VOL. CLXXVI NO. 148
PARTLY CLOUDY HIGH 50 LOW 34
NEWS
NEW SEXUAL MISCONDUCT POLICY INCLUDES SET OF INFORMAL PROCEDURES PAGE 2
OPINION
LEVY: DISCONNECTED PAGE 4
ARTS
‘VOICES’ SHOWCASES MOVING MESSAGES ABOUT GENDER AND POWER PAGE 7
REVIEW: WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE ROM-COM? PAGE 8 FOLLOW US ON
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TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2020
HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
Bus company to stop DHMC worker tests presumptive allowing warrantless positive for novel coronavirus immigration searches B y DEBBY COBON
The Dartmouth Staff
Following the bus line Greyhound’s announcement that the company would no longer allow border enforcement agents to conduct immigration checks without warrants aboard its buses, Concord Coach Lines and Dartmouth Coach will similarly stop allowing immigration checks without warrants. “Effective immediately, Concord Coach Lines [and
Dartmouth Coach] will no longer consent to U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s warrantless entry of our buses for immigration checks,” vice president of Concord Coach Lines and Dartmouth Coach Benjamin Blunt wrote in a statement provided to The Dartmouth. “Our employees have been equipped with cards that will communicate this denial to Border Patrol Agents.” Although drivers are told SEE COACH PAGE 5
Dartmouth professor wins chemistry award B y HAYDEN WELTY The Dartmouth
The International Symposium on Macrocyclic and Supramolecular Chemistry has awarded Dartmouth chemistry professor Chenfeng Ke the 2020 Cram Lehn Pedersen Prize in Supramolecular Chemistry. ISMSC secretary and Brigham Young University chemistry professor Roger Harrison said that the annual prize recognizes a young supramolecular chemist — who is no more than 10 years
out from receiving a Ph.D. — for important, original and independent research in the area of supramolecular chemistry. Ke said that he is excited to win such a prestigious honor, calling the prize a huge international recognition of his work. “I was jumping up and down,” he said. After receiving his Ph.D. in supramolecular chemistry from Nankai University in Tianjin, SEE CHEMISTRY PAGE 3
COURTESY OF DARTMOUTH-HITCHCOCK MEDICAL CENTER
A DHMC employee has tested presumptive positive for coronavirus after returning from Italy.
B y THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF An employee of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center has tested p o s i t i v e f o r t h e n ov e l coronavirus, marking the first positive case in New Hampshire, state health officials announced on Monday. The individual, a native of Grafton County, recently returned from Italy — the location of a significant outbreak of the virus — and is currently isolated at home with mild symptoms. The individual’s case is considered a “presumptive positive” until it is officially confirmed by the Centers for
Disease Control. In a press conference, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said that the state is prepared and that the risk level of an outbreak remains low. State epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan said in the press conference that because the individual had recently traveled to Italy, health officials do not believe the case represents widespread community transmission. He noted that health officials have already begun investigating any potential contacts made with the individual who might need to be placed under self-quarantine. Chan urged that anybody with flu-like or respiratory
symptoms should stay home, and that everyone should practice preventative techniques such as handwashing and coughing or sneezing into a sleeve. In an email sent to the Dartmouth community on Monday afternoon, Provost Joseph Helble said that the College is in close contact with DHMC on issues related to the case, and that Dartmouth recently formed a high-level task force that is meeting daily to plan for and manage potential disruptions related to the coronavirus. Helble also noted that the College is considering the feasibility of continuing SEE CORONAVIRUS PAGE 3
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TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2020
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
New sexual misconduct policy includes set of informal procedures B y PIERCE WILSON The Dartmouth Staff
The new sexual and genderbased misconduct policy adopted by the College in September 2019 includes a set of informal procedures available to students, faculty and staff which provide more choices for resolutions and resources to survivors of sexual misconduct. According to Title IX coordinator Kristi Clemens, the infor mal procedures in the new policy can be used as alternatives to pursuing a formal investigation by survivors of sexual misconduct who may not want to, or feel comfortable pursuing, formal action. “In the policy, we now have informal resolutions, which can be a wide range of options,” Clemens said. “So people can come here and say, ‘I just want to tell you something, I want to put it on the record,’ and that’s the end of it. Or they could come and say, ‘I need some supportive measures, like I need some extra time on a paper; I need to move out of my residence hall; I might need a no contact order with this other person.’ It can be a wide range of different things.” Proceedings that take place under these informal policies do not require finding of responsibility or an investigation, Clemens said. With the new policy, the Title IX office can work with the complainant to find a solution that fits. For example, the complainant can say that they want a letter of apology or that they want the other person(s) to go through some sort of training. The respondent would then receive the feedback, and the Title IX office continues to work with both parties from there, Clemens said. Informal proceedings also offer a way for the Title IX office to both offer and record more communitybased resolutions to sexual
and gender-based misconduct. According to Clemens, some students in the past have tried to find resolutions to cases of sexual misconduct within communities like clubs and Greek houses, as opposed to reaching out to the Title IX office. “[Students] might take something to a group board, or they may take it to the president of a club that they’re both in and say, ‘How can we sort this out?’” Clemens said. “But now, we can do that as an institution and have some record of it.” Clemens explained that there are similar informal policies for faculty and staff, but they differ slightly given obligations that the College has. According to Clemens, the Title IX office held separate informational sessions for students, faculty and staff in the fall to spread awareness of new policy and informal procedures. Although the sessions were well attended by staff, they were poorly attended by faculty and almost unattended by students, Clemens said. In order to spread awareness of the informal procedures, the Title IX office is considering holding office hours in residence halls and other communities where they have not previously done outreach. According to Student Wellness Center director Caitlin Barthelmes, one of the goals of the Sexual Violence Prevention Project is to make students more aware of all sexual misconduct resources on campus, including informal ones. She added that although SVPP and Title IX are separate entities, they communicate with each other very often. “SVPP is in the process of creating a four-year experience for all Dartmouth undergraduates that equips them with the knowledge and skills to help reduce sexual violence through four positive outcomes,” Barthelmes said. “So,
CORRECTIONS We welcome corrections. If you believe there is a factual error in a story, please email editor@thedartmouth.com.
