnili Johnson-Jennings ’23, copresident of Native Americans at Dartmouth, said that the leadership of NAD would like to increase the group’s political engagement by mobilizing for tribal sovereignty. She also said that during this upcoming year, she and her co-president Aaní Perkins ’23 would like to breathe new life into intracommunity student groups within NAD, such as reviving subgroups for queer Indigenous students and Indigenous living languages, as well as creating a group for Alaska Native students.“We’re focusing on bringing back a lot of things that fell apart, a lot of intra-community groups that we lost over the pandemic,” Johnson-Jennings said. “We’re wanting to see a unity — not one versus the other, but really trying to strengthen them all together and from Especiallywithin.”inthe aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has disproportionately hurt Indigenous communities, Johnson-Jennings said that the Native community at Dartmouth will take the 50th anniversary of NAIS as an opportunity for “Therevival.spring Powwow was a really great moment for the Native community on campus … We experienced a lot of loss and a lot of hurt during the pandemic,” Johnson-Jennings said. “So this fall and the rest of the year will be kind of a rebirthing moment — continuing that momentum that we experienced during the 50th Powwow celebration.”
“The study of Native peoples [at Dartmouth] means that for 50 years, we have been producing a bettereducated citizenry,” Duthu said. “It’s not just Native kids who have been better educated to understand their history and their place and their aspirations. It’s two generations of
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022 THE DARTMOUTH FRESHMAN ISSUE 2022 PAGE 7
Hueston acknowledged this issue, adding that one of her goals in the frst year of her tenure is investigating the causes for leadership turnover.
EMIL LIDEN /THE DARTMOUTH STAFF Sherman House is home to the Natve American and Indigenous studies department.
The relationship between Dartmouth and Native communities, however, is as old as the College itself. When Dartmouth was founded in 1769, its original charter made a commitment to “the education and instruction of Youth of the Indian Tribes in this Land.” Despite this promise, the College largely ignored its agreement for the next 200 years, until the College President at the time, John Kemeny, rededicated the institution to its original mission in 1972. As a result, Kemeny founded the Native American Program to assist Native students at the College and oversaw the development of the Native American studies program.
The NAIS department offers between 16 and 22 classes each year, teaching 500 to 600 students, according to Duthu. He also said that the department has seen a steady increase in the matriculation of Native frst-year students in recent years.
Jessica Meikle ’23 said that she has enjoyed seeing “how far the community has come” during her time at the College in terms of the increasing numbers of matriculated Native students. Meikle added that she applauded the advancements in academic resources available to the Native community.
Thesedevelopments havebeneftted both Native and non-Native students, according to Native American and Indigenous studies department chair Bruce Duthu ’80.
college students who have now had the beneft of understanding U.S. history so much better than their parents and grandparents ever did.”
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Native American studies program — now known as the Native American and Indigenous studies department — at Dartmouth.
Since that rededication, the feld of Native American studies at Dartmouth evolved to achieve department status in 2021, began recruiting more Indigenous students through the Indigenous Fly-In program and recently launched the Tribal Services and Solutions Project, a four-year pilot program aimed at connecting Dartmouth students with tribes to improve sovereignty, healthcare and economic development on tribal lands.
“[NAIS] fnally being established as a department has been really awesome because we were able to get our own fellowships, funding and things like that,” Meikle said. “Academic-wise, we have amazing professors in the program who ofer a lot of resources.”
issues on campus — for seven years, echoed concerns about the instability in NAP leadership as one of the greatest challenges that Dartmouth’s Native community faces. Warren, an active leader of the Santa Clara Pueblo tribe, said that Dartmouth’s alumni network could become an important resource for promoting Native student wellbeing on campus and passing on tribal knowledge.
For NAIS and history professor Colin Calloway, the Tribal Service and Solutions Project is a step towards a more mutualistic relationship between the College and Indigenous communities. Calloway said that this initiative is necessary in a political climate where Indigenous sovereignty is being actively infringed upon.
In addition to expansion of academic resources for Indigenous students, Mabelle Hueston ’86 was recently appointed as assistant director of the Native American Program. Hueston described her role as one that ensures students “thrive on campus and have all the help they need on the way to Whilegraduation.”similarin purpose to the general student afairs ofce, Hueston said that the Native American Program has unique responsibilities and goals due to historical racism against Indigenous students at Dartmouth. Dated traditions like the College’s Indian mascot and caricatures of Natives drinking “festered” at a time when Dartmouth was a majority-white, all-male school, according to Hueston. When the Native community began to grow after Kemeny’s recommitment to Dartmouth’s charter, Indigenous students took action against these intolerant practices.
“It can be difcult, especially for alums who had a mixed experience, to return to campus,” Warren said. “But we need to be a more proactive institution and embrace the role that alumni can have in Indigenous education. If students can be connected to alumni with traditional expertise and a range of diferent roles, the entire community stands to beneft from the strengthening of those ties.”
Looking forward, the NAIS department has other initiatives aimed at improving Indigenous student wellbeing on campus and promoting tribal sovereignty around the country. In May, the NAIS department announced the launch of the Tribal Service and Solutions Project as a part of the College’s The Call to Lead fundraising campaign.
“The next 250 years need to involve more collaboration and partnership with Native communities,” Calloway said. “We’re at a time where people in positions of power and state
Since their inception in 1972, Native and Indigenous studies, programming expand at Dartmouth
“The program was created when Native students here on campus were witnessing a lot of racism and bigotry and ignorance,” Hueston said. “They basically were fed up and they asked the College to understand what it’s like to be bombarded by these kinds of traditions and behaviors.”
BY CASSSANDRA THOMAS The Dartmouth Senior Staff
Alvin Warren ’91, who served as cochair of the Native American Visiting Committee — a committee of both Native and non-Native alumni that advises the College President on Native
While the NAP has made strides towards improving the wellbeing of Native students on campus, the ofce has experienced high turnover in directors in recent years that has led to what Meikle described as a lack of guidance for Indigenous students.
The Dartmouth Senior Staff
The Moosilauke Ravine Lodge is now one of two lodges used on First-Year Trips.
“Back in the day, Section A was basically just people from just outside of Boston, and they saw a very diferent Dartmouth from what really is Dartmouth,” Zhou said, noting that this is one of the changes he is “really excitedZhouabout.”said that cutting down the number of sections will also beneft students who participate in pre-orientation programs, such as international, Native and Indigenous or FYSEP students. An international student from Canada himself, Zhou said that his trip section was composed mostly of students in these programs, but with fewer and larger trip sections, these students will be more spread out and therefore able to meet other students who did not participate in the sameTheprograms.abilityto accommodate an increasingly large number of students has become an important aspect of Trips logistics, as the popularity of the program grew rapidly. According to College archivist Peter Carini, the frst round of Trips, held in 1935, hosted only about 30 students, but by the 1970s, about 50% of the incoming class participated in the program.
BY LAUREN ADLER
This attitude reflects a major shift from the original Trips, which rather than welcoming a broad array of incoming students, were mainly intended to enable the DOC — which was facing declining membership — to recruit outdoorsy students from the moment they set foot on campus. Carini said that the Trips of the 1930s were only hiking and camping trips, but by the 1970s, the DOC had also introduced biking and canoe trips. Today, the Trips program even includes non-outdoor trips, such as one that involves exploring local museums.
“Whether you are hiking somewhere three hours away from here or whether you’re staying very close to campus — like on Museum Exploration, for instance — that matters less to me than the people that you’re spending time with and the connections and relationships you’re able to build with your trippees, with your trip leaders and with croolings,” Kreisler said.
Kotz said that when he worked on Trips, the program sought to ensure that all interested students would be able to participate, even as it expanded rapidly. For example, Kotz said that Trips began to ofer fnancial aid opportunities such as free gear rentals. He also noted that while he was Trips director, he spent much of his time planning to make Trips accessible to a student in a wheelchair.
Another tradition that has stood the test of time is that of “raids,” which Kotz participated in when he worked on Trips and which Kreisler said are his favorite Trips tradition. During a raid, a small number of “croolings,” or Trips volunteers, will surprise a trip with a funny skit and then lead a small group discussion.
“I distinctly remember feeling a little bit out of place [on my trip]... and one of my trip leaders in particular did a really good job of difusing that and being really assuring in such a way that we weren’t extremely close friends my frst year, but I felt like I had someone in my corner,” Appleton said. “I think Questions from a Hat is
“I think raids are really amazing because they encapsulate Trips so perfectly, both the part of Trips that just has this outrageous, crazy energy, but also the need to pull that back and be vulnerable and be real people,” Kreisler said.
“I think we have gotten lots of fexibility and freedom coming of a couple years where we haven’t run Trips in the way that it’s looked in the past, which gives us a lot of freedom to move things around how we like,” First-Year Trips director Jack Kreisler ’22 said. “I think that is honestly a really big advantage for us — that we can make big changes.”
the football team and students with long-running summer internships.
“I remember being on Trips and being really self-conscious and nervous and being like, ‘what if I don’t seem cool dancing? What if people are judging me while I’m dancing?’” Zhou said. “But also I think as I’ve become an upperclassman [and] volunteered for Trips in various ways I’ve realized it’s a really great way for people to let loose and to know that people actually aren’t judging you. I don’t care how you dance. It’s just about having fun together.”While Carini said he is not sure when the Salty Dog Rag became a part of Trips, he suspects it may have been just after coeducation began at Dartmouth, and he believes that its implementation was “very consciously done” in order to promote further bonding of students on Trips together.
Kreisler and First-Year Trips associate director Brandon Zhou ’22 noted that in addition to several advantages presented by the Skiway Lodge — such as a large dining space, a convenient open area for dancing and its proximity to campus — incorporating a second overnight lodge location allows Trips to accommodate more students at once.
“It ramps up fairly quickly,” Carini said. “It’s even much quicker from the 70s to the According2000s.”toProvost David Kotz ’86, who was the director of Trips in 1985, by the 1980s, “well over 80%, and maybe 90%” of incoming students participated in the Trips program, with some notable exceptions being
“Many of those traditions were a way to get new students to bond and to acclimate with each other by doing silly stuf that would break down their inhibitions and their worries and their self consciousness,” Carini said. “You get people to come on these trips and they bond together.”
Since the program began nearly 90 years ago, First-Year Trips has become a quintessential experience for incoming freshmen, helping to bond generations of Dartmouth students. But while Trips may be one of the best examples of a shared Dartmouth experience, that experience has changed greatly over the decades as the program evolved. Even in recent years, Trips has implemented broad programming and logistical changes making it look completely diferent than it did just a few years ago.
traditions of the program date back decades. For example, Kotz said that one of his favorite memories from when he participated in Trips was hearing the story of Doc Benton — a fabled fgure said to live on top of Mount Moosilauke — which is still told today.
really exemplary of that.”
‘I don’t care how you dance’: Trips maintains traditions, grows
Though the structure and size of Trips have varied over time, some
One of the most notable recent changes to Trips programming is the addition of the Skiway Lodge to many trips. Prior to the pandemic, every trip would spend the night at the Moosilauke Lodge, but beginning last year, trips are now split between the two locations, with half of each trip section staying overnight at each lodge.“It’s really cool to allow more opportunities for students to make connections to different places Dartmouth touches around the Upper Valley, and I think the Dartmouth Skiway has been a really impactful space for a lot of people,” Kellen Appleton ’20, First-Year Trips program coordinator for the Outdoor Programs Ofce and a former Trips director, said.
One tradition that is slightly newer is Questions from a Hat, also called the “hat game,” in which trippees are able to anonymously place written questions about Dartmouth in a hat for their trip leaders to answer. Kotz said the tradition was not present during his time on Trips, but Appleton said that it was “considered an old thing” when she went on Trips in 2016.
back in Hanover, not ofcially moving into their dorms until a few days later.
“We really tried hard to encourage and enable everyone to go,” he said.
PAULA MENDOZA /THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022THE DARTMOUTH FRESHMAN ISSUE 2022PAGE 8
Cutting down the number of sections from recent years — there were 10 sections of Trips as recently as 2019 — will also allow Trippees in earlier sections to meet a more diverse group of incoming students, according to Zhou. When the Trips program was held with more sections over a longer period of time, students who lived nearby in New England would be assigned to earlier trips and then return home once their groups arrived
Because there will be only four Trips sections this year, there will be roughly 250 Trippees and their trip leaders per section — which “means that the [Moosilauke Lodge] just can’t accommodate that many people, for dinner or for the overnight,” Zhou said.
While the program has evolved over the decades, it seems that at least that aspect of Trips has stayed the same.
A tradition that has evolved over time is that of dancing on Trips — which Zhou said is his favorite tradition from the program. Some dances, such as the Salty Dog Rag and contra dancing, have been Trips classics for generations; others, like a dance choreographed to Becky G’s “Shower,” were only introduced in 2019.
FSPs, DSPs and LSAs are all faculty-led programs, which are coordinated by Guarini and an academic department. An LSA, or the more advanced LSA+, is a program specifcally focused on foreign languages, while FSPs can refer to of-campus programs run by any department. Exchanges, which are either coordinated by Guarini or organized by a student, entail a student transferring to a new institution to take courses ofered by that host institution that can then be transferred back to Dartmouth for credit.
Lily Maechling ’23 said she was “always interested” in studying abroad and spent the fall 2021 term on an exchange program studying computer science at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, which she arranged by herself. While in Amsterdam, Maechling said she was exposed to topics in computer science that she would not have had access to at Dartmouth, like web ontologies — frameworks for representing data and describing relationships.WhileLee said she “loved” her experience in London, she noted that the Oxford exchange pushed her to make new friends outside of the Dartmouth community — while she was surrounded by around 50 other Dartmouth students across three FSPs in London in the fall, the Oxford exchange program accommodates only four students. Lee also said she enjoyed learning in a diferent style at Oxford than at Dartmouth. Oxford’s tutorial system — in which students are given a reading list and a choice of essay questions to answer, which they then review with a professor in small groups each week — was Lee’s prime example.
program in Berlin and the Asian Societies, Cultures and Languages department will run a program in Ho Chi Minh City.
A highlight of the program’s experiential learning for Craig is a visit to the Waikaremoana community on the east coast of the northern island of New Zealand to “learn from masters of the Maori song, dance and martial art traditions known as kapa haka.”
“We feel we’ll be providing an opportunity for students [for whom] this may be the only opportunity to go abroad, or and it may whet the appetite of some, perhaps as an initial experience away from campus,” Tansey said.
abroad each academic year prior to the pandemic but only 422 students participated in programs during the 2021-22 academic year across 29 faculty-led programs and 10 exchanges.“Asoflast fall, students have a tough choice,” Tansey said. “Many want to continue with an of-campus program but also want to spend time on Despitecampus.” being away from Dartmouth’s campus during her gap year, Jennifer Lee ’22 went on two study abroad programs in England within a year of returning to her studies — the government FSP at the London School of Economics and an exchange program with Keble College at the University of Oxford. Lee based her decision to go abroad on the fact that she was largely “stuck” at home during the pandemic.“COVID made me really realize how valuable and just a great opportunity and what a privilege it is to be able to travel,” she said. “I really wanted to take advantage of those opportunities to travel for an extended period of time and to also learn while doing it.”
Looking Forward
According to Tansey, Dartmouth students frst studied abroad through the College in 1958. In that year, Romance languages and literatures professor Robert Russell supported two members of the Class of 1960 to study Spanish at the University of Madrid in Spain. They returned with the first academic credit awarded to Dartmouth students for studyingProgramoverseas.opportunities increased under the infuence of French and Italian professor John Rassias — known for developing the drill system of language learning that Dartmouth students practice today, called the Rassias Method. In 1967, Rassias introduced Dartmouth’s frst LSA, which occurred in Bourges, France. A distinguishing feature of this program was that students lived in homestays, which are now characteristic of the modern LSA model. Enrollment in offcampus programs increased in the subsequent decades, with some years in the 2000s peaking at more than 600 students participating in a program per year.
BY THOMAS BROWN
Program Experiences
during the height of the pandemic. She said that a motivating factor for choosing Amsterdam specifcally was its central location in Europe, which enabled her to travel to seven other countries in Europe during her term.“I really feel like I found some of my independence,” she said. “Through my love of traveling, I realized that I would be pretty happy to live or work abroad in the future.”
While the program traditionally runs in New Zealand, the winter 2022 anthropology FSP occurred in Hawaii, which allowed anthropology students to learn about a community affected by settler colonialism without leaving the United States. Craig said that while the department hopes that the program in Hawaii will not be a “one-of” experience, it plans to return to running the program in New Zealand.
“Theprograms.teaching style of local faculty is diferent from a Dartmouth professor, but that’s part of the experience — that they will try not to create a bubble in the country where we go,” del Pino said. “That’s part of the richness of these programs… [students] are exposed to diverse ways of living and being educated.”
Craig further encouraged incoming students to consider an off-campus program as a “pivotal” element of their liberal arts
Spanish professor José del Pino, who took 18 students on the Spanish FSP in Madrid in the winter, said he was “very satisfed” with the outcome of his program. Despite lingering COVID-19 policies and several students having to quarantine, del Pino marked the program an academic and cultural success.Language programs stipulate that students must stay within their host country to honor the language pledge they take before embarking on their program — a commitment to only speak the studied language
“I think it made me a much stronger critical thinker because while I was writing my essays, I had to do the work of anticipating counterarguments to my own argument so that I could be prepared for tutorial to discuss my ideas and engage with other people and their arguments,” Lee said.
“Oneeducation.ofthe main things that a really successful study abroad experience does is it truly expands your sense of self in the world,” she said. “Because most study abroad programs or of-campus programs that Dartmouth runs combine students who may or may not have known each other or interacted with each other before on campus, it allows for a depth of experience and learning across diferent forms of social diference than you might ever experience on campus.”
Lee and Maechling both said that the key to studying abroad is to start planning early. Lee advised that once a student is familiar with Guarini’s oferings, they should look at prerequisites for specifc programs to ensure that they can arrange their D-Plan accordingly.