NAINA BHALLA/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
The informal procedures provide more choices for survivors of sexual misconduct.
when it comes to helping students understand their options that would fall under that desired outcome of helping encourage students utilize resources, both formal and informal.” Clemens said she hopes more students and faculty will take the time to learn about the new
policy, as she believes it sends an important message to the community, especially in light of recent events regarding sexual misconduct. Eric Lee ’23, who learned about the Title IX informal proceedings through SVPP, said he believes that the College currently does a
“decent” job of ensuring that firstyear students know what avenues of support are available to them. “I have a generally positive opinion of the SVPP program,” Lee said. “I also think that doing it every term is effective, because realistically, I won’t remember it if it’s only once a year.”
TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2020
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THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
Feasibility of off-campus Second award given to Dartmouth prof programs considered FROM CHEMISTRY PAGE 1
FROM CORONAVIRUS PAGE 1
off-campus programs in the spring term given recommendations from the CDC to consider cancelling study abroad programs. He said an announcement on a decision will be made later this week. The Dartmouth reported last week that the College ended a study abroad program in Rome early, while a group of students from a
program in France who had visited northern Italy are self-monitoring for the virus. Several colleges and universities have cancelled study abroad programs out of concern for the continued spread of the virus, which has infected nearly 90,000 people worldwide. This article will be updated as more information becomes available.
China in 2009, Ke received a Newton International Fellowship and studied at the University of Bristol in Bristol, England until 2011. Afterwards, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University before becoming a professor at the College in 2015. This is the second time the award has been awarded to a Dartmouth professor; chemistry professor Ivan Aprahamian received the same award in 2016. Named after a trio of scientists who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their supramolecular research, the Cram Lehn Pedersen Prize in Supramolecular Chemistry has existed for about 10 years, according to Harrison. Supported by ChemComm, a chemistry journal sponsored by the Royal Society of Chemistry, the prize provides an honorarium of 1,000 British pounds, covers all travel costs to the symposium and related events and enables the recipient to deliver several lectures at conferences. An international committee selects the winner from a group of applicants who either apply themselves or secure peer nominations. Harrison said that Ke’s research in 3D printing contributed “unique” and “interesting” contributions to the field, building on interactions based on non-covalent bonds. “The field of supramolecular chemistry is about bringing molecules together that don’t use covalent bonds to hold them together,” Harrison said. “Professor Ke has developed some techniques … using a 3D printer to make these materials.” What distinguishes Ke from other candidates, Harrison said, is that his peers also find his work groundbreaking. Harrison added that the committee was happy to give the award to Ke as an up-and-coming chemist. “He’s done some fascinating work, but he’s also done that work and taken it and published it in some reputable journals,” Harrison said. Ke runs a lab on campus called The Ke Functional Materials Group,
which Ke said boasts a couple of 3D printing systems. “We have four post-doc research fellows, four graduate students and four undergraduate students, so it’s well laid-out in terms of experience and age,” Ke said. “We have a very complementary mentoring team.” Albert Chen ’22 said he has worked in the lab since spring 2019, after receiving an email from the chemistry department regarding research opportunities. He completed full-time research in the lab over the summer. Chen said that Ke upholds high standards in his lab and really cares about the quality of the work. “He wants to make sure we succeed,” Chen said. “He’s also a really fun guy once you get to know him.” Chen said that he considers Ke to be one of his mentors because of his dedication, assistance and generosity. “He’s really adaptable in terms of the way he goes about his work,” Chen said. “One time, he went to this conference for chemistry, and one thing they taught him at the conference was how to give an elevator pitch about yourself and the work you do. So when he came back from the conference, he took us to a group dinner and told us all about what he learned at the conference and helped us practice these techniques.” Virginia Wei ’22 said that she has worked in Ke’s lab since her freshman winter as part of the Women in Science
Program. Ke’s lab is split up into two teams, one that focuses on 3D printing and the other on hydrogen-bounded covalent organic frameworks. Wei works on the 3D printing team, mainly focusing on the efficiency of the printers. “I think he’s a really brilliant man, incredibly hard working, incredibly ambitious and passionate,” Wei said. “I think he is very driven, and I think that reflects in the work that comes out of the lab as well. But he really values students as well. He really tries to get a lot of undergraduates involved in the research.” Wei said that Ke pushes people to become the best version of themselves, but also remains understanding about his assistants’ circumstances, always encouraging them to do their best both in the lab and in the classroom. “He does see the potential and capability in people, and I think he really wants them to achieve that potential,” Wei said. “For me, he always has all these new ideas for things to do, and he gives them to me.” Jayanta Samanta, a research associate post-doctorate at the College, has spent seven months working in the lab and leads the HCOF team. Samanta echoed the sentiments expressed by the undergraduate researchers, saying that Ke is nice, busy and motivated. Ke said his work is rooted projects that he hopes will have practical applications.