The Dartmouth Senior Staff
Similarly to Lee, Maechling’s commitment to go abroad was spurred by her inability to travel
Del Pino said that such exposure to diferent methods of learning is intentionally a component of ofcampus
According to Tansey, fewer programs will be run each year now compared to pre-pandemic oferings. Prior to the pandemic, Guarini ofered around 42 facultydirected programs per year but is now planning to run 31 or 32 programs per year. The reduced number of programs reflects Guarini’s structural budget defcit. In February 2021, the College cut Guarini’s budget by 28% — a decision that would have reduced the total number of ofered programs to 25 per year. However, the budget cut was reversed early in the spring of 2021 and most of Guarini’s funds were reinstated.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022 THE DARTMOUTH FRESHMAN ISSUE 2022 PAGE 9
COURTESY OF ADITI GUPTA The anthropology and linguistcs FSP typically takes place in New Zealand, though the program was ofered in Hawaii last winter due to COVID-19 restrictons.
History of Studying Abroad at Dartmouth
in order to develop their fuency. For del Pino’s cohort, domestic travel remained a signifcant component of their cultural learning, with students traveling to other cities in Spain like Toledo, Segovia and Barcelona.Anthropology professor Sienna Craig will lead the anthropology FSP in New Zealand in the winter of 2023, which focuses on “colonialism and its legacies,” she said.
Guarini ofers dozens of ofcampus programs, ranging from exchanges with the University of Copenhagen for sociology or the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for Middle Eastern studies, to facultyled programs all around the world — from California to Southeast Asia.
Refecting on her decision to study abroad, Maechling encouraged others to not be dissuaded by the fact that they will be away from Dartmouth.“Iwasa little sad to leave campus after sophomore summer — especially because that’s such a bonding time for so many Dartmouth students — but everyone really goes their own way junior year and has all of their own plans,” she said. “Going abroad really seems like such a bold move in the moment, but really everyone else is doing some type of internship or abroad as well. If you’re a freshman, you should just go for it.”
Throughout the past year of of-campus programming, Guarini applied a number of new changes to programs to mitigate risks posed by COVID-19. The institute asked faculty directors to “simplify” their programs to contain fewer overnight excursions and limit the number of locations visited, asked students to not travel outside of their host country and eliminated homestays in the fall, Tansey said. As the omicron variant of the coronavirus increased international cases of COVID-19 in the winter, many precautions were kept in place. Some homestays were reintroduced for language programs starting in the winter.“Going into spring and now summer, we’ve been able to ease up on some of those things,” Tansey said. “We still have protocols for testing and quarantine and supporting students, but there are less restrictions in terms of travel within a country or to a country.”
A hallmark of many students’ four years at Dartmouth is the term — or terms — they can spend on an of-campus program. According to Guarini Institute executive director John Tansey, 50% of undergraduates have typically gone on a foreign or domestic study program, language study abroad or foreign or domestic exchange during their time at the College.
In addition to their resumed programs, starting this year the Guarini Institute will offer Fall Term+ programs — programs bearing course credit covered by fall term tuition that students take as a three-week-long course in a foreign country during the winter break. After the upcoming fall term, the German and Jewish Students departments will jointly run a
Due to the pandemic, all programs beginning in the spring of 2020 were halted and only resumed in fall 2021. According to Tansey, more than 500 students would study
College’s off-campus study programs undergo change
Thursday, Sep 8 2:30pm to Haldeman3:30pmCenter
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9 Events and small group interactions with nationally and internationally recognized experts
OFF-CAMPUS OPPORTUNITIES
Scholars have the unique opportunity to meet and interact with international scholars, politicians, humanitarians, and writers, as well as Dartmouth faculty experts to learn about and discuss global issues. Some scholars live in residence at the Global Village but many do not.
9 International internships during leave-terms
GREAT ISSUES SCHOLARS
9 Intercultural and leadership skill building workshops
Application Deadline (for first-year students who will not be living in the Global Village):
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ON-CAMPUS OPPORTUNITIES
International experiences challenge you to re-examine your world view and learn outside the classroom, and they push you to question assumptions about yourself and others. The Dickey Center o ers:
Interested in engaging with other first-year students in an exciting exploration of the vital issues of day? Apply to become a Great Issues Scholar!
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9 Scholar and Fellowship programs in global health & development, and war & peace studies
dickey.dartmouth.edu
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022 THE DARTMOUTH FRESHMAN ISSUE 2022 PAGE 11
BY Carly Retterer
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
You previously served as mayor in South Orange, N.J. and held municipal positions across the state. What led you to a career in municipal government?AT:
Museum of Science in Norwich, just across the Connecticut River in Vermont, are good spots — in addition to viewing the foliage from the Connecticut River itself.
The town manager position is slightly different from what most towns in New Jersey call the business administrator. All my work in the past — mayoring, administering, teaching — have led me to this place and position. Over the last month my priority has been learning. I have made an effort to meet as many people as I can: faculty, administrators at Dartmouth, town business owners, other stakeholders, Advanced Transit, et cetera.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022THE DARTMOUTH FRESHMAN ISSUE 2022PAGE 12
I don’t use the word “career” to describe what I am doing. I ran for office in South Orange. I was a year out of college when I decided to do that. I got plugged into a bunch of issues in college — I loved the idea of making governance systems work better. I said, “Why not?” I barely had a paying job and I was a year out of college, so sure, I should run for mayor. I started to realize how much actually happens at the local level since we get to make tangible progress. It is pretty cool what happens.
BY Jacob Strier The Dartmouth Senior Staff
to pair students and residents to work on some projects together. I want to engage students in the community. Hopefully, that will make future conversations on housing and other topics more empathetic and fair. There are also two committees I would like to put together. First, I would like a civics committee, and I would like to have a designated student representative. The other is a downtown Hanover economic committee, and I would like a student representative on that as well.
Moosilauke Ravine Lodge, while further out from campus, are also favored by students. Michael Mauricio ’24 said he and some of his teammates on the men’s varsity lacrosse team hiked up the mountain in Oct. 2020, around peak“Thisfoliage.hike will be some of the prettiest scenery you’ll ever see, but you just have to be prepared,” Mauricio said. “You need to start early and bring an adequate amount of water and snacks, and you will
“The Gile Mountain fre tower in Norwich is a local classic. It’s about a mile to the summit along a well-constructed trail,” Teplitz wrote.Mount Moosilauke and
What are your main goals for your first year as town manager?AT:
and wrote for my town newspaper, and there were times when people looked at me as if to say, “That isn’t real stuff.” But in that fouryear period of time we did some incredible projects. A huge part of my personal — and our team’s — success came from working on this stuff in college. I would encourage people who are passionate about something to go find ways to get involved in it. No one is going to drop opportunities on your lap; You have to find them, plug in and do the work. We dismiss things as extracurriculars, when in reality they are just as curricular as anything else. The amount I learned in my four years of student government, with budget management and balancing interest from different groups — you cannot learn that in a class.
How have your previous positions in municipal government informed your experience as town manager thusAT:far?
AT: While I was in office as mayor, I got my master’s in public administration and I started a consulting company. I
In May, the Hanover Selectboard tapped Alex Torpey, the 35-yearold former mayor of South Orange, N.J., following a six-month-long search to replace former town manager Julia Griffin. Torpey, who has served in municipal positions across New Jersey, served as the mayor of South Orange at age 23, becoming the youngest person elected to mayor in the township’s history. The Dartmouth sat down with Torpey to discuss his plans for Hanover, his experience moving to the Upper Valley, his passion for involving young people in local politics and his advice for incoming students.
Do you think there are more opportunities for youth and student involvement in Hanover town government?
AT: I am interested in finding how to get students plugged in with our residents directly. We are exploring partnerships through the Dartmouth Sustainability Office
Do you have any advice for Dartmouth students, especially the Class of 2026?
Students, community members share best Upper Valley fall spots
The Dartmouth Staff
week of Oct. 10 for Hanover’s region.Kellen Appleton ’20, a program coordinator for the Outdoor Programs Ofce, said that one of her favorite fall foliage spots near campus is Oak Hill. Located at the Dartmouth Cross Country Ski Center in the northeast corner of Hanover, the spot is a “couple hours walk [to complete], but defnitely doable [and] is a really nice way to get outside in the afternoon and see theAppletonfoliage.” added that free public trails maintained by the Montshire
The first involves improving media, technology
SEE FALL PAGE 13
“I think one of the best ways to do this is actually to rent a canoe from [Ledyard Canoe Club], while it’s still open for the season, and get to view the changing colors [on the Connecticut River],” Appleton said.Former OPO director Coz Teplitz wrote in an email statement that he recommends visiting Balch Hill –– just four minutes from
COURTESY OF NATHAN LARSON VIA ALEX TORPEY Torpey previous served as the mayor of South Orange, N.J. at the age of 23.
What other steps did you take in your career before coming to Hanover?
also worked on a program called Pathways, a nationwide nonpartisan leadership development program at the organization Run for America. I worked with them remotely and in person, and it was super interesting. It involved spending time working with young people to figure out their strengths and weaknesses. That is how I manage people: It is not me coming in and telling people what to do, but rather it is helping people uncover what they are good at.
and communications. It’s a meta issue, and if we don’t have communication in place it is hard to have conversations about other issues. Second, improving housing is easily a tie for first place in terms of priority. Third is the hiring environment for municipal staff. The affordability of this area is not very good and there is a big housing crunch. There are some big demographic changes happening in the country with a large generation retiring and a small generation replacing it.
I have also met a lot of my counterparts in other towns. I went to a couple conferences before the job started to meet people. New Hampshire and New Jersey are very different on the local level in many ways. Julia Griffin was here for a long time and carved out her biggest priorities, and everyone who comes into a position like this is going to restructure it based on their strengths and weaknesses.
campus on East Wheelock Street at the intersection of Grasse Road and Trescott Road –– for its “nice views to the south, especially as the leaves thin Outsideout.”of the Hanover area, Teplitz recommended Gile Mountain in Norwich — a popular spot for students and community members alike.
Observing fall foliage is often one of the most anticipated and loved traditions of fall term. As incoming students arrive on campus –– some for the frst time –– students and local community members ofered their tips on experiencing fall in the UpperAccordingValley.to the New Hampshire Travel and Tourist department website, leaves typically begin to change colors in late September, reaching peak color around the
Q&A with new Hanover town manager Alex Torpey
Young people and Gen Z are not as inclined to work in local government as the Baby Boomers were. What we need to do, on the government side, is rethink how we employ people. Government has often rested on providing stability and retiring benefits as why you should work for a government, but now neither of those things are always viewed as positive. Government has to think about more flexible work schedules, remote work opportunities and building housing for employees. We lose people for jobs because they cannot find housing here. We could build local, net-zero energy use housing and bring people in who are near others who just moved to the area and provide better access to childcare as well. As these demographic shifts happen, we are going to see towns smaller than Hanover struggle to provide services which they have been providing.
AT: After I got elected in South Orange, I was pretty young for the position, and I did all sorts of different interviews and things over the years. They asked me: “How did you prepare for being in office?” I said that I studied, did four years of student government
“I think one of the challenges students often face in trying to go farther afeld is that they do not have access to vehicles, and the DOC does a really good job of getting people of campus and digging into the surrounding areas,” Appleton said.
“The Dartmouth Organic Farm is such an amazing site for farming and connection because of how central the landscape is: It is used by so many diferent groups of people, including undergraduates, professors and graduate students,”
“I really wish there were more classes like Agroecology –– it’s both fun and interesting, and [it] is a unique experience to Dartmouth,” she said. “I’ve learned so much about what goes into growing food to create a healthy ecosystem, and how to use diferent species to produce healthier crops.”
Braasch said. “This allows people across all corners of campus to mix, which builds a unique community.”
SUMMER HARGRAVE/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
The Dartmouth Staff
Lily Ding ’24 is also in ENVS 25: “Agroecology” and said that the class does diferent feld projects every week, using lab sessions at the farm to collect data. Examples of their research include studying the efects of white clover crops on eggplant and comparing the spread of weeds on a sapling plot, Ding said.Ding added that the class has shown her how a farm operates.
agriculture, and agroecology plays a big part in that,” Ding said. “This class, and the farm, have shown me how agricultural systems can ft within natural ecosystems. I had a very diferent perception of what a farm was before I took this class.”
The O-Farm hosts pizza dinners, in which students assemble and bake their own pizza, with produce from the farm.
According to Walker, there will be diferent types of agricultural workshops such as mushroom harvesting and pickling this upcoming fall. Braasch added she hopes the Class of 2026 will think of the farm as a resource.
social and volunteer events at the farm, according to Braasch. The club is a subclub of the Dartmouth Outing Club that allows students to give back to the local community and better understand issues surrounding food systems, she said.
Mac’s Maple products in Plainfeld for some maple creemees,” he wrote.For students interested in student or staf-led hikes and other excursions, the Outdoor Programs Ofce and the Dartmouth Outing Club run trips year round, Appleton said. These activities can be found on their websites.
Walker emphasized the importance of student engagement at the “Everyfarm.project that has occurred at the O-Farm has evolved from an undergraduate student’s idea,” he said. “The farm is here for students to utilize it.”
Located three miles north of campus on the Connecticut River, the Dartmouth Organic Farm ofers a getaway from the fast-paced nature of the College. It is also a hub for hands-on learning and home to an educational working garden, student research and independent projects, according to its website.
Organic Farm assistant director Laura Braasch said that the O-Farm represents a “central” component of Dartmouth because of the diferent people it brings together.
Local community highlights top spots for fall foliage
“We had two hives over winter this year and we just bought a new hive,” Walker said. “We check on the bees once every two weeks, and honey harvest [happens] mainly in the spring and late fall.”
be Forchill.”those less inclined to hike the seven-mile Mount Moosilauke loop, visitors can enjoy views of the mountains from the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge. Beginning in September, OPO will ofer free van rides and free meals for undergraduate students at the Lodge, according to Appleton.
Other of-campus trails with prime views of fall foliage include Holt’s Ledge in Lyme and French’s Ledges in Plainfeld, according to Teplitz. He wrote that Holt’s Ledge “ofers excellent views to the east and south” from the clif at the summit.Teplitz also wrote that French’s Ledges is a “relatively mellow” hike with a steeper section at the very end.“The views from the rock outcropping are excellent. On the way home, make sure you stop by
“I am interested in sustainable
Maya Nguyen ’24 said she is currently enrolled in ENVS 25: “Agroecology,” which meets at the O-Farm every Thursday for four hours.Nguyen said she felt inspired to take the class because upperclassmen recommended it to her and that it has allowed her to gain handson practical experience as an environmental studies major. She said she had never had any previous experience with farm work until taking the course.
BY Omala Snyder
Fall foliage around Hanover will reach its peak in early October.
Students and professors can also utilize the O-Farm as a space for academic research and projects.
Each year, the O-Farm grows over 4,000 pounds of organic produce, with over 60 varieties of vegetables, grains and fowers, according to the O-Farm website. It grows several types of organic vegetables –– many of which are donated to the non-proft food recovery organization Willing Hands –– as well as produce for Moosilauke Ravine Lodge dinners and pizza dinners hosted at the O-Farm. In addition, the O-Farm is part of a conservation easement that sustains agricultural activity and maintains public access to walkingTheretrails.are many ways for students to get involved with the O-Farm, such as the Organic Farm Club, which organizes educational,
Jack Walker ’22, a program assistant at the farm, said that the O-Farm has three beehives, which the farm often uses for educational purposes. He added that students can get involved in beekeeping through the farm club, and work on the hives begins in March.
FROM FALL PAGE 12
Laurel Pitts ’24 said she joined the farm club her freshman year. She added that she participates in the club year-round and drives to the O-Farm twice a week for work days, when she typically spends two hours working with a group that weeds, plants and tends to the vegetableAlthoughgardens.Pitts said she loved gardening in high school, she did not have any prior experience with farming before college but is interested in sustainable agriculture.
“We spend a lot of time focused on ourselves, and going to the farm enables acts of care for other
OMALA SNYDER/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
at Moosilauke start changing a solid two weeks before they start changing down here in Hanover.”
Organic Farm offers agricultural, food system learning
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022 THE DARTMOUTH FRESHMAN ISSUE 2022 PAGE 13
The O-Farm is also home to two beehives supported by members of the Dartmouth Beekeeping Association, according to the O-Farm website. Other traditions include students making maple syrup from the sugar maple trees near the O-Farm. Farmers at the O-Farm also grow fowers, which they occasionally provide to the Collis Student Center for students to build their own bouquets.
“It’s defnitely something that people should take advantage of, especially if you’re itching for the colors early in the season,” Appleton said. ”With the higher elevation and latitude, the colors
things,” Pitts said. “Investing in the success of something else like a seedling, or soil or an entire row of crops –– anything non-human –– is Pittsrefreshing.”saidthat the barn at the O-Farm has wif and is a nice place for students to hang out. She highlighted that the Class of 2026 will have the opportunity to attend special pizza dinners and Harfest, the farm’s annual harvest festival featuring produce and live music, which is open to all students.
“I want to hear about cool ideas [students] have, and everyone at the farm wants to engage with students,” she said. “We are here to help turn your ideas into realities.”
“School can be pretty isolating with just students and professors, but you get a sense of the real world outside of the Dartmouth bubble by working,” WaltherPorino said. “Even though I’m at work, it feels like a break from the stress of school because, at work, I can talk about normal stuff, not justAtschool.”Collis, Walther-Porino said she is responsible for working the register, wiping down tables and refilling the condiments station at closing time. Likewise, Rincon said that at Novack, he takes people’s orders, makes drinks and stocks snack items. Both Rincon and Walther-Porino said they enjoy the social aspect of working during the lunch rush and seeing familiar faces in the checkout line.
EMIL LIDEN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
BY ARIZBETH ROJAS The Dartmouth Staff
Annabel Everett ’25 is a member of The Dartmouth Mirror staff.
While the college experience demands attention on academics, many students also balance parttime jobs on campus, from serving as an undergraduate advisor to working in Dartmouth Dining facilities.Since its inception in 1994, the Student Employment Office has assisted students searching for on-campus and local job opportunities. While the office’s resources are available for all students, some job listings are work-study only, meaning that they satisfy the work-study component included in a student’s financial aid packages. Many student workers have also used Jobnet Query, an online database of jobs managed by the office, to filter through jobs they are eligible for and eventually findCarlyemployment.Walther-Porino ’25, a student worker at Collis Cafe, said she found her job through a friend who had recommended Collis as a good place to work and found the listing on Jobnet. Similarly, Alejo Rincon ’25 said he had heard Novack Cafe paid well, so he applied over last winter break and joined the staff during winter term.“Dartmouth Dining for one is a good source of jobs. But if you’re interested in something else, just go out and ask or try to network with your friends and see what they’ve heard about,” Kaitlyn Anderson ’24Thissaid.January, student workers at Dartmouth Dining Services launched the Student Worker Collective at Dartmouth, a union that sought voluntary recognition by the College — which College President Phil Hanlon rejected later that month. According to some students, the push for a recognized student union led to changes in the College’s policy, such as the implementation of a 50% wage increase. In late March, student dining workers unanimously voted to recognize theTheSWCD.COVID-19 pandemic also shed light on student workers and working conditions, such as increased exposure to COVID-19, pay stagnation and a labor shortage in the Upper Valley, all of which created frustration among many student workers. Last October, the College announced that the minimum wage for on-campus jobs would be raised to $11.50 per hour.Aside from Dartmouth Dining
“I always knew I wanted to help out first-years make the transition to Dartmouth, so that was what attracted me to the job,” Berry said.According to Berry, some of the features of her job as a UGA include covering the expense of the 80-block meal plan, guaranteed housing and a termly payment of $2,000.Walther-Porino said that the “best part” of her job is having a
For instance, Walther-Porino said she was able to work around her midterm schedule.
“You could never do that with a job off-campus — they just wouldn’t understand,” WaltherPorinoAnnabelsaid.
Everett said that part of the appeal of working off campus included interacting with Hanover residents.“Oneof my favorite parts is that there’s a lot of people from town,” Everett said. “I love the regulars because it makes me feel like I am getting to know Hanover as a town more than just as a college place.”
Student workers find community within on- and off-campus jobs, share job search resources
“I’ve definitely made friends with people that I don’t think I would have seen otherwise on campus,” Rincon said.
Services, some students find employment at other departments on campus, such as Hinman Mail Center. Anderson said she also used Jobnet to find a job at Hinman. After sending initial emails to Hinman, she then visited in person, where other workers gave her a “lowdown” of the job.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022THE DARTMOUTH FRESHMAN ISSUE 2022PAGE 14
community outside of her classes.
“All I do at Hinman is pretty much stack boxes and scan people in and out,” Anderson said. “It’s really easy for me, and I like that part of Mollieit.”Berry ’25 said she used Jobnet in January to apply for her position as an undergraduate advisor for first-year students. Following an online application with short written responses and an interview, Berry said she was notified that she had gotten the job via email in the spring term.
Anderson also said that how many days a week she works depends on her course load for the term. For instance, Anderson said her classes during the summer term were on Tuesday and Thursday, so she worked Monday, Wednesday andWalther-PorinoFriday. added that she initially believed she didn’t have enough time to work, but her
Everett ’25, a worker at The Nest Cafe in Hanover, said that while her schedule allows her to work around her classes, she found balancing work difficult when she had to close at 3 p.m. but had a 3A class starting at 3:30 p.m. the same day.
Rincon said that as a studentathlete on the men’s cross country team, he is unable to pick up as many hours as other student workers. Walther-Porino also said that she had imagined it would be difficult to balance academics and work, but she has found her hours at Collis to be “flexible.”
experience at Collis has shown her otherwise.“Youcan fit working into your schedule — sometimes it takes a little bit of budgeting time, but you can do it,” Walther-Porino said.
While this level of competition could make the program feel inaccessible to some, Jaime Chuidian ’23 said that anyone can try out for rugby and see if it’s the right ft.
“We played really well despite a ridiculous amount of injuries, and it’s the most fun I’ve had in soccer since high school,” he said.
Women’s club lacrosse puts an emphasis on club sports being a social conduit not just amongst teammates, but with other teams as well, Burton said.
Students can fnd out more about club sports at the annual club fair on the Green during the fall term and on the Dartmouth Engage website, which lists all club sports and their contact information.
“We’ve had socials with club water polo, club feld hockey, club soccer and baseball,” she added. “At Dartmouth, Greek life is a big social scene, and when you’re unafliated as a freshman, it’s great to have other outlets like club sports.”
A guide to club sports try-outs, competition and more
“It’s made me fnd a love for the sport that I was missing for part of high school, and that’s largely because of the people involved here, who are so incredible,” Kaufmann said. “It’s defnitely been the most important experience that I’ve had at Dartmouth.”
After the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted tryouts, practices and games for multiple seasons, the 2021-22 academic year was an important rebuilding period for these student-run groups. Still, several club sports teams found success this past year and will hold tryouts in September in hopes of adding new members, particularly from the Class of 2026, to their teams.Club tennis is a student-run, co-ed team that holds tryouts to feld two teams of approximately 12 players. The A team practices a minimum of three times per week and competes in both regional and national tournaments, while the B team practices two to three times per week and competes in local tournaments and more individual matchups, according to B team captain Sophia Swanson ’23.
To the members of the Class of 2026 who feared your athletic days were over or would never have a chance to begin –– worry no more. From fencing to feld hockey, badminton to boxing or table tennis to taekwondo, club sports create the opportunity to practice, compete or simply make new friends.
Reilly explained that this past spring, the team came up just short in the Ivy League championship in Rhode Island, losing to Brown University in penalties, but the loss did little to dampen his experience.
“I was pretty nervous going in, but on the frst day the girls on the team made it very clear that even if you were not making the team, you were making friends,” Mitcham said. “It was a very supportive environment, and I knew it was going to be Mitchamfun.”said the team brings a similar attitude towards attendance at practice and games.
Dartmouth is home to 33 club sports teams, which range from nationally competitive teams, such as rugby, soccer, tennis, figure skating, squash and men’s hockey, to locally competitive teams and teams primarily based around ftness. Locally competitive teams include lacrosse, basketball, fencing, baseball, taekwondo and table tennis, and fitness-based teams include badminton, golf, boxing and running, to name just a few.
SPORTS
fgure skating and men’s hockey receive some compensation from the Physical Education and Recreational Sport programs’ pot of club sports funding, player dues, donations and other fundraising, women’s soccer coach Stephen Severson ’74 works on a volunteer basis, captain Aislinn Mitcham ’23 said.“[Severson] is one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met,” Mitcham said. “He organizes practices, but he’s super great about listening to player input. If somebody has a drill that they really want to do that day, or we would rather practice in front of [BakerBerry Library] instead of going out to Sachem [Fields], he’ll do it.”
According to Annie Burton ’24, championship victory for women’s club lacrosse was especially sweet, considering it was over Harvard University and was decided by a last minute goal.
Women’s club soccer has fall tryouts but only felds one team of around 25 — which, depending on their turnout at tryouts, can result in signifcant cuts.
In addition to rugby, other club sports with non-student coaching staf are ultimate, women’s soccer, fgure skating and men’s hockey. All three of these teams are coming of strong seasons. Last year, women’s soccer took home the Ivy League Championship, while fgure skating and men’s hockey were both in the top sixteen teams in the country — sending them across the country to nationals.While the coaches of both
“We’re all competitive, but it feels like a very welcoming place,” Mitcham said. “When you can make the time to show up, everyone’s super excited to see you, but when you can’t, everybody understands that we’re Dartmouth students frst.”
“We were up against a lot of
pay dues for travel and hotels, but like all other club sports there is fnancial aid available, according to Kaufmann.ForKaufmann, the decision to join the team has been well worth the cost.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022 THE DARTMOUTH FRESHMAN ISSUE 2022 PAGE 15
The Dartmouth Staff
Chuidian said that while the A team is a major extracurricular commitment, he has found a way to balance school with rugby ––adding that for him, school comes frst.
BY HEATH MONSMA
Last year, the men’s soccer and women’s lacrosse club teams were able to put together successful seasons as they fnished as runner up and champions of the Ivy League, respectively.Forthe men’s soccer team, tryouts are in the fall for both the fall and spring seasons, and they feld two teams, according to team member Jack Reilly ’24. Practices are student-run and most players make it to two per week, he said.
the B team makes the commitment manageable while keeping the level of competition high. Swanson said she felt that the most rewarding parts of being on the team were not the matches, but the moments in between.“Thisspring we traveled down to [University of Massachusetts, Amherst], and it was early in the morning, so we stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts,” Swanson said. “Just sitting there chatting was a ton of fun, and I really loved seeing the team come together.”Themen’s rugby team, which won the Ivy League for thirteen years straight from 2008-2020 and had their sevens squad place ffth in the nation this past spring, leads the way in terms of players and resources. Each year there are anywhere between three and four full squads of 15, and the program is led by a full-time head, assistant and strength and conditioning coach. In addition, the team has access to all of the varsity athletic facilities due to its competitiveness and travels across the country, primarily thanks to the funding of alumni donors.
COURTESY OF AISLINN MITCHAM Women’s club soccer took home the Ivy League championship last year.
Members of club fgure skating who attend one of the three qualifying events in the fall and winter before nationals have to
“There’s a good range of people on the team in terms of whether they’ve played growing up, or if they’re brand new to the sport,” Chuidian said. “Many of those kids who have never played before come out their senior year like they’ve been playing their whole life.”
Figure skating is unique among many of the club sports in that they do not hold tryouts and have no limit on how many skaters they can
Many Dartmouth students played a high school sport competitively ––though only around 0.08% of all high school athletes go on to play their sport at the collegiate level, and less than two percent of those students play at Division I schools like Dartmouth. Those 99.92%, however, are not left without opportunities to play while at the College: Club sports have bridged the gap between varsity athletes and the large number of incoming students who hope to find the camaraderie that athletics afords.
“Everyonetake. on the team has some experience skating, but we try to take people of all diferent levels,” captain David Kaufmann ’23 said. “Not everyone ends up competing, but freshmen are more than welcome to practice with us. We want to create an environment where everyone feels supported no matter how much time they want to commit.”
teams who have super intense practice schedules and paid coaches,” Burton said of the Ivy League tournament for women’s club lacrosse. “Since we’re studentrun, we can occasionally feel like the underdog, but we have a lot of skilled players on our team, and we provedAccordingthat.” to Burton, the team is still in the process of deciding whether they will make cuts or hold tryouts this year, but exclusivity is not one of their values. Burton explained that this year, the team is bringing back the pre-COVID practice of a “buddy system,” where a freshman will be paired with an upperclassman mentor as a resource for navigating Dartmouth. The team will also be hosting cardio and strength workouts in the winter for anyone who wants to stay in shape regardless of lacrosse skill, she said.
Swanson said she has been playing tennis since she was in frst grade and feels that her place on
Dartmouth volleyball will begin its season at the University of California Irvine on Sept. 2. The Big Green will take on Sacred Heart University, College of the Holy Cross and UC Irvine in the tournament.
“We defnitely have a huge target on our back right now, and we’re losing a few players, but we’re gaining a lot, too,” team member Anjali Pant ’24 said. “We are just trying to keep the ball rolling, stay on top of things and continue crushing it.”
Scott added that watching older players take underclassmen under their wings has inspired his desire to take on a bigger leadership role this year and to try to make First Team
Big Green women’s soccer will gain six new incoming freshmen this year, recruited by head coach Ron Rainey. Center forward Daisy Granholm ’24 said the team aims to focus on playing as a united front as the season approaches.
“I think we are just trying to defne ourselves as a team, and where we fall on that Women’sspectrum.”soccer will open Ivy League play against Brown University on Sept. 24 in Hanover.
COURTESY OF NATALIE SHAPIRO cross country team kicks season
Football
Football will kick of the 2022 season against Valparaiso University at Memorial Field on Saturday, Sept. 17.
an individual part of the puzzle piece, we know we will be fne.”
The
Dartmouth women’s rugby will start the season with high hopes as the most recent winners of the NIRA National Championship, defeating Army West Point 28-18 last fall. The Big Green is looking to defend its national title.
Velikonjahappen.”saidthat most of the men’s cross country will be returning from last year, apart from their incoming freshmen –– an advantage that could allow the team to reach both goals. Velikonja came in 28th place at Heps and as well as 45th in the NCAA Northeast Regionals last season.
The women’s cross country team shared the men’s cross country team’s goals of placing their best in Heps and competing well in the NCAA regional meets, women’s cross country captain Julia Fenerty
Student-athletes of Dartmouth’s cross country, football, women’s rugby, volleyball and soccer teams are gearing up for their respective fall seasons. Many have their eyes on a league title — whether it’s hopes for a three-peat or their frst ever championship — and shared that their teams’ close-knit cultures will allow them to excel. Here are some of Dartmouth’s most promising teams for the upcoming season, with a look at how they’re preparing and how you can see them in action.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022THE DARTMOUTH FRESHMAN ISSUE 2022PAGE 16
Granholm, who will play for the frst time since her ACL injury last season, said she hopes students show up to support the team in their season
SPORTS
While under pressure, Pant said she likes to remember the team’s slogan: “with you.”
Men’s and Women’s Soccer
“In soccer it’s either playing direct transitions, super fast games or more of a technical possession style, where you keep the ball, and your best defense is ofense,” Granholm said.
All-Ivy.“The next step is helping other members of the team get ready for the season and games,” Scott said. “We have a ton of talent at every position, and [we have a goal] of executing to the best of our ability every week.”
“We’reteam.all really excited, incredibly committed and we all really care how each other is doing,” Velikonja said. “It will be tough, but I think we have a great chance at making it
opener.Cade
Men’s and Women’s Cross Country
This year, the men’s cross country team hopes to place well at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championship and make a run at the NCAA championships, according to Albert Velikonja ’25, a member of the cross country
BY LANIE EVERETT The Dartmouth Staff
This season, captains quarterback Nick Howard ’23, safety Quinten Arello ’23 and defensive end Shane Cokes ’23 will lead the 2022 football team, which welcomes 23 new recruits, in defending its back-toback Ivy League championship titles.
’23
“I know last year a lot of our games came down to one or two goals, and if we had fnished our chances, then the season could have been the other way entirely,” Keesling said. “We could have almost beenWhileundefeated.”onlytime will tell what these teams will accomplish, many student-athletes are approaching the fall season with high hopes and a commitment to supporting one another on and of the feld.
Women’s rugby will play its frst game on Sept. 1 against Long Island University at home on Brophy Field.
Varsity athletes set goals for fall, highlight team culture
Women’s Rugby
Keesling ’24 of the men’s soccer team said he looks forward to their frst Ivy League match against Princeton University on Oct. 1 at Burnham Field in Hanover. Last season, the team lost to Princeton in overtime after tying the game up in the second half. Keesling said that in particular, the team hopes to improve on converting scoring opportunities.
of its
Volleyball
“Defnitely our long term goal is to win our frst ever Ivy League championship, and on that note, also make it to the Division I NCAA tournament,” she said.
“Assaid.a team I think we can do a lot better at Heps than we have been doing in the past,” Fenerty said.
Blain said she believes one of her team’s greatest strengths is its sense of trust and closeness to one another –– something she says they plan to rely on this upcoming season.“Ithink that because we are so close, it really helps us on the court knowing we can trust each other,” Blain said. “If each teammate does
at the Vermont Invite on Sept. 3.
Wide receiver Paxton Scott ’24 said that in season, the team practices at least 20 hours a week. Scott said the team’s main goal is to win the Ivy League championship, though he also noted that, like every year, the upperclassmen hope to act as mentors for incoming players.
“[‘With you’] means ‘I’m on your side,’ or ‘I’m in this tackle with you, I’m there by you,’” Pant said.
The volleyball team ended the 2021 season with a fourth-place finish in the Ivy League –– an improvement from the team’s record in recent years of fnishing in the lower half of league rankings. According to co-captain Ellie Blain ’24, the team is seeking more.
Last season, men’s cross country finished eighth at the NCAA Northeast Regional meet, where the fve student-athletes running for Dartmouth fnished within 41 seconds of one another. Additionally, at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championship, Dartmouth moved up three places from their eighth place fnish in 2019, taking home ffth. Meanwhile, women’s cross country fnished sixth place at Heps and 11th at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championship in Boston, with Corrine Robitaille ’23 leading the way for the Big Green by placing 16th and 28th, respectively.
Both men’s and women’s cross country will run their season opener at the Vermont Invite on Sept. 3 at the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vt.
“One of the things that is very impressive is the fact that there is very little turnover in the program,” he said. “Coaches stick around. Players don’tAnotherquit.” aspect of the football program at Dartmouth that “attracts players” is its emphasis on making the game as safe as it can be, Wood said. He added that current head coach Buddy Teevens ’79 felt tired of watching players sufer from head
injuries, which led to Dartmouth’s decision to ban tackling in practice in 2011, before the Ivy League ofcially passed a motion for no tackles at practice in 2016. In 2013, Teevens, in conjunction with the Thayer School of Engineering, developed Mobile Virtual Player, a motorized tackling dummy that prevents head contact, according to “DartmouthESPN.iscertainly at the forefront of that with the mobile virtual player robotic tackling dummy, not tackling in practice –– the only Ivy League team to do so –– [so] you will never tackle or be tackled by a teammate,” Wood said.
From the team’s frst game in 1881 to its Ivy League championship win in 2021, Big Green football has a rich history.
“regional and national” awards, and Willie Bogan ’71 was named as an Academic All-American, an NCAA Postgraduate Scholar and a Rhodes Scholar for his academic excellence.
In 1926, Dartmouth had a winning record and was invited to compete in
“Over the last decade what has made the team so successful is great recruiting, solid coaching and a lot of help from friends of football in terms of budget,” Wood said.
the Rose Bowl against the University of Washington, Degange wrote. However, Dartmouth declined the ofer because the players wanted to spend Christmas with their families, and the University of Alabama was chosen instead.
Dartmouth, with the smallest population of all eight Ivy League schools, also boasts the most Ivy League championship wins, with 20 titles since the league was established. Also notable are Dartmouth’s fve consecutive Ivy League championship wins from 1969 to 1973.
Bridging rigorous academic programs with competitive athletics, the Ivy League began attracting wellrounded individuals who excelled both in the classroom and on the feld. Tackle Henry Paulson ’68, for example, was named to frst-team All-Ivy and NCAA Scholar-Athlete and went on to become the CEO of Goldman Sachs. President George W. Bush later nominated Paulson to serve as the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury.When asked what he believes was the most successful football team in Dartmouth history, Degange pointed to the 1970 team, which went undefeated and fnished 14th in the AP polls. Nineteen players won
“[In order to keep up with the game], you have to sacrifice in other areas, whether it’s socially or anywhere else,” Fiedler said. “You have to prioritize what’s important to you; athletics and academics were the two most important things for me to focus on while I was at Dartmouth.”
Fielder played for the Philadelphia Eagles, Minnesota Vikings and Jacksonville Jaguars and eventually found his footing as the starting quarterback for the Miami Dolphins from 2000 to 2004. He has been the only Miami quarterback to win a playof game in over twenty years.
John Lyons, former Dartmouth football defensive coordinator from 1987 to 1991 and head coach from 1992 to 2004, attributed the program’s success to the school’s location, alumni backing and the great tradition that Dartmouth football rests “Dartmouthupon.is a unique school because of its location where it is easy to focus on playing the game of football with few distractions,” Lyons said. “There is also a really strong support from alumni, who have done a great job of upgrading the facilities; players feel the sense of tradition from alumni.”
BY CAROLINE YORK The Dartmouth Staff
Administrators resolved that students who attended their institutions would frst and foremost be students furthering their education and not recruited athletes. The Ivy League was ofcially founded in 1954, but the eight universities did not engage in athletic competition until 1956.
COURTESY OF TYLER GREENE
‘Every game was a fight’: A history of the greatest successes in Big Green football
In 1946, the “Ivy Group,” composed of Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University and Yale University, met due to their concerns about the public’s growing interest in collegiate athletics, particularly football, as entertainment.
the ladder to becoming the starting quarterback in Miami.”
“I think a lot of people underestimate the competitiveness of the Ivy League, but we were a tremendously competitive league and every game was a fght,” Fiedler said. “This helped prepare me to climb
With over 1,200 games under the team’s belt, Dartmouth football is one of the College’s oldest and most popular sports. Not only is the sport steeped in tradition on campus, but it also carries a legacy of success. In recent years, Dartmouth has secured the Ivy League championship in two consecutive seasons: 2021 and 2019. From its inception to its present day accomplishments, the Dartmouth football program has seen moments of great Accordingsuccess.tothe book “Dartmouth College Football: Green Fields of Autumn” by former Dartmouth athletics information director Jack Degange, the frst Dartmouth football game was played in 1881, and a few years later the Yale University football team traveled to Hanover to deliver Dartmouth’s frst big loss, with a score of 113-0. Degange writes that the tides began to change in the early 1900s, when the 1903 Big Green team had a 9-1-0 record. Most notable was the win against Harvard University in the frst ever game to be played at Harvard Stadium — America’s “frst permanent arena for college athletics,” he wrote.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022 THE DARTMOUTH FRESHMAN ISSUE 2022 PAGE 17
Recent Accomplishments
Dartmouth football has continued its tradition of excellence, winning the most recent 2021 crown. Bruce Wood, founder of Big Green Alert ––a blog covering Dartmouth Football since 2005 –– said he believes there are a variety of factors that have made the program so strong in recent years.
Wood also cited the players’ commitment to the sport and the team’s ability to think a step ahead of competition as reasons for its accomplishments over the years.
Some Dartmouth football players have gone on to have successful careers in the sport. After starting as quarterback for three seasons and being named Ivy League Player of the Year in 1992, Jay Fiedler ’94 went on to have a standout career in the NFL. He competed for both the football and track and feld teams during his time at the College, serving as quarterback and as a decathlon athlete, respectively.
The Ivy League: Academics First, Athletics Second
The 1925 team was one of the most successful teams in the College’s history: The team fnished the 1925 season with an 8-0-0 record and was crowned the national champions, according to Degange. Degange also describes how early 20th century sports writer Grantland Rice wrote, “football’s main banner for the waning year goes to … Dartmouth, the College on the hill.”
These mathematical forms are now located on the lawn between BakerBerry Library and Kemeny Hall, which houses the math department, but Kahl said that it was initially placed in front of Sanborn Library when it was acquired by the College in 1976. Stomberg said that the person who ran Dartmouth’s art collection at the time was “extremely ambitious” to get such a piece of cutting-edge sculpture in Hanover; however, it faced such backlash that in 1984 it was relocated to where the Black Family Visual Arts Center now stands. It was moved to the Kemeny Courtyard in 2011, when construction began at the BVAC site.
Thomas Bayliss Huxley-Jones, 1963. Bronze.
Although many students go about their days on campus without fully appreciating the art around them, Dartmouth’s campus is home to an abundance of artwork. In addition to the thousands of items in the Hood Museum of Art’s collection, Dartmouth’s campus also features many public art installations. Hood Museum director John Stomberg stressed the importance of these pieces in students’ lives.
The bust of Warner Bentley, located inside the Hop, is a campus favorite; Stomberg said that it was the only piece that the Hop specifcally requested be returned after the renovation. Bentley himself was a
classmates who lost their lives during World War II, is a rare example of commemorative art on Dartmouth’s campus. The sculpture, located in a fountain in a quiet corner next to the Hopkins Center for the Arts, creates an area perfect for silent refection. However, Stomberg said that the work will soon be moved to another home on campus, as its current location will be covered by the upcoming renovation to the“WhenHop. you do commemorative sculpture, there is an implicit commitment to keeping it around,” Stomberg said. “In this case, that’s something we can definitely get behind. There’s a strong veterans group on campus, and we will fnd a good place for that.”
From Orozco to Frost: A guide to public art at Dartmouth
“Whenluck. you make public art, you have to accept that it’s going to get touched, otherwise you don’t put it in public,” Stomberg said. “It’s going to get touched, it’s going to get rained on, it’s going to get hit with a frisbee — it has to exist in the real world. But I’ve never seen one [as] polished as that guy’s nose.”
José Clemente Orozco, 1932-34. Fresco.
This work is a representation of the intersection between mathematics and art: the sculpture is in the form of a mobius strip, a visually deceptive three-dimensional form that only has one face and one edge.
COURTESY OF ANNA KAYE M. SCHULTE
“Fountain Figure,” commissioned by the Class of 1943 to honor their
Warner Bentley
BY LAUREN ADLER The Dartmouth Senior Staff
pillar of Dartmouth’s performing arts program, serving as the director of the Dartmouth Players from 1928 until 1960 and then as director of the Hopkins Center from 1960 until 1969.
Orozco’s commission in 1932 by the Board of Trustees was extremely controversial, as many students and alumni believed them to be inconsistent with the culture of the College and were unhappy with the hiring of a Mexican artist. Because the murals are a fresco, meaning that they are painted on wet plaster, they cannot be painted over; therefore, some particularly ofended by the murals suggested scraping them of the“Therewalls. was a lot of very strong criticism,” Latin American, Latino and
chronological guide to the public art pieces on Dartmouth’s campus, in order of acquisition date.
Like “Thel,” “D2D” was commissioned during the construction of Fairchild and is located right next to Wilder Hall. According to Amelia Kahl, the Hood Museum curator of academic programming, the name of the sculpture was proposed by students as part of a class project.
The Epic of American Civilization
The Orozco murals, located in their own room on the lower level of Baker Library, are perhaps the most well-known work on campus; they were designated a national historic landmark in 2013. The murals, which cover over 3,200 square feet of wall space, were painted over a two-year campus residency by the artist.
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D2D
Mark di Suvero, 1970. Iron, steel and wood.
Charles O. Perry, 1973-5. Bronze.
Fountain Figure
While no one is quite sure how this tradition started, students and other passersby will often touch the now-polished nose of the statue for good
X-Delta
Caribbean studies professor Douglas Moody said. “Some people wanted to destroy the murals, some alumni loatheMoodythem.”said that he often uses the murals as a teaching tool, especially in first-year writing classes, to demonstrate an alternative to the Eurocentric narrative of American civilizations many students may be familiar with before coming to Dartmouth.“Thestudent body is from all over the country, from all over the world, from many diferent backgrounds, and I think the epic of American civilization captures some of that complexity and diversity in our society,” Moody said. “As a teaching tool, they are, I think, quite impactful…to be able to go into that room and just sit down and study in Baker Library and be surrounded by those images is quite a special opportunity for students.”
“The Epic of American Civilizaton,” a mural by José Clemente Orozco, initally drew harsh critcism but was named a natonal historic landmark in 2013.
“I know that a lot of students don’t cognizantly say, ‘Oh yeah, there’s the Joel Shapiro [sculpture],’ but it becomes part of their lived environment, and it’s the embodiment of creativity,” he said.“And at the core, that’s a skill or a habit that we all hope everybody at Dartmouth can have — everybody hopefully embraces a kind of creativity in whatever endeavor they’reFromfollowing.”muralstostatues to interactive sculptures, these public works bring character and beauty to various corners of campus. This is a brief
Thomas Bayliss Huxley-Jones, 1968. Bronze.
“X-Delta” is the only work of public art on campus that viewers are encouraged to touch — students can often be found studying or enjoying a beautiful day on the large swing attached to the sculpture. The beams that comprise the work form a large X and an upside-down triangle, which represents the greek letter delta.
Kahl said that the work was reinforced with an iron rod after several incidents of vandalism in the years just after the work was fnished, though she noted that there have been no issues since she joined the staf of the Hood several years ago. In fact, Stomberg said that recently the sculpture has become “almost interactive,” with some viewers adding small stones of their own to the pile.
sculpture was commissioned sitespecifcally for a courtyard that no longer exists — it was eliminated during renovations to the Hood building in 2016. Kahl said the artist still wanted the work to interact with the brick facade and rectangular architecture of the back of the museum, so Stomberg consulted with Shapiro to fnd a new home for the piece where it stands today.
Ursula von Rydingsvard, 2007. Cedar.
Wide Babelki Bowl
Unlike a piece like “Thel,” which is site-specifc — meaning that it was designed for a specifc location — Stomberg said that this sculpture is an example of so-called “plomp art,” or works that can be placed and displayed anywhere. While some in the art world consider “plomp art” a derogatory term, Stomberg said that these works enable Dartmouth to display its pedagogical values on
Refuge
The Robert Frost statue is located near Bartlet Tower in the northeast corner of campus.
“Wide Babelki Bowl” is “the new kid on the block,” according to Kahl — the piece, located next to Rollins Chapel, was given as a gift to the College in 2020. The term “babelki” in Polish refers to woolen balls sewn onto sweaters; these fufy objects are refected in the sculpture as they pop out of the sides of the wooden bowl.
Allan C. Houser, 1992. Bronze-plated steel. Located between the Sherman House — which is home to Dartmouth’s Native American and
campus.“When you put public art on campus, you can’t help but feel — correctly — that Dartmouth is behind this, they stand behind the values of this sculpture,” Stomberg said. “You look at the Ursula von Rydingsvard, you’ve got the balance of rationality and irrationality put into a permanent kind of dynamic tension — that’s the Socratic Method right there. Dartmouth stands for that.
Kahl said that the sculpture’s location had previously been a popular spot for students to sunbathe, and when informed of student complaints that the work would bring their tanning sessions to an end, sculptor Beverly Pepper replied in The Dartmouth, “I didn’t take away your beach. I just gave you lawn chairs.”
Kiki Smith’s “Refuge,” located in the Mafei Arts Plaza, was commissioned by the College to mark the 40th anniversary of coeducaton at Dartmouth.
According to Stomberg, the
Peter Irniq, 2007. Stone. Commissioned by the College, “Inuksuk” was built in front of McNutt Hall by Canadian Inuit artist Peter Irniq in the shape of a cairn, a pile of stones often constructed for good luck or as a natural trail marker in deep woods. Kahl said that it was designed site-specifcally to welcome potential students to campus, as for many their frst stop is the admissions ofce. When people leave the building, they can see the Green through the sculpture’s small windows — an indication of their possible future at the College.
EMIL LIDEN /THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
Clement Meadmore, 1978. Cor-Ten steel.
Kiki Smith, 2014. Stainless steel.
“Houser is a super important and famous Native American sculptor, and so to have him in front of the [Native Americans at Dartmouth] house makes a lot of sense,” she said.
Inspired by a famous jazz piece by the same name, the abstract gestural sculpture “Perdido” stands on a grassy hill alongside East Wheelock street, next to South Fayerweather Hall. The work was given to the College in 2013. Stomberg explained that his predecessor made the rare decision to accept the sculpture due to its “material and method,” as it was the frst sculpture in the College’s collection made of cast steel.
George Lundeen, 1996. Bronze.
Inuksuk
Peaceful Serenity
Indigenous studies department — and the Native American House, “Peaceful Serenity” is one of several works of Indigenous public art on campus. Sculptor Allan Houser was from the Chiricahua Apache tribe, and was one of the best-known Indigenous artists of the 20th century. The sculpture depicts a mother, a daughter and a newborn child, who are isolated from viewers on their own bronze island surrounded by gravel. The College acquired the work in Kahl2007.noted that “Peaceful Serenity” is a good example of how the Hood matches works of art to their fnal locations on campus.
Robert Frost
Untitled Joel Shapiro, 1990. Bronze.
Kiki Smith’s “Refuge,” located just behind the Shapiro sculpture, is an interesting work in Dartmouth’s collection — Stomberg said that even though the piece is fairly recent, the Hood is unsure whether or not the piece was custom-commissioned specifcally for Dartmouth. The piece was included in a gallery show before making its way to Hanover, but its top edge mirrors the roof line of the
Stomberg said that the Hood commissioned the piece, which is intentionally by a female artist, in honor of the 40th year of coeducation at Dartmouth. The work shows an image of a hare in a snowstorm, which Stomberg said is “open to interpretation” by viewers — some believe that the sculpture shows the chilly reception the first women students at Dartmouth got upon their matriculation, while others see the work as a story of strength and survival.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022 THE DARTMOUTH FRESHMAN ISSUE 2022 PAGE 19
The Robert Frost statue sits behind Wilder Hall, on a hill near Bartlett Tower and the stump of the original Lone Pine that overlooks the BEMA. According to Stomberg, the statue was a gift to the College by the Class of 1961.Thestatue shows Frost — who enrolled at Dartmouth in the fall of 1892 but dropped out before completing the term — deep in thought and looking out over the woods. He holds a pencil and a tablet, on which is inscribed the frst line of his poem “Mending Wall”: “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.” Many students will make the climb up the hill to sit next to Frost and engage in quiet refection of their own.
COURTESY OF ANNA KAYE M. SCHULTE
Perdido
“Thel” was commissioned by the College in the early 1970s, during the construction of the Fairchild Physical Sciences Center, and is located on the lawn between Fairchild and Wheeler Hall. It is the only work of public art on campus to include the grass it sits on as part of the sculpture, and Kahl noted that she believes that viewers often do not recognize it as an art object, perhaps due to its integration with the surrounding environment.
Ellsworth Kelly, 2012. Painted aluminum. Adding a splash of color to the Mafei Arts Plaza, the “Dartmouth Panels” were commissioned for the College by the Black family. Stomberg said that artist Ellsworth Kelly designed them site-specifcally for the side of the Hop, and that they are consistent with much of his other work, which focuses on the “joy of pureKellycolor.”was also interested in the idea of the plaza as a chapel dedicated to the arts; Stomberg said that he was inspired by the arches on the side of the Hop and the idea of stained-glass windows. On rainy days, the refection of the panels in puddles on the ground invokes the pools of colored light cast by stained-glass windows on the foor of a church.
Dartmouth Panels
The untitled sculpture by Joel Shapiro located in the Mafei Arts Plaza — the area between the Hop, the Hood and the Black Family Visual Arts Center — gives the impression of a man falling backwards onto the ground in front of the Black Visual Arts Center. Kahl said that the piece is meant to “invite a physical experience” when students or faculty walk under it on their way into the building.
buildings behind it in such a way that suggests it may have been designed site-specifcally.
Thel Beverly Pepper, 1975-77. Painted Cor-Ten steel and grass.
The frst half of the performance will be a Florence Price concerto performed by pianist Karen Walwya to honor and celebrate women in classical music. The second half will be “Symphonie Fantasique,” an 1832 program symphony by French composer Hector Berlioz. The performance will also include the “Lincoln Portrait” by composer Aaron Copland, a piece composed in 1942 that contains excerpts from Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
Students interested in trying out for Coast Jazz Orchestra can sign up for auditions on the Hop’s website, with auditions scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 11 and Monday, Sept. 12. For their fall performance, the Coast Jazz Orchestra will be performing on Oct. 27, according to the Hop’s website.
BY Farah Lindsey-Almadani The Dartmouth Senior Staff
Another ensemble group holding auditions in the fall is the Dartmouth Glee Club, a 40-member choral group. Boland said that she “highly recommends” freshmen audition for the opportunity if they are interested in the“Theclub.audition does not need to be perfect, but we are just looking for people who are passionate and committed to forming relationships with others and sharing their voices with a college-renowned choir,” she said.According to the Hopkins Center, the Dartmouth Glee Club auditions will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 15 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Students will be required to prepare a solo piece of their choosing, as well as engage in sight-reading, vocal warm-ups and ear-training exercises.
In addition to orchestral and choral ensembles, the department of theater will be holding an upcoming performance for “Pippin,” the awardwinning 1972 Broadway musical. In the 2021-2022 season, the theater department hosted a main stage production performance for “Rent.”
On Oct. 6, the Manchester Collective Sirocco, a British group, will be joined by South African cellist
“Just go for it. It really is such a rewarding experience,” Norton said.
At the start of the fall term, the Hop’s frst two oferings explore the contemporary Black experience in America. The frst event of the term will be “The Ritual of Breath Is the Rite to Resist” on Sept. 16 and 17, a workshop and performance meant to serve as an “ofering” and “call to justice” that responds to the 2014 murder of Eric Garner. The following weekend, on Sept. 23 and 24, Camille A. Brown & Dancers will take the stage in a “dance journey through the African American experience.”
Abel Selaocoe. The Collective will present classic Danish and African folk songs, while Selacoe will perform original compositions. On Oct. 15, award-winning futist Nicole Mitchell, alongside the Black Earth Ensemble — which Mitchell founded in 1998 — will perform, honoring African-American folklore through music.
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According to the theater department’s website, auditions take place during the frst week of the term, with further details available in Shakespeare Alley — located on the ground foor of the Hop, to the right of the bathrooms — as well as on the department’s website. Auditions are open to all undergraduates, regardless of major or prior experience in acting.
Behind the curtain: A sneak peek at fall’s Hop productions
The final event will be the Dartmouth Dance showcase by student-led dance groups on campus, hosted by the Dartmouth Dance Ensemble. Students can fll out an interest form on the Hop’s website to participate and learn more about joining the Hop’s student ensembles.
COURTESY OF THE HOPKINS CENTER FOR THE ARTS Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra performs in May 2022.
Fall Singing and Acting
Looking into October, the Hop will be hosting the The Brentano String Quartet, an award-winning group that performed in Carnegie Hall in New York City. During their Oct. 1 performance, The Quartet will begin with a “contrasting, yet complimentary, mix of early English works for consort of viols and songs” and then end with “Dido’s Lament,” a piece from the opera “Dido and Aeneas.”
David Katz ’24, a theater major, said one of their favorite experiences acting was during their performance in “Rent,” specifcally performing the song “No Day But Today” with their fellow cast
she joined her freshman year and recommends that freshmen participate in the audition process at the Hop.
“Hearingmembers.allthese sounds that we all created with bodies was one of the most magical experiences I’ve had on stage,” Katz Accordingsaid.to Katz, some of the best things about being involved in musical theater are the rigor, focus and most importantly, the ability for the performers and audience to share moments.“That’s why I prefer theater to any art form…there is always a tomorrow, there’s no fnality to it,” Katz said.
Fall Orchestra
choral society that allows the “town” of Hanover to perform with the college community — the “gown.” Ciabatti said that the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra will perform its fall concert on Nov. 12. The performance will celebrate 50 years of co-education at the College and the 60th anniversary of the Hopkins Center.
In an email statement, box ofce manager Brian Shaw wrote that students receive a “large discount for tickets.” For Hop Presents, Hopproduced events, ensemble and theater performances, student tickets are $10, while Hop Films and flm events are $5 for students, according to Shaw. In addition, Shaw wrote that incoming members of the Class of 2026 are eligible for one free ticket to any event at the Hop this fall using the promo code WELCOME26.
According to Ciabatti, the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra is open to all students. He said that he is consistently impressed by the work ethic of students in the ensemble.
Performers of “Rent,” the mainstage producton of winter 2022, conduct a dress rehearsal in Moore Theater.
Director of the Orchestral and Choral Ensembles Fillipo Ciabatti conducts two ensemble groups: the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra and the Handel Society, a town-gown
For many students, the beginning of college signals new opportunities — whether that be taking classes in unfamiliar departments, venturing of campus into the Upper Valley or simply trying a new hobby. If you’re looking to dip your toes into Dartmouth’s arts and performance scene, we’ve got you covered. At the southern end of the campus is the Hopkins Center for the Arts — commonly known as the Hop — a center for artistic production on campus. The Hop hosts a variety of events year-round, and there is no shortage of ways to get involved.
The Hop will host several orchestral productions this fall, including performances from the Coast Jazz Orchestra and the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra, both of which are student ensemble groups. The Hopkins Center also hosts visiting professional artists.
Major Events
“Most of the students in orchestra are not going to pursue it as a career, [but] they are so talented, so skilled and so competitive that they stick with orchestra and even if it means practices,” he said.
COURTESY OF ROB STRONG
Amy Norton ’23, ensemble assistant of the Coast Jazz Orchestra, called Coast Jazz “one of [her] favorite communities on campus.” She said
While the audition process can be competitive, there is no harm in trying. Your first term of college is all about trying new things and having an open mind. And, if you don’t succeed at joining a group, you have several years to try again.
“It is very special to have a group of friends with whom you can both work towards goals with and have fun,” Spivak said. “My favorite part about the Subtleties is our group culture, which is a byproduct of the remarkable women that make up our group. The Subtleties is a space where I feel seen, heard and loved, and the group has been a big source of community and support for me on campus.”
A cappella at Dartmouth: A real life ‘Pitch Perfect’?
The Dartmouth Aires are the College’s oldest a capella group.
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Watching the Barden Bellas defeat the Treblemakers in the film “Pitch Perfect” gave me a slightly unrealistic perception of what a cappella would be like at Dartmouth. From lavish costumes to bright lights, intense rehearsals, sing-offs and fierce competition, the film certainly paints an intimidating picture of collegiate a cappella. However, similar to the strong bonds shared by the protagonists in “Pitch Perfect,” many students who participate in a cappella at Dartmouth shared that these groups have provided them with new friendships, camaraderie and a sense of community on campus.There are eight a cappella groups on campus. The all-male groups include the Aires, the Brovertones and the Cords. The Decibelles, the Rockapellas and the Subtleties are historically female groups, while the Dodecaphonics and the Sings are co-ed groups. Each group rehearses about six hours a week divided between three days, and regularly performs at different spaces around campus. Some of the groups have even toured around the country.
In an email statement to The Dartmouth, president of the Subtleties Julia Herman ’23 wrote that all a cappella groups will perform in the Orientation week showcase on Sept. 10 and host open rehearsals to allow incoming students to get to know the different groups from Sept. 11 to Sept. 16. Auditions for the historically female groups and the co-ed groups will take place on Saturday, Sept. 17 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m, and auditions for the all-male groups and co-ed groups will take place on Sunday, Sept. 18 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m, she wrote. On these two days, all B Y Gianna Totani
member of the Decibelles, said. “But at the end of the day, we care about each other more.”
The Dartmouth Staff
not perform his best at his first callback audition, he ended up attending the callback for the Brovertones. He said that he was glad he joined the Brovertones because he thinks it is a great fit for“Thehim. community of guys that I have been able to meet and the mentors that I’ve been able to get [are people whom] I really look
auditioners perform scales and pitch-matching, with one representative present from each a cappella group. Then, auditioners return later in the day to perform a 30-second solo of a song of their choice for all groups they are eligible to join. So, make sure you drink your tea the night before — you could be singing your song up to five Accordingtimes!to
Other members of various a cappella groups also expressed enthusiasm for their respective group, the friends they have met and the sense of belonging a cappella has given them at Dartmouth.“Wecare a lot about the music, and we care a lot about the singing,” Avery Fogg ’24, a
Suri Prabhu ’24, a member of the Sings, explained that confidence is key to doing well at auditions.“Itdoesn’t matter what song you sing,” Prabhu said. “Be certain that you are comfortable and have fun with it. That’s what matters.”Spivak said that the Subtleties has been part of her support system at Dartmouth since she joined her freshman fall.
According to Maddy Spivak ’24, a member of the Subtleties, the number of shows a group performs varies by term and depends on the special events happening around campus, the number of members taking off terms and whether the group is preoccupied doing other things, such as recording their own albums.Atthis point, you might be intrigued by a cappella at Dartmouth and how to get involved. Trust me –– I was in your same shoes. Last fall, I attended the a cappella preview show during Orientation week and was absolutely enthralled by each group’s talent. We did not have a cappella groups at my high school, so it was my first taste of a cappella aside from “Pitch Perfect.”
COURTESY OF SHEIL SHARMA
up to,” Thomas said.
Herman, the entire audition process on Saturday and Sunday takes most of the day, but the adrenaline and nerves won’t end after you sing. You could get a callback, which means you have to rehearse a different song to perform at the next round on Sunday night. If you are called back to at least one group, you will receive an email by Sunday night. Then, you will attend a small showcase with every other auditionee. Every a cappella group will sing and tell you what their group means to them and why you should join theirThisgroup.iswhere the process gets interesting –– you must choose just one group with which you’ll attend callbacks. Callbacks vary from group to group, but generally consist of singing another solo, learning your vocal part of one of their arrangements and, in general, seeing if you vibe with the group. Callbacks can have two outcomes: You can be accepted into the group, or if the group does not choose you, you can “trickle down,” or attend the callbacks of another group you were called backGriffinto. Thomas ’24, a member of the Brovertones, said that he advises students interested in a cappella to trust the audition process and that “trickling down” sometimes works out for the best. After Thomas felt he did
Go Your Own Way
STAFF COLUMNIST THOMAS
That’s not to say you should shy away from new experiences. Part of learning who you are is embracing new opportunities to fgure out what you do and don’t like. While you know your limits, saying yes to trying new things is a great way to fne-tune your identity. Alpha Theta was the frst Greek basement I ever went into, and though I only had water, I felt incredibly supported by the kind members and friends in that house. This sparked me to become more comfortable with Greek life, and I eventually rushed Phi Tau last year. This process — which took over a year and a half — involved a lot of back-and-forth with myself to fgure out just how comfortable I was in Greek life, where people can be into wildly diferent things.Tothis
As with everything I have discussed to this point, what aspects of your sex life you enjoy or don’t will take a good deal of time to sort out for yourself. You may know exactly what you want from sex. Some people fnd great success in that the very frst time they get intimate with another person; as you can imagine, others have to take their time in fguring themselves and their partners out. You may also fnd yourself partaking in the College’s hookup culture. In yet another piece of noncommittal advice, you may fnd fulfllment from hooking up with others, or it may be demoralizing. Deep down, you probably already know what the answer will be for you; pressure from peers or partners should not change whatever it is that you feel most comfortable with.
When I came to Dartmouth three years ago, I knew I would have a transformative experience. The curriculum was far more diverse than what I had at my conservative high school, with the distributive requirements introducing me to a whole host of topics that I could not have imagined. I knew I would be challenged time and again in the classroom. And though the pandemic upended much of what I thought my academic career would look like (curse you, 20F Peru study abroad!), I still cherish the academic experiences I have gotten during my time at Dartmouth.
program for medical students to teach them about health policy topics. After meeting him for coffee — and an extremely technical policy discussion I was definitely not prepared for nor expecting — I was invited to attend. I was initially terrified because I knew I was nowhere near the experience level of the others who would be there. But after I got over my hesitancy I soon enough was doing Zoom book club with a bunch of medical students. It turned out to be a highlight of my summer.
It has taken three long years, and I have come a long way to become the version of myself that I am today. All of you reading this — especially the ’26s, who come from all parts of the world and all walks of life — come to Dartmouth at diferent starting points: Some of you may have all aspects of your identity fgured out to a tee, while others may never have given a second thought to the identity you have carried with you for years. Thus, I have no advice that will apply to every single one of you, nor does anyone else. As such, consider what follows to be a series of tips — “Spencer’s Declassifed Queer Survival Guide,” if you will — meant to guide you with a few basic principles: You are you, and you have more than enough time to learn who you are on your own terms.
Theexpect.nextschool year, I got myself rejected from not just one more but two more Dartmouth programs I thought would have been great for me. Again, I was disappointed. I really needed something to do during an upcoming off term. I ended up sending a few more cold emails and ended up with a great opportunity where I learned a ton — more than I ever would have learned in a term of classes, frankly. After a term of working for them they liked me so much that they even put me on their group’s executive board one day out of the blue. I’m still not convinced I’m qualified for that one. Regardless, you should get the point by now. Being able to do cool things, whatever that may be in your mind, is often not a function of having fancy credentials, but rather a question of if you show up and ask when and where no one else does. Don’t be afraid to do so. You’ve got nothing to lose, and everything to gain.
Dartmouth yields plenty of opportunites. But don’t be afraid to make your own path.
Spencer’s Declassi ed Queer Survival Guide
Many queer frst-years are fnally able to be their true selves. Take this new freedom to become you.
That same summer, upon hearing I was working for our state representative, one of my mother’s friends introduced me to a friend of hers: A retired doctor and professor who also happened to be a leading figure in my state’s health policy advocacy scene. His organization had a summer educational
Once you have an idea of who you are, use that to set and enforce boundaries for yourself. There are experiences that you might have or things that you might be exposed to that will make you more or less comfortable. For example, you may not feel comfortable in Greek spaces, though I’ll add that the three gender-inclusive Greek houses — Alpha Theta, Phi Tau and The Tabard — are some of the most prominent queer spaces on campus. In my case, I did not drink my freshman year and was not comfortable around alcohol, so the
What I did not know three years ago was just how much Dartmouth would transform my Growingidentity. up gay in a conservative town outside Anchorage, Alaska, it was easier to suppress my identity than deal with the consequences. And I was damn good at it: One of the few friends I came out to in high school did not believe me because of the straight-passing façade I built for myself. But that is not who I wanted to be. I did not want to be “straight Spencer” or “Spencer who can’t get a girlfriend.” I wanted to be Spencer, the gay man that I was always meant to become.
point, I have yet to mention a key part of one’s sexual or gender identity: sex. This was intentional. I do not mean to be prude, nor have my editors forbidden me from discussing sexuality. Being queer is a lot more than sex alone; queer subculture infuences many of our lives, no matter how intently someone does or does not subscribe to it. Queerness is vast and takes time to explore. Still, sex — and frst experiencing it — is on the minds of many students, as surveys conducted by The Dartmouth show that between 30% and 43% of the members of the Classes of 2020, 2021 and 2022 reported frst engaging in sexual activity at Dartmouth (Importantly, these results are not stratifed by reported sexual orientation.)
It’s true that Dartmouth is the smallest of all Ivy League schools. We have only about 4,000 undergraduate students — quite small in the grand scheme of things. But we still pack quite the punch. In spite of our size, we have an endowment of $8.5 billion, worldclass students and faculty, a medical school, an engineering school, a business school, a public health school and graduate programs in many other fields. For most students, whatever it is you want to do, you can do it here. But that’s not true for everyone. Don’t let yourself unwittingly rule out options you might like just because they don’t neatly fit into what Dartmouth offers.
I’ll illustrate this with a personal example. I came to Dartmouth interested in government as a potential career path. With the pandemic raging, I had a hunch I wanted to try out public health. The previous summer, on my mother’s encouragement, I’d sent out my first cold email to someone I’d never met. It got me volunteering on a state senate campaign in my hometown by helping the candidate do research for her policy positions. I got a lot out of it despite being totally in over my head at first. There wasn’t much I (or anyone) could predict about the future implications of the COVID-19 pandemic back in summer 2020, although I gave it my best shot. What ended up being more important was that I found I really loved diving into not just the issues of the day, but the solutions too. When you find something you like doing, don’t forget it, even if you’re met with discouragement at Dartmouth.Duringmy freshman fall, I got rejected from a Dartmouth-sponsored summer program. I thought it was right up my alley, and at the time I was really bummed. Instead, I was stuck sending another cold email to someone I had never met. It turned out even better than I could have imagined. Not only did I get to have a fairly relaxed summer to recover from my first year, but I secured a policy research stint for my state representative and ended up even writing a few bills alongside my research! A cleanedup version of one of them, a maternal and infant health improvement program, was almost passed into law the following session. Nobody in the program I hadn’t gotten into was doing anything like that. Because the Dartmouth program had rejected me, I was grudgingly forced to find my own path. My success wasn’t because I was impeccably qualified either. I had next to nothing to my name at the time. I got to do it simply because I showed up and asked. Cold emails are your best friend. You have nothing to lose by hitting send. If the person you ask says no or doesn’t respond, you end up in exactly the same spot as if you hadn’t asked.
I have tried to provide very broad, general advice that can help queer readers fnd themselves in their frst year and beyond. But my advice is just that: a mile wide, an inch deep and the product of my experiences, which undoubtedly will look diferent from those of every single reader. Ultimately, fnding out what “queer” means to you might involve lots of trial and error, and it likely will not end in a year’s time. Though this may sound daunting, it is ultimately a very good thing. It allows you to get to know yourself more and become the best version of you. When you are in a new place with thousands of new people, standing out from the crowd and being your authentic self is what you all deserve.
There are two lessons here. First, make use of your friends and family, especially if they are retired professionals who have (and this is the crucial part) both connections and the time to talk to you. People love lecturing you about themselves and their careers. I’m doing exactly that myself right now. However, when people do so they often will also give you nuggets of good advice — which is what you really need — while they’re at it. Second, don’t be afraid to be the least qualified person in the room. If you remember your manners and take the opportunities you find seriously, you’ll learn more than you could ever imagine when you first showed up. When you join a new group, nobody expects you to run the show right off the bat. In fact, people usually find that off putting. Use that to your advantage to soak up the learning and prepare yourself for when you can truly contribute at the level they expect. You’ll get there faster than you might
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022THE DARTMOUTH FRESHMAN ISSUE 2022PAGE 22 SENIOR COLUMNIST SPENCER ALLEN ’ 23
As you start off your Dartmouth career, don’t be afraid to do your own thing. There are a few well-traveled career and academic paths that a large number of students here take. These are often quite lucrative, but from my experience, most people don’t pursue these options out of passion but rather because they think they are expected to or will lose out if they don’t. Don’t do that to yourself. Do what you actually want to do. And if you don’t yet know what it is you want to do, don’t worry. There’s no good answer I can give to that, but I can say that you’ll know when you inevitably find it. Best of luck to you, Class of 2026.
prospect of going to Greek basements — even in inclusive spaces — made me incredibly anxious. Your boundaries may look diferent: Maybe you want to try alcohol, but you feel more comfortable in a dorm than a basement. Or there might be a situation where someone pushes you to break one of your boundaries. Knowing yourself, what is good and bad for you, is important above all else.
LANE ’ 24
The frst tip I have for you is to take the time to learn about your identity. You may be like me, in that you were confdent about who you were in high school, only to have your personal playbook thrown out the window the second you get to college. Or you may be like many of my friends, who were never really sure of parts of their identity before getting to Dartmouth but had the chance to completely reimagine themselves and relearn their identity once they got to college. Rest assured this is a process that almost every student goes through across all parts of their identity. But this can feel especially daunting when you are trying to solidify your gender and sexuality. This process will take a lot of time; you cannot just “sleep on it” and have the answers revealed. The answers you seemingly discover along the way may very well change several times over your time at Dartmouth.
The frst, and most reliable, way to change up the conversation: Ask weird questions. I’m not saying you need to parade around asking people for their social security numbers or mothers’ maiden names, but questions even a little outside the normal range can massively help along a conversation. Instead of sticking to the same stale stuf, use “second-meet” questions — the topics you usually reserve for conversational talking points the second time you meet someone. Take, for example, music taste. It might not be the frst thing you traditionally ask someone, but fnding even one artist in common can allow two people to instantly bond, whether it’s over John Denver or Doja Cat. Or, instead, ask about their biggest fears. Sure, this question isn’t a traditional opener, but learning that someone is terrifed of utensils can be a hilarious meet-cute (or, I guess, a sure sign to steer clear).
Angela Davis wrote: “I want to feel that there is an enormous community of human beings who share a vision of the future.” It is movements at Dartmouth that allow us to feel glimpses of that community, of that loving anger. As I enter my fourth year at Dartmouth, half my experience has felt a painted mess. From dual COVID-19 and monkeypox pandemics to everlasting economic precarity to hurtling toward environmental disaster, getting out of bed every morning becomes a Herculean task.
The second way to shake up conversations might be a relatively obvious one: Notice things. With the whirlwind chaos of Orientation, it’s easy to begin viewing each new person as just another meaningless face instead of a potential friend for life. However, if you’re willing to take a step back and keep an eye out for details, you can kick-start conversations with greater depth. During one of the last days of Orientation, I wore a t-shirt with one of my favorite artists on it, and by the end of the day, I’d had a number of fun, meaningful conversations — each with people who took the time to notice my shirt.
STAFF COLUMNIST JEREMY GART ’
Remember, though, that Orientation doesn’t have to go well. It’s a packed period of time where each student is so amped up on their introduction to college that the collective atmosphere is, well, strange. Yes, some kids have the time of their lives during Orientation, but to be frank, most don’t. If your Orientation feels jumbled and subpar, that’s totally okay. It certainly wasn’t the highlight of my freshman year, and it doesn’t have to be yours. Orientation is the frst opportunity to make friends, but far from the only one.
25
During Orientaton, it’s easy to repeat the same conversatons over and over. The best way to make new friends? Shake things up.
There is a long history of Dartmouth students organizing for a peaceful, equitable world, from occupations of the Green against the College’s investments in South African apartheid to Indigneous protests in 1993 against Dartmouth’s support of Hydro-Quebec’s dams on Cree Land. This legacy has continued: Unionized dining worker students with the Student Worker Collective at Dartmouth have bargained for victories beyond universal sick pay and 1.5x pay increases, and coalitions of Black students under the Black Student Congress are confronting chronic underfunding and racism. If you are a student who believes in a better world and wants to be a part of shaping it, joining existing student organizations on campus is the best way to do so. Organizing creates student power, but also ofers spaces of energy and hope for the future — spaces that can and must be continued by the energy of new Scholar-revolutionarystudents.
Here’sways.the problem: Even if the people in conversation don’t have any of those fve things in common, they could still be a fantastic potential friend waiting to be discovered. During one of my frst nights at Dartmouth, I briefy met a quiet kid in a hoodie before swinging into another introductory conversation. One year later, he’s one of my closest friends — but most
left students devastated and stranded fnancially and socially, there was outrage and hopelessness at the College’s response, which — for students in dire need — primarily consisted of an Emergency Student Relief Fund that went dry in April of 2020. To fulfll the intense demand on campus, The Dartmouth Student Union arose, creating a mutual aid fund that facilitated networks of care so students could aford to survive. But in doing so, it did more than that. It advocated for a future free from capital and its exploitation; as students, we do not receive the value that we give to the school, and all we have is each other. When students rushed back to campus as COVID-19 continued, it was the Student Worker Collective at Dartmouth that placed deep pressure onto the College to pay fair wages and give student workers sick pay.
Another factor in getting value out of conversations? Not having too many of them. With the constant roster of activities and dorm hangouts, don’t be afraid to sneak back to your bed for some quiet time. Even the biggest extrovert’s social battery eventually runs out, and there’s no shame in giving yourself some time to recharge. Instead of slogging through interaction after interaction, this recharge time can be key in making sure the conversations you have involve two willing, energized people instead of exhausted shells.
The last piece of advice: Stay away from questions about the application process. Nobody really cares whether you applied early decision, regular decision, two minutes before the deadline or two months before it. You all already made it — and it’s a damn good time. Enjoy the ride, and go make yourself some friends.
But organizing ofers us new solutions, glimpses of possibility that suggest this does not have to be our future. Nothing has kept me going more than fellow students, here and across the world, who refuse a world defned by casual cruelty — students who, as a part of numerous and coalescing movements, organize against the prisonindustrial complex to the exploitation of workers, from the Harvard Prison Divestment Campaign to the Youth Democratic Socialists of America’s Red Hot Summer program that taught hundreds of university students across the nation the foundations of youth labor environment. Organizing at Dartmouth connects you to these movements and to other students who fght the good fght.
Oh, and for the love of God, don’t ask anybody what their SAT score was.
But not only do these organizations ofer students material wins, they are also vital ideological spaces for political discussion and learning, such as the DSU’s Freedom Schools on abolitionist justice in Miami and Dartmouth YDSA’s crash courses on Marx in relation to the strike wave. In learning about these international movements, and gaining the vocabulary to discuss them and what we can learn from them in Hanover, New Hampshire, we develop the ability to connect these movements to our own struggles and experiences. Learning, for example, about how past students organized against mass death and economic exploitation allowed me to connect my current work, from SWCD to Korean militarism, to international movements.Idonotwrite to prove that crises exist, but to recognize that they do, and we can dream of more. I, and others, implore students coming into Dartmouth, or even existing students who want to get involved but feel unsure, lost or cynical, to join a burgeoning student movement — to refuse passivity, and fnd joy and love in what is possible. Angela Davis fnishes her quote with this: “So let me conclude now with a simple, fnal message that is really a plea. Please get involved. Please try to make a diference. Please try to turn this country, and the world, around.” Folks here welcome you with open arms when you do, and it is a choice that makes your time here infnitely more transformative than you could imagine.
It took me a few days to really get into the spirit of Orientation Week, but once I hit my groove, I was feeling fantastic. One of the last nights, I spotted a few friends I’d made earlier, and together, we adventured around the campus, hopping from dorm to dorm. It was a night to remember, and an awesome introduction to the casual culture of acceptance that Dartmouth boasts. For the frst time, I’d been able to break through the barriers of small talk, and I engaged in fun, real conversation with my peers. At the end of the night, before I headed back to my dorm, I paused and looked at my two comrades. “Hey,” I stammered, “uh, what are your names again?”Orientation is, well, weird. Of course, it’s absolutely crucial — Orientation is where you make your frst friends, gag on your frst Foco meal and hopelessly realize that you really should’ve bought a fan. And yet, Orientation is also possibly the most overwhelming part of the entire freshman year experience. With only freshmen on campus, it feels like there’s constant pressure to meet as many new people as possible. Whether it’s a random sidewalk encounter or a Collis pasta line run-in, Orientation puts pressure on every student to be as outgoing as possible.
Dis-OrientationOrganize Our Way Out
Students who seek to create a more just, kinder world should do so alongside the burgeoning student movements at Dartmouth.
This can sometimes be great. The more people one meets during the frst few weeks, the more likely they are to fnd people they genuinely like. Yet, at least in my experience, these introductory conversations seem to take on an infuriatingly repetitive rhythm. Here’s how it breaks down.
STAFF COLUMNIST SHEEN
KIM ’ 23
It also shows us that we are our own best way out. When the beginning of the pandemic
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022 THE DARTMOUTH FRESHMAN ISSUE 2022 PAGE 23
First, both parties introduce themselves. Second, it’s established which dorm they’re both living in, with an accompanying wince if either person mentions the Choates or the River. Next up is hometowns, followed by potential majors, and to wrap the conversation up, some general thoughts on Orientation so far. Now, if at any point there’s a commonality between these people, genuine conversation can blossom. But more likely, the conversation thuds to completion, and the two parties go their separate
of the fall term had passed before I took another chance to get to know him. Maybe these missed connections are somewhat inevitable, but I believe there are ways to shake up a conversation and allow someone’s true personality to break through the conversation’s formulaic exterior.
And so on. The admissions office suggests that Dartmouth wants, simultaneously, “multi-talented” students who can “be extraordinary here.” That’s the goal: to order everything on the Cheesecake Factorysized menu of opportunities, then find your specialty on campus and, through late nights and hard work and constantly pushing your limits, be extraordinary. Accomplish amazing things — if you don’t, then why are you
SENIOR COLUMNIST KYLE MULLINS ’ 22
“Cute resume,” you note. “What on Earth does this have to do with relating to Dartmouth?” That’s just it: Over the past ten years, Dartmouth has been doing the same things I have.
Here we are in that final year — a fifth year, one I never thought I would have, that gives me an opportunity I intend to seize.
I never thought I’d relate to the College. Attend it, work for it, report on and occasionally skewer it with an ideally witty pen? Sure! But relate to? How can I identify with an institution, a brick-and-mortar set of buildings and ever-expanding administrative offices in the middle of the woods? Well — and I know this sounds weird — I think the College and I are going through similar stages of life right now.
Everyone at Dartmouth is, at least to some extent, familiar with overcommitment. It probably started in high school, when almost all of us pursued too many extracurriculars, clubs and awards to count. The pursuit of self-betterment, of accomplishment, defined our early lives. If you’re anything like me, you were worn down by the time you reached your final year — and yet, all those extracurriculars, clubs and awards got us both into Dartmouth, so what are we complaining about?
I’m setting goals for myself that I intend to stick to: saying no to the many places where I could exacerbate my overcommitment, getting off social media and back into more truly enjoyable uses of my time, balancing my classes, sleeping more and prioritizing the friends and relationships that make my life fun. Not just worth it, as I tell myself about work and accolades, but fun. I don’t regret pursuing the things I did, not at all, but I do
Mirroring her duty, I feel that I have a responsibility to myself: Use the lessons learned from my vast overcommitment to rebalance my life and my priorities. I do not intend to cast aside drive and ambition, but I do have to recognize that only so much
Kyle Mullins is the former editor-in-chief of The Dartmouth and is now a member of the Opinion staff. This is his “Through The Looking Glass” column, a series of reflections from graduating seniors.
And that forgetting, that lapse in judgment, that is what I relate to. In prioritizing my reporting often above all else, I too frequently let readings and studying slide. In trying to be the campus journalist on Twitter, I ignored the toll that platform takes on users. In refusing to balance my schedule with classes of different varieties and difficulties, I lost the time I needed to take care of my body with sleep and exercise. In becoming editor-in-chief — and taking on the 40-60 hour work weeks that entailed, not to mention the crises — I let longrunning friendships wither away.
Take it from someone who took on too much: Sometmes, you’re beter of going back to basics.
Outgoing College President Phil Hanlon promised at his 2013 inauguration the “largest-ever investment in Dartmouth’s academic enterprise.” He delivered,
That’shere?theethos
that mentally defined my last four years. I joined The Dartmouth as soon as I could and wrote as many articles as I could, even during breaks and off terms. I couldn’t just be in any first-year seminar — I had to be in the Humanities sequence. It was application-only, so it must be the best, right? I relentlessly pursued internships, scoops, promotions, harder classes and other forms of recognition. Even when I took a pandemic gap year, ostensibly to get away from the online classes that so drained me during sophomore summer, I redoubled my reporting and worked extra shifts during the Christmas holidays during a global pandemic. Then I became editor-in-chief. More, more, more.
Yet in its zeal for ever more, Dartmouth forgot its raison d’etre, its rationale for existence, its reasoning for wanting to accomplish all those things: the maintenance of the phenomenal undergraduate experience at the heart of a Dartmouth education.“Though the College was placed on solid financial footing and made a number of key strides forward in academics and infrastructure, core problems like housing and mental health were mostly ignored, deteriorating to the point of crisis,” this newspaper’s Editorial Board wrote in January about Hanlon’s tenure. That Board, which I served on, was right: A calamity of poor quality, low-quantity housing crested at the same time as the worst mental health crisis in recent memory. In seeking ever-greater heights, Dartmouth forgot its fundamental responsibilities — and students paid the price.
Mullins: Overcommit to Yourself
is sustainable. In other words, if I want to succeed, fulfill my goals and actually enjoy myself doing it, I need to dial things back. And so, Dartmouth and I may be on a similar path in the coming years. Change does not come quickly; as the old saying goes, recognizing that you have a problem is only step one. If you’re a student reading this, though, especially a first-year student, consider the following as you begin or continue your Dartmouth career: Overcommit to yourself, not to accomplishment or accolades or a constant drive for excellence. You may find yourself happier for it.
Then, upon arrival in Hanover, we were immediately bombarded with new and exciting commitments — sorry, opportunities. Join one of the bazillion student groups! Play a new sport! Write for something! Get into research! Find an exciting campus job! Get involved in student government! Figure out what a “North Park House” is! Learn a bunch of Greek letters and drinking games in preparation for rushing — sorry, recruitment for — a frat! Find your lifelong friends! Get an internship! Get another internship!
NINA SLOAN ’24: WELCOME HOME
with emphasis on the “enterprise.” Over the past decade, thanks in large part to the $3 billion Call to Lead fundraising campaign, Dartmouth has gone bigger. The construction of the Engineering and Computer Science Center and the Irving Energy Institute, renovations of the Hood Museum of Art and Hopkins Center for the Arts and expansions of graduate school programs all come to mind. And don’t forget the record endowment growth.
I kept pushing, kept seeking more and more accomplishment, but at a cost. My priorities were distinctly out of balance (the pandemic did not help). And as the 20212022 academic year came to a close, I had a hell of a resume to show for it, but I also had a smaller social circle, a couple months of desperately needed therapy under my belt, a shockingly attenuated attention span and burnout more intense than anything I’d felt in high school. Most of all, I had a feeling that — for my final year at Dartmouth — things needed to change.
regret how I balanced them — or, largely failed to balance them — with everything else.Dartmouth could take a rebalancing lesson to heart. In the coming years, president-select Sian Leah Beilock has a responsibility, a duty, to students: Use the money Hanlon raised to tackle the issues he ignored, like housing and mental health. Her academic research is focused on stress and anxiety, and I hope she will apply that knowledge to her leadership, to policymaking for the College and to shifting campus culture toward a new, more healthy equilibrium.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022THE DARTMOUTH FRESHMAN ISSUE 2022PAGE 24
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022 THE DARTMOUTH FRESHMAN ISSUE 2022 PAGE 25 LILA HOVEY/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
ZOORIEL TAN /THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
First of all, being unafliated is liberating. You’re free from the pressure to be a “cool kid” and you literally can’t be, at least
Even as Dartmouth gradually returned to its former self, I kept those frst terms in a mental box because I felt unable to return to the unjaded version of myself who had lived them.
part of the last class at Dartmouth that had a prepandemic freshman fall. Although things are pretty much back to normal now, at least in day-to-day campus operations, the pandemic changed everything, I think. For all of Beforeus. COVID-19 hit, I didn’t know that the world could just stop. Dartmouth seemed impenetrable, a hidden bubble in the woods, safe from the outside world. It was a place to explore, have fun and make mistakes without real-life Thenconsequences.inMarch of 2020, just days after turning in my winter fnals, the bubble popped. I remember sitting in my childhood bedroom at home in California, feeling like my real life was thousands of miles away. For an unforeseen and catastrophic reason, after the most exhilarating and joyful 20 weeks of my life, Dartmouth had closed its doors to Obviously,me. I’ve long since returned to Dartmouth. Its doors have reopened not just to me, but to all of its inhabitants and to new students as well. However, the shocking sense of withdrawal I felt during spring 2020 meant that to preserve my sanity, I had to forget at least a little bit what I lost when Dartmouth sent my class home with no return date.
sent home or not seeing my friends for a year straight.
according to the mainstream Dartmouth metric. I spent many on-nights my freshman year playing pong in the Pi Kap basement, where I was welcome on table even as a freshman. Occasionally I’d let my friends drag me to dance scenes in crowded “A-side” basements, but that wasn’t my scene, and without the category of Greek afliation attached to my name, nobody really expected it to be. I joined fve yes, literally fve club sports teams, lavishing in the ability to play multiple sports after spending high school dedicated only to competitive soccer.
So I locked my freshman year away, mentally compartmentalizing it behind frosted glass walls. If I didn’t think about its searingly intense freedom, or the joy of fnding a new home and being absolutely, unequivocally in love with this place and its people, my new normal didn’t hurt so badly.
But, as I return for my fnal year at Dartmouth, I think it’s fnally time to remember. There is so much to celebrate about freshman fall, and in the process of getting through the past two years, I muted its highs and lows in my memory.
I’d be remiss not to mention the fact that freshman fall was when I came out. Before arriving to Dartmouth, I had no idea that I was gay and for those of you who know me, you know the closet was glass. I’m not sure what it was about freshman fall that fnally woke me up to this important and in many ways, glaringly obvious part of myself, but I know that it was
At frst, COVID seemed like a joke, with people wearing gas masks to frat parties and witty corona-themed 20W Instagram captions. I’m not really a crier, but I still tear up when I think about the cold admin email that made it all real, abruptly ending my year like a swift punch to the gut. To this day, I grieve the what ifs, even as I celebrate the person I’ve become and the people who surround me. Maybe I’d still be pre-med (thank God I’m not), maybe I would have dated that person for longer and maybe my friend group wouldn’t have changed so much. Oh well.
WhenSTORY the Bubble Pops: A Senior’s Perspective
I’m glad that I came into Dartmouth unjaded. Yes, it made the bad parts feel worse much worse. But I’m not sure post-pandemic me would have let myself fall in love with Dartmouth. Knowing everything that happened, it might have felt too risky. I dove in unafraid and headfrst, and it hurt like hell when I hit the bottom. But I found my way back up to the surface eventually, and I’m much better for the journey.
By Caris White
MIRROR
simultaneously the most confusing and most joyful thing I’ve ever done. Being gay at Dartmouth is a mixed bag, but this school will always be the place where I found a missing piece of myself, and for that I am forever grateful.
It was too painful to remember when the scariest part of Dartmouth was my CHEM 5, “General Chemistry” midterm or an upperclassman frat boy on door yelling at me. I was grieving new relationships, prematurely severed by COVID, when I should have been deepening them. It hurt and it still does to remember a time when I wasn’t scared of being
In all honesty, I sat in front of my laptop staring at a blank Google Doc for days before I found the words I wanted to write down
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022THE DARTMOUTH FRESHMAN ISSUE 2022PAGE 26
on this page. I almost missed the deadline for this story and as an editor, I should know better. The mental box that I’d built proved challenging to open, and unforgetting is as difcult as it Butsounds.
At the end of the day, I won’t attempt to give you a Dartmouth crash course, because I think it works better when you fgure it out for yourself. Dive in. Even if you hit the bottom, you’ll make your way back up. We’ll all be waiting for you at the surface.
Almost anyone can tell you there is so much you don’t know coming into Dartmouth. There are pages and pages on The D’s website teeming with advice from current students and past grads. This special issue, after all, is dedicated not only to welcoming ’26s home, but to giving you the lay of the land. During the frst few weeks of college, it can feel like all of Dartmouth is trying to give you a crash course on what you don’t I’mknow.
education system, implying that my state focused on farming rather than learning.
By Gretchen Bauman
As you can imagine, moving halfway across the country to attend Dartmouth was an adjustment for me in more ways than one. Although I knew I would be challenged academically, I wasn’t prepared for the extent to which I would be challenged socially, as well. Last fall, when I found myself suddenly immersed in Dartmouth’s preppy social spheres, I quickly began to feel as though I didn’t belong.
Yet, even if I had known how to ski or understood the intricate rules governing squash, ultimately, the primary culprit behind my fears that I didn’t belong was my Midwestern hometown.
I laughed off these comments at the time, and honestly still find them absurd enough to be funny in retrospect. But their constant repetition eventually made me feel as though I was truly an anomaly at Dartmouth. I’m not the first Dartmouth girl from Indiana, nor am I the only one in my class, but I felt separated from the East and West Coasters by a facet of my identity that seemed to stick out like a sore thumb.
Yet, over the course of the past year, these various times I felt out of place paled in comparison to the number of occasions on which friends have convinced me that I truly belong in Hanover. Throughout freshman year, I found friends willing to teach me the rules of field hockey and squash, lend me their lacrosse sticks and play intramural hockey with me though we tragically lost our first game. Despite my lack of skiing experience, one of my friends who had been skiing practically since birth even offered to take a Nordic skiing lesson with me last winter. Not only did she help me put on all the equipment, but she pulled me up every single hill on the golf course when I
In Indiana I could count on one hand the number of people I knew who played lacrosse or squash or field hockey, for that matter. But suddenly, those sports were everywhere. The presence of athletes competing at the collegiate and club level in sports that I barely knew existed left me feeling as though I lacked some essential knowledge that other Dartmouth students possessed. Later, as ski season descended on campus, many of my new friends complained about breaking a binding or celebrated fresh powder and I would nod along without any clue as to what they were talking about.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022 THE DARTMOUTH FRESHMAN ISSUE 2022 PAGE 27
To the Class of 2026, there will inevitably be times where you feel like you don’t belong at Dartmouth. At times, this school can seem to be centered around a preppy lifestyle that appears inaccessible to those who didn’t grow up with it. Instead of allowing feelings of not belonging to overwhelm you, I hope that you find true friendships that outweigh these feelings friends who will pull you up ski hills and teach you new sports even if they’ve known the rules since kindergarten. There is a place for you at Dartmouth, no matter how fervently you believe there isn’t. After all, if an Indiana girl can find her home in Hanover, I know that you, too, will find where you belong on campus.
couldn’t figure out how to move my feet in the skis.
When I first arrived on campus last year, it seemed as though many other members of the Class of 2025 already knew at least a few people whether from their hometown or the Dartmouth alumni clubs in their area. In this respect, Indiana put me at a distinct disadvantage. There is no Dartmouth alumni club anywhere in the state, and during the entirety of high school, I didn’t know a single person who attended, or even applied, to Dartmouth.
When I would introduce myself to someone, the conversation usually came to a full stop when I mentioned where I was from. People always seemed at a loss
ELAINE PU /THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
When I think of the quintessential Dartmouth student, it’s easy to envision someone who attended private school, hails from one of the two coasts, skis in the winter and summers in Nantucket, the Cape or the Hamptons. Your classic New England prep school student. I know not everyone at Dartmouth fits this image, but sometimes, it can feel that way.
I embody none of these qualities. I attended a public high school in West Lafayette, Indiana, a Midwestern state that many Dartmouth students couldn’t pick out on a map trust me, I’ve asked. Last winter was the first time I had ever seen a pair of skis in my life, much less strapped them on and flung myself down a mountain. During the summers, rather than jetsetting to East Coast islands, I spent many nights driving through the cornfields that dot the Indiana countryside. My primary exposure to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard has come from racing through Elin Hilderbrand’s novels, rather than visiting them myself.
For every person who made a disparaging remark about the Midwest, there were five others who told them to apologize or jokingly advised me to kick the offenders in the shins. After I mentioned to a friend that my little brother’s soccer team was having success in the postseason, they began following the state tournament, despite having no other connection to Indiana high school soccer.
Skiing,STORY Squash and ’Sconset: What is Belonging?
for what to say about the state of Indiana. They would ask “What do people eat in Indiana?” and “Is there even electricity in the Midwest?” For the record, yes, I did not grow up by candlelight. Occasionally, they would change the subject entirely. Worse were the snide comments about Indiana’s
Kingsaid.said she took some economics courses freshman year after some direct pressure and indirect infuence and quickly discovered that they weren’t for her. Of course, this exploration was still valuable in reafrming King’s lack of interest in economics, but it is worth remembering that just because everyone is doing something, it doesn’t mean you must as I’vewell. found this particularly important as someone now considering a humanities major, like history, instead of my initial inclination toward a STEM major, like biology. Whatever interests you is worth studying that’s right, the humanities are just as
Aboveimportant!all
Amid all the dancing, fair and excitement of First-Year Trips and Orientation Week, it can be easy to forget that Dartmouth is a college where you actually have to attend classes, do homework and take tests. Once that reality sets in, the academic transition from high school to college can seem like a formidable challenge you are thrust into a very diferent academic system, a system that may be confusing to navigate and overwhelming to approach. Quarter system? Distributive requirements? Majors and minors?
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Often, as Ellie McLaughlin ’25 noted, fulflling requirements will come as a byproduct of choosing classes that interest you.
else, what’s most important to remember when starting your frst term at Dartmouth is that you are capable of succeeding academically. Even if it seems like everyone in your classes always knows what to say to appease the professor or perfectly understood the reading you thought was incomprehensible, chances are they are in the same position as you.
When picking classes at the end of Orientation Week, it’s great to have the distributive requirements in mind, but you shouldn’t feel obligated to tackle them immediately. Besides the frst-year writing sequence every freshman must complete, there is plenty of time to get the rest of the requirements completed and plenty of classes to fulfll each category. Freshman fall will be a much more enjoyable experience if you take classes that appeal to your interests, rather than the requirements.
“I never even thought about [distributive requirements]. They just came naturally when I went with what classes sounded most fun,” McLaughlin Mattsaid.
“I discovered there were subjects that I didn’t want to continue studying. It reinforced the other things I loved to study,” King said. “And there were things that other people were doing that I fgured out I didn’t want to do.”
Koff echoed these sentiments, explaining that “the majority of people I interacted with were just as scared and intimidated as me.”
Though Caitlyn King ’24 came to Dartmouth knowing she wanted to study art history, it took some exploration in other departments to verify her interests and rule out other potential disciplines.
Kof summed it up best.
In true liberal arts fashion, there are eight distributive requirements students must meet before they graduate, which means you will take classes in literature, science, social analysis and other broad academic areas. If you’re strictly a STEM person who despises writing essays or a humanities lover who
By Parker O’HaraSTORY
“At the end of the day, you know yourself best. If you feel external pressure to do something, but in your heart you don’t want to do it, don’t do it,” she
If I had taken some of my own advice freshman fall, it would’ve been a much more enjoyable experience. It’s unproductive and dangerous to follow a path of academic comparison, especially when this comparison frames your peers in an unrealistic manner.
Though I unfortunately have already made it through all of the excitement, fear and about a million other emotions that come with freshman fall and can no longer beneft from some advice, you all still can.
identifying interests, even if they contradict your predetermined ideas of what your college experience would look like. Like many incoming Dartmouth students, I came to school with a fairly certain idea of what I wanted to study. I had applied with the intention of majoring in biology and following the pre-med track, which lasted an astounding two terms before I decided it wasn’t for me. Like Kof, it was the classes I took based on interest not distributive requirements or pre-med prerequisites that ended up illuminating some undiscovered passions in subjects I had previously shut Oneout.of these classes HIST 28, “American Women in the Twentieth Century” with history professor Annelise Orleck ended up being my favorite class of freshman year. Though I swore to myself during sophomore year of high school that I would never again take a history class if it wasn’t required, I’m incredibly glad I decided to push myself and take this one; it took a lot to put aside the apprehension I had toward history and the fear of not succeeding when I enrolled in the class. I’m now considering majoring or minoring in history, which, if I had been told in the fall, I honestly would have laughed at.
“I would tell myself to take a breath and calm down a little, try to make friends in your classes and don’t be afraid to ask questions or speak out in class because, most likely, nothing bad will come of it,” he said.
Somehow you must choose from an endless list of classes, each of which could help determine the path you take through your remaining four years at Dartmouth and your subsequent career. Beyond that, college classes themselves often look diferent from those in high school, and will likely include more challenging material and higher expectations. Luckily, those feelings of being overwhelmed, worried or even excited have already been felt by Dartmouth students myself included who have plenty of advice and stories of their own to ofer.
Having an idea of what you would like to study before coming into freshman year can provide a good foundation, but it is by no means necessary. In fact, being open to trying new subjects is often far more valuable than restricting yourself to a single department or discipline chosen before coming to college. Particularly at a liberal arts institution like Dartmouth, the ability to explore academically is a gift to be taken advantage of.
She also stressed the importance of blocking out outside infuence when making difcult academic decisions.
How We Did It: Academic Advice from Students
panics at the idea of spending time in a lab, there’s no need to fear. There are manageable classes within each distributive requirement even for those who are stepping out of their typical academic comfort zone.
ZOORIEL TAN /THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
“I think that in order to fnd out what you want to major in and do, you shouldn’t worry too much about [distributive requirements] freshman year and just take classes that really interest you,” Kof said. “I changed majors maybe four or fve times just based on the classes I was taking… Now that I have a better understanding of what I want to focus on, I’m thinking more about [distributive Academicrequirements].”exploration is key in
Koff ’25 explained how focusing on classes that interested him as opposed to classes that fulflled distributive requirements helped him identify a potential major.
To give a brief overview of Dartmouth academics, the quarter system means that each student typically takes three classes per term.
LUCY HANDY/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
Funnily enough, I have come to realize that the last time I felt this out of place was a little under a year ago, during those early weeks of September 2021 as I navigated my new home in Hanover.
Knowing more about who I am has made it easier for me to explore diferent possibilities and places within my life because, despite the
When I applied to Dartmouth, I imagined it as an idyllic little haven, a place far removed from the trials and tribulations of my Florida high school. I flled my head with ideals of a picturesque little college, one where I could fnally experience things like falling leaves or the stark beauty of winter. Without much else to do during the doldrums of quarantine, I threw myself into researching every little detail about the school until I was absolutely certain it was the place I belonged. When decisions
DartmouthSTORY is not Perfect, but it’s Home
I returned home from fall term I felt almost as lost as when I had started college several months before. I had a group of friends, but we never got that close. In my free time, I lightly involved myself in some clubs, yet nothing seemed to stick. I was more than happy with my grades, but none of my classes interested me all that much. I had a short romance with a boy that fzzled out — and then revived itself, and then fzzled out again — as so many freshman pairings do. In short, at the end of winterim, I did not have as strong a desire to return to campus as I believed many of my peers did –– I still felt deeply out of place.
FallingSTORY Into Place
Although feelings of homesickness, isolation and frustration are feeting, they pile up quickly. Still, despite the discomfort and confusion that accompanies integrating into a new place, I love it here.
A lot of those original imaginings still hold true: Dartmouth is a beautiful place, and I’m grateful that I’m still close with a lot of the friends I’ve made. But of course, I was wrong in a lot of ways too. Dartmouth isn’t perfect. Yes, I was thrilled to witness the changing leaves, to meet so many new people in fall and to fnally experience the thrill of living an independent life
away from home. But at times, I was also cold, miserable and stressed. I was faced with imposter syndrome and sometimes homesickness, and I was absolutely clueless about what I wanted to Especiallystudy.once winter arrived, I considered transferring somewhere warmer, or bigger or closer to home. I thought about it so often my parents started calling me “Mr. Rogers” — who attended Dartmouth from 1946 to 1948 before transferring to Rollins College in sunny Orlando. While I
was initially eager to leave Florida and live somewhere new, I suddenly felt the incredible distance from home and wondered why I had chosen to go somewhere over a thousand miles away.For a lot of you incoming freshmen, a snowy winter may be no big deal, but coming from a place where the sun never sets before 5:30, I struggled to handle it. I staved of the seasonal depression with
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fnally came out, I was on cloud nine: Come September, I would fnally get to experience my new life in Hanover. And at frst, it really was perfect. Those frst few weeks of fall were like constant euphoria, a blur of meeting new people over s’mores at Collis or down by the river or even at an impromptu party in the Choates. As we adjusted to our new home, we spent our days going swimming and hiking, excited by the novelty of Dartmouth. I fnally got to experience my frst autumn, even though I
I won’t pretend like my world changed during winter term, but the moment I stepped of the Dartmouth Coach from Boston Logan in early January 2022, I was warmly welcomed by a distant friend, who later became my best friend. A perfect start to 22W, and a good representation of how the rest of that term went: nw connections among people I now consider some of my closest friends, and most importantly, it was a defnite improvement from the previous term. But to be honest, even a year later I couldn’t tell you
Just like this past summer spent abroad, I would be lying if I told you that freshman year was easy. This is not to say college isn’t fun a lot of the time; however, many people come into college thinking that, after 18 years of existence, they’re going to fnd their perfect “place” in the span of one or two weeks. I was one of those people. Throughout high school, I was well-liked by my classmates, had plenty of friends and felt secure in my academics and clubs, but I didn’t necessarily feel like I had a singular “place.” I was optimistic that college would change that.When
uncertainty, I am always sure of myself.But maybe this is all bullshit, to put it lightly. After many nights struggling through papers in various humanities classes, I’ve realized that one of my greatest strengths is my ability to rationalize just about anything, and this could just be one long defense of my inner desire to get myself in tricky situations to keep my life interesting. But I like to think it’s not all smoke and mirrors. I like to think that even the most boring or facetimey person you’ve ever met is still too nuanced for a single, physical place.My advice to freshmen, or any person from any class: Make mistakes while you can and use them to learn about yourself, rather than spending your time trying to fnd a place that doesn’t exist. College is the last time in your life when you can screw up in a mostly controlled environment and gain something quite valuable from it. Ultimately, the more confdent you are in who you are, the easier it is for you to exist anywhere — no matter if you’re in the woods of New Hampshire or the desert of Morocco.
This lack — if you can even call it that — of place does not bring the dread it did during my frst break from Dartmouth. To be honest, I’ve learned that fnding your “place” in college has less to do with fnding a certain space and more about fnding yourself.
On the days when the unfamiliarity gets too overwhelming, the barrier between language and dialect feels too defeating and the temperature grows too hot, I question why I decided to come to Morocco.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022 THE DARTMOUTH FRESHMAN ISSUE 2022 PAGE 29
By Tess Bowler
that I’ve found my “place” here on campus. Going into my sophomore year, I’m more involved in campus activities than I’ve ever been; I have a wide range of friends, as well as a smaller, distinct friend group and I’ve relatively narrowed down my academic interests — just please don’t ask me what my major is. Still, I’d be hard pressed to consider any one of these qualities as a defning signifer of my role on campus.
Through every difculty I faced my freshman year of college, I learned something new about myself. When I woke up at 6 a.m. to fnish an essay for HUM 1, “Dialogues with the Classics,” due just a few short hours later, I discovered that I tend to use every minute up until a deadline to make whatever I am working on as perfect as I can in the time I have. After my frst fing in college, I realized that I would rather be alone than be with someone I didn’t feel intensely about. In Morocco, when I converse in Arabic, I am reminded of the B- I got on my frst test, but also of how much I have since persisted with the language because it enthralls me so much. And my short, failed career as a coxswain proved to me that I was simply not a morning person, no matter how cool being a student-athlete sounds.
By Marius DeMartino
probably looked stupid jumping in piles of leaves. In most ways, fall term went by for me without a hitch.
my own. This self-discovery is why I look back on freshman year so fondly, and is also why I love Morocco — not despite the struggle of fnding myself, but because of it.
When refecting on this summer spent in Morocco and the rest of my freshman year, there is a common thread between them both: I had to embrace the challenge and struggle that accompanied being completely uprooted from what I was familiar with. I have probably learned more about myself in these past 12 months than I have in the rest of my life because it was the frst time I had to deal with adult-sized problems on
Okay, but this isn’t a “let’s all pity fall-term-Tess” story. Now comes the part where I tell you it gets better.
It’s approximately 4:30 a.m. and I wake up covered in a thin layer of sweat, a familiar hallmark of my summer abroad. For the past eight weeks, I have been living 4,679 miles away from home in Rabat, the capital of Morocco, while participating in a language study abroad program. And I can say, without a doubt in my mind, that this has been the strangest summer of my “Challenging,life. but rewarding,” is the response I give to my friends and family when they ask how my time abroad is going. While I didn’t come into this trip thinking it was going to be a walk in the park, there have been plenty of challenges I didn’t anticipate either. Although I am here studying Arabic, I fumble with my words as I bargain with local vendors because most of them only speak the local dialect, Darija, whilst I am trained to speak in Modern Standard Arabic — and the two vary almost as much as diferent Romance languages. I don’t think I will ever be able to forget the overwhelming sense of exhaustion I always feel pushing my way from one side of the city’s overcrowded market to the next in the summer heat. I also got food poisoning once, which was just about as great as it sounds.
“3FB is almost always pretty quiet,” Pryor said. “It has a lot of whiteboards, which I love for studying. The windows are also reallyPryornice.”also added that the private study rooms on 3FB can also be an added bonus, but she noted that students should book them in advance to avoid getting kicked out by other students with reservations. The large tables with couches can also be a perfect place to quietly study with friends, she added, although they can go fast during busy“Itperiods.helpsto reserve your spaces
Some students said they prefer to make the trek all the way to 4FB, the quietest of the four levels. Jared Pugh ’25 said he swears by 4FB because it helps him get into a working mindset.
through fall term. Dartmouth wasn’t exactly what I expected; it was a whole lot more difcult. I struggled to adapt, not just to the temperatures but to my new way of life in college. But it’s also incredible how far I’ve come in the year since last September: I’ve experienced so many new things and met friends I now consider some of the closest I’ve ever made. I wouldn’t call freshman year an easy afair, but right alongside every challenge or homesick day is a memory I know I’ll treasure far past graduation.Atmany times I questioned my
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022THE DARTMOUTH FRESHMAN ISSUE 2022PAGE 30
“The Cube is just really nice and cozy because they have really comfy couches. I really like to just lay back and read stuff with my computer,” he said. “But it’s also really nice because you can be studying there and get to take part in the afternoon weekly teas and hang out with the puppies.” Ryu said it took him a while to find the Cube. He advised incoming students to constantly be looking for new places to study.
FROM HOME PAGE 29
Many students enjoy sticking to the staples, with one of the most mainstream options being the Tower Room. The Tower Room, a subsection of Baker Library, is a
“If I’m doing CS or coding stuff and need a lot of help, I sit in FFB and just pray that people walk by so I can ask them questions,” she said.While Tilahun said she sometimes enjoys studying at cafes, such as Ramekin Cafe in Anonymous Hall or Still North Books & Bar off campus in Hanover, she said she feels wary of settling down at Novack Cafe, located on the ground floor of Berry Library.“You go in, and you think you’re going to study, but then you see everybody and their [mothers],” she said. “Now, you’re in for a two-hour long conversation.”
For those who want silent areas a bit warmer than the Stacks, the third and fourth floors of Berry Library — commonly known as 3FB and 4FB — are also go-to spots for students. Note to new students: Each floor of the library, starting at first-floor Berry, or FFB, gets progressively quieter as students climb to the top.
cozy area where students can look at views of campus while tackling readings.ForHosaena Tilahun ’25, studying in the Tower Room felt natural.“Iwas like, ‘I need to get the most out of this tuition bill,’” she said. “The room also just looks so pretty and it’s very Harry Potteresque. Studying there made me feel important.”Notonly is the room’s dark academia aesthetic a highlight of the College, but it’s a place where many students also feel like they can truly focus.
by putting a bag down because it can get ruthless during midterm season [or] finals season,” Pryor said. “Make sure you get there early because trying to study in your room [or] common room during finals is a struggle.”
Callie Marticio ’25 said that spending time in the Tower Room helped her develop better study habits.“When I was in high school, I never really studied that much,” Marticio said. “So, when I first came to Dartmouth, the one thing that I gravitated towards the most was the Tower Room, because it was supposed to be silent, and it helps me so much to focus when you’re in a silent room.”
KATELYN HADLEY /THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
year approaches, I’ll probably face a whole new host of challenges. Am I careening towards more stressful nights studying in Sanborn? Probably. But I also know that in only four weeks I’ll be reunited with my friends in the place that is now my second home. In spite of the difculties I faced my freshman year, as I spend some time away from Dartmouth I am only more and more excited to return come fall and experience it all over again. I hope that all of us, freshmen and upperclassmen alike, can approach this term with the same excitement.
decision to go to Dartmouth, but after a summer away — the longest I’ve been gone since we started in September — I think I recognize that Dartmouth really does hold a special place in my heart. As easy as it is to feel down about yet another snowfall in April, I’ve realized how much I miss the people I met and places that I got to see over the past year.So, I guess I have some advice for the Class of 2026. The bottom line is that everyone faces challenges in college, and much like the shock of experiencing my frst true New
On my first night at Dartmouth, my floormates and I launched an ill-fated attempt to “break in” to the library at midnight. What our newly-minted college minds failed to realize was that BakerBerry Library was still very much open — and would be until 2 a.m. As we fiddled with our ID cards, an upperclassman kindly opened the door and instilled upon us our first words of wisdom: “You’ll be spending a lot of time here.”
“The [top of the Hop] has these colorful lights going that are just really nice and peaceful to work under, and sometimes people are playing music, which is really peaceful,” she said.
I know that as my sophomore
lookout.Justa few feet away from Foco, some students said House Center B, also known as the Cube, can be a relaxing place to get work done, especially on Sundays when the library is filled to the brim.
Tilahun added that even during the day, the view of the Green from the top of the Hop is comparable to the view from the Tower Room and is an excellent alternative for students who appreciate a great
Trinity Pryor ’25 said the 3FB environment has everything she needs to finish intense essays or study for tests.
While some students expressed that they need silence to study, others said they prefer background noise to get started on their problem sets. Although procrastinating on FFB is considered a Dartmouth pastime, the first floor can be a beneficial avenue for interactive studying and collaborative work.
Jupalli finds the first floor of Berry to be a perfect place to collaborate with classmates.
she said the “ridiculously warm” environment helps her study.
Seokhyun Ryu ’25 said the Cube is one of his favorite spots for completing assignments and is also a great place to intermix studying with fun moments. He noted that School House sometimes sponsors events there, but he also has fond memories of spontaneous fun with friends at the Cube.
“When I need to grind, like really grind for my life, I find that 4FB is a safe haven that facilitates tranquility and the much-needed solemn sort of environment that allows me to accomplish the work and tasks I need to accomplish for the day,” he said.
“I really regret sticking to FFB for my fall and winter term,” he said. “I could have explored and found good study spaces –– the sweet spots –– earlier. I really recommend trying different places. Move around and discover.”
All of this isn’t to be overly pessimistic or discourage the incoming class, which is hopefully bright with the same zeal I carried
After a year at Dartmouth, those words have definitely come true. While college is full of fun new experiences, such as the Homecoming bonfire or Greek life on-nights, an integral part of the journey is learning how to deal with the academic rigors of the 10 week term. For many students, that means finding study spaces that are conducive to staying on top of the course load. But on a college campus with seemingly endless nooks and crannies, where should students gravitate?
But sometimes, it takes venturing
Hannah Shari
FindingSTORY Your ‘Sweet Spot’ Among Study Spaces
afternoons skating on Occom Pond and weekends skiing, but the dark and frigid weather of New Hampshire still took a toll. It also didn’t help that, as it always seems to, a bout of mystery illness swept campus around the middle of the term — the kind of body-aching, shivering, knockedout-for-a-couple-days sick that only made us more tired of winter.
Reflections on Returning to a New Home
outside of the library to find studying sweet spots. One of the most underrated, according to Marticio, is the top of the Hopkins Centerfor the Arts.
Marticio added that other benefits of the tower room include its above-average temperature, as
“At first, I was afraid to go to the Stacks because it’s so intimidating,” Jupalli said. “But then I started studying there for [chemistry classes], and it was so helpful –– I always make sure to plan ahead and wear extra layers when I’m going.”
England winter, Dartmouth might not live up to your expectations in every way. If you’re anything like me, you might worry too much about your major or what to do on break when it seems like everyone is plastering their latest internship all over their LinkedIn. You might be upset when you eat it yet again going down some icy stairs or don’t do as well on that midterm as you hoped. But for every one of those moments, there will be another where you share a meal at Foco with your best friends or relax on the Green enjoying the sunshine.
Ujvala Jupalli ’25 also found that the warmth of the Tower Room helped her complete certain tasks, like readings for classes. However, for other types of assignments, she tends to traverse in other areas such as the Stacks. The Stacks, named for their multitudes of shelves that house the library’s collection of books, are known for being some of the quietest areas in the library with chillier temperatures than other parts of the building.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022 THE DARTMOUTH FRESHMAN ISSUE 2022 PAGE 31
Photo Essay: Planting New Seeds
Zhoucai NiPHOTO
YourSTORY First Prerequisite of Dartmouth: The ABCs
Z:understand.
Zoom. I’m sure you already know what this is, but in case you’ve somehow avoided it for the past two years, this is a video chat platform that many professors used to facilitate online classes during the height of the pandemic. Unlike the aforementioned lingo, I really hope you don’t have to use this too much.
FFB refers to the frst foor of Berry, and is another place to be chatty and facetimey. If you can’t study with noise, that’s okay — as you go upstairs to 2FB, 3FB and 4FB, the acceptable noise level decreases.
clothes). The hardest part of this challenge might just be avoiding getting caught by Safety and Security — who are often on the prowl for latenightTheswimmers.
The Hop is formally known as the Hopkins Center for the Arts. It houses Dartmouth’s music and theater departments, and frequently hosts music, dance and theater performances. Students may also use “The Hop” when referring to a dining area inside the building, ofcially called the Courtyard Cafe.
The Dartmouth Seven refers to an endeavor in which students attempt to have sex in seven locations on campus: the top of the Hop, the 50-yard line of the football feld, BEMA (Big Empty Meeting Area, a forested amphitheater), the steps of Dartmouth Hall, the Stacks, College President Phil Hanlon’s front lawn and the center of the Green
basements.)L:
ends.H:
T: Tails is a themed event hosted at the beginning of each on-night by a Greek organization before most houses open to all of campus. Typically, tails
C: The following challenges are traditions some students aim to complete before their time at Dartmouth concludes.
and sororities. On these nights, typically at around 11 p.m., many fraternities and sororities will open their basements to partygoers. You won’t be able to go out until the sixweek-long freshman frat ban is lifted, but fortunately when the time does come, you’ll fnd that many Greekhosted parties are open-to-campus; all you need to be let in is a Dartmouth
Lou’s Challenge comes with the most delicious reward, as it requires students to top of their all-nighter with breakfast at the town’s diner, Lou’s, right when it opens at 7 a.m. If you’re feeling ambitious enough to try the challenge on a school night, though, you only need to wait until 6 a.m.
are invite-only and theme-appropriate fair is encouraged.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022THE DARTMOUTH FRESHMAN ISSUE 2022PAGE 32
D: Dark side is one half of Foco’s (Dartmouth’s dining hall, formally known — but never referred to — as The Class of ’53 Commons) dining area known for its dim lighting and Harry Potter-like feel. It contrasts the other half of Foco, referred to as light side, which is much brighter and home to high-top tables and booths.
A: @now is another way of saying “right now.” Whether Foco has your favorite vegan nuggets or your study group needs to meet, when you see @ now, you better get on your way.
The Ledyard Challenge requires students to strip down in New Hampshire, swim across the Connecticut River into Vermont, climb out of the riverbank and streak across the Ledyard Bridge back into New Hampshire (and back to your
G: Get on table means to claim a place at a pong table. If there are already four people playing, you can reserve ones, twos and so on to secure a spot in line at the table for you and your friends when the ongoing game
Layups are easy classes. Layup List is a website that crowdsources course reviews, so you can judge just how difcult past students have found the class you’re planning to take. The site lists past median grades, and students can leave anonymous reviews of specifc courses.
U: UGA stands for undergraduate advisor, and every one of you will be assigned one based on your dorm. UGAs serve the same role as residential advisors at other schools, and they can be a great resource for any questions or concerns you may have as you transition into life at Dartmouth.
K: Keystone is the beer of choice at Dartmouth. Whether you love it or hate it, it’s the drink that flls up the pong cups, stinks up the basements and gets the foor all sticky. (Side note: make sure you designate an old pair of sneakers as your frat shoes so you don’t ruin a good pair in the dirty frat
M: Meal swipes are one method to pay for your meals, as opposed to DBA (another term for dining dollars) and DA$H (money loaded to your student ID account). As a freshman, you’re on the Ivy Unlimited meal plan, which means that you have unlimited meal swipes — thus unlimited access to Foco — along with $250 in DBA. At cafes and dining halls other than Foco, you have the option to use a meal swipe in exchange for an equivalent value in DBA (the value changes based on the meal period), or you can use yourN:DBA.
B: Baker-Berry Library, the main library on campus, boasts its own set of lingo, and it’s essential to navigating the library and fnding your favorite study spot.
ID.P:
Pong is the unofcial sport of Dartmouth, and it’s diferent from beer pong played elsewhere. In Dartmouth pong, players — usually two teams of two — hit a ball back and forth with handleless paddles, attempting to hit the ball into a cup, usually flled with beer or another alcohol. Some pick it up easily and others may take more time, but don’t worry — you’ll catch on soon enough if you’re interested.
V: BVAC (bear with me and ignore the B for the sake of this alphabet) is an abbreviation — pronounced like bee-vack — for the Black Family Visual Arts Center. This building is home to the studio art and flm and media departments.
J: Jobnet Query is not technically Dartmouth lingo, but it is a database specifcally for listing available jobs at Dartmouth for students. If you’re searching for your frst campus job, this is the place to look.
NARP stands for Non-Athletic Regular Person. Dartmouth is a relatively athletic campus; more than 75% of undergraduates on campus are involved with sports in some capacity. There are also plenty of ways to stay active on campus outside of organized club or varsity sports — whether that be hiking one of the trails near campus, taking a trip to the Dartmouth Skiway in the winter or participating in Dartmouth Outing Club trips.
By Audrey O’Brien
Although the building will undergo renovations beginning in December, the Courtyard Cafe will remain open.
The Stacks store the books of Baker-Berry Library, and are another silent study space. If you fnd yourself here, good luck — it’s the place you go when you really have to grind.
F: Flair refers to your tackiest, brightest, shiniest and silliest outfts and accessories that are worn for both fun events and normal days — the goofer, the better. Flaunt an energetic smile along with your fair and leave your embarrassment in your dorm. Don’t worry, you’re not too cool for fair.
Q: The quarter system at Dartmouth means that instead of having a fall and spring semester, academic terms are split into the four seasons: fall, winter, spring and summer. Dartmouth’s academic calendar is called the D-Plan, which means that students have more fexibility to choose which terms they are enrolled for. Most students are enrolled for their freshman fall through spring, sophomore summer and senior year, but with a few restrictions, you can choose which twelve terms you spend taking classes and which three terms you take of. When students abbreviate the term, they use the year number followed by a letter indicating the season. As a member of the Class of 2026, your frst term is 22F, your frst snowball fght will be in 23W, you’ll experience your frst Green Key in 23S and your sophomore summer will be during 24X
S: Sunrikes are hikes taken at sunrise, and sunsikes are hikes taken at sunset. These are popular excursions amongst students who want to take advantage of Dartmouth’s beautiful natural surroundings. During the fall, many students make these treks up Gile Mountain in Norwich for beautiful views of peak foliage, which occurs when the autumn leaves are at their brightest.
Do you remember learning the alphabet as a child? It was the fundamental building block to your comprehension and communication. Now, as you enter Dartmouth, it might feel like you’ll need to learn a new sort of alphabet: Dartmouth lingo, letter by letter.Here is a quick and easy guide to Dartmouth’s vernacular that might ease your transition. But don’t fret if you don’t remember it all right away — save that stress for ECON 1. It will come to you more quickly than you’d think, and if you’re ever confused, any student would be happy to explain. Before you know it, you’ll fnd yourself having to explain the lingo you’re using to non-Dartmouth students upon returning home for winterim: Dartmouth’s term for winter break, or the interim period between fall and winter term.
Novack is a cafe in the library, just down the stairs from FFB. It’s home to quick snacks, grab-and-go meals and a Starbucks menu, and it’s great for grabbing a bite to eat or a drink during your long study session.
O: On-nights refer to the nights of the week — typically Wednesday, Friday and Saturday — that are designated for going out to fraternities
W: Woccom is the term for a walk around Occom Pond.
E: Email is a word that is commonly interchanged with blitz. Blitz used to refer to Dartmouth’s email interface, but is now just used to refer to an email or the act of emailing someone from your Dartmouth address. Students can send a firty blitz — a fitz — to crushes or formal dates or opt for a friendly blitz — a fritz — to their friends. Make sure to fll these emails with GIFs, rhymes and humor!
R: Robo is short for Robinson Hall, which is located next to Collis Cafe on North Main Street. It houses many student groups and extracurricular organizations, including the DOC, the Dartmouth Forensic Union, WebDCR and, of course, The Dartmouth’s ofces.
X: X is a symbol for chi, one of the letters of the Greek alphabet. Several Greek organizations on campus use chi in their names, including fraternities Alpha Chi Alpha, Chi Gamma Epsilon, Chi Heorot, Gamma Delta Chi and Theta Delta Chi, along with Chi Delta sorority. You can’t rush a Greek house during your freshman year, but beginning sophomore fall, you can rush to join these groups, along with the variety of other Greek houses that do not use chi in their name: fraternities Beta Alpha Omega, Bones Gate, Kappa Pi Kappa, Phi Delta Alpha, Psi Upsilon, Scarlett Hall, Sigma Nu, Sigma Phi Epsilon and Zeta Psi; sororities Alpha Phi, Alpha Xi Delta, Epsilon Kappa Theta, Kappa Delta, Kappa Delta Epsilon, Kappa Kappa Gamma and Sigma Delta; gender-inclusive Greek houses Alpha Theta, Phi Tau and The Tabard and Pan-Hellenic houses The Xi Lambda Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., The Theta Zeta Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and The Pi Theta Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
I: Irving is one of the newest buildings on Dartmouth’s campus, and it is home to many study spaces and another eatery called The Fern. Irving is a long walk down Tuck Drive, so unless you live in the River dorms or have loaded your schedule with engineering classes, it may be a bit out of the way.
Blobby refers to the lobby of Baker-Berry Library, and it’s a great place to study with a group or when you’re feeling more social than studious. Be warned, though: too much time in Blobby may make you facetimey, meaning you like to see and be seen — to be facetimey is to position yourself in social areas to be seen and talked to by others.
Y: You (assuming you’re a frstyear student) are a ’26. Dartmouth students refer to themselves by the year they graduate — not as a freshman, sophomore, junior or senior. Though some professors and non-Dartmouth students may be confused at the sound of this, any Dartmouth student or alum will