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TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2020
THE DARTMOUTH OPINION
STAFF COLUMNIST GABRIELLE LEVY ’22
Disconnected
Unreliable campus Wi-Fi unfairly burdens students.
DEBORA HYEMIN HAN, Editor-in-Chief
AIDAN SHEINBERG, Publisher
ALEX FREDMAN, Executive Editor PETER CHARALAMBOUS, Managing Editor
PRODUCTION EDITORS TEDDY HILL-WELD & MATTHEW MAGANN, Opinion Editors KYLEE SIBILIA & NOVI ZHUKOVSKY, Mirror Editors ADDISON DICK & JUSTIN KRAMER & LILI STERN, Sports Editors LEX KANG & LUCY TURNIPSEED, Arts Editors NAINA BHALLA & LORRAINE LIU, Photo Editors SAMANTHA BURACK & BELLA JACOBY, Design Editors GRANT PINKSTON, Templating Editor JESS CAMPANILE, Multimedia Editor
ANTHONY ROBLES, Managing Editor
BUSINESS DIRECTORS JONNY FRIED & JASMINE FU Advertising & Finance Directors HIMADRI NARASIMHAMURTHY & KAI SHERWIN Business Development Directors ALBERT CHEN & ELEANOR NIEDERMAYER Strategy Directors VINAY REDDY & ERIC ZHANG Marketing, Analytics and Technology Directors
ELIZA JANE SCHAEFFER, Social Media Editor WILLIAM CHEN & AARON LEE, Data Visualization Editors
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.
There are few things more essential to the heard students talk of chipping in to purchase modern student’s academic life than Wi-Fi. their own Wi-Fi routers in dorms and onJust checking Canvas to view assignments campus apartments. Again, this creates a or downloading video lectures for flipped barrier for those who cannot afford to pay classes — let alone conducting online for additional access. Since a huge amount research — requires uninterrupted Internet of classwork at Dartmouth requires Wi-Fi access. Dartmouth students are certainly no access, the College’s consistently poor Wi-Fi exception to this rule. But despite the fact is yet another feature of life on campus that that the College requires students to own widens the resource gap between students laptops and the general necessity of Wi-Fi from less-privileged and more-privileged for academic work, the only consistent thing economic backgrounds. about campus Wi-Fi is its unreliability. And Students are right to criticize Dartmouth unfortunately, not all students navigate the for its ineffective and inadequate wireless problem of poor Internet access equally. network. It’s unjust that students are not When I was assigned to live in the Lodge guaranteed basic services like Wi-Fi — this year, I anticipated even with Dartmouth’s multiple drawbacks, but astronomical tuition “The College’s a lack of Internet access costs. And parents who was not one of them. consistently poor Wi-Fi want to FaceTime their Ye t s o m e d ay s, a f t e r children — and are often is yet another feature the ones actually paying attending classes with brilliant professors and Dartmouth tuition — are of life on campus peers, I’m left to amuse often left isolated from that widens the myself with Chrome’s their children’s lack of resource gap between Wi-Fi access. offline “Dino Running” game after trying to Granted, the students from lessload even the simplest of College’s administration privileged and more- is taking steps to improve websites. But extremely poor privileged economic t h e d e p e n d a b i l i t y o f Internet connection its networks. When backgrounds.” isn’t just at off-campus Dartmouth’s network was locations like the Lodge. first installed in 2011, In Baker-Berry Library, there were only 4,000 I’ve been unable to load Canvas — the devices using it — now there are upwards online hub of our classes — even after of 25,000. In 2018, Dartmouth began a multiple location changes. Beyond the partnership with the startup Mist Systems library, students also find these problems at to transform its outdated network into an other campus hubs like Collis and the Hop, innovative AI-driven network. In an article rendering many great study spaces largely published last year in The Dartmouth, Felix useless. Windt, Dartmouth’s assistant director of Although some Dartmouth students are network services, explained that the College able to create a hotspot using cell service in had dedicated approximately $11 million to order to gain Internet access when Wi-Fi this endeavor, but that students shouldn’t isn’t available, many students don’t have expect any Wi-Fi upgrade for at least another unlimited cell service and can’t afford to rack year. Unfortunately, he also said that students up excess data charges on required academic might just have to put up with connection work. For example, Verizon customers with issues in the meantime, as there is little room data plans are charged $15 every time they in the budget left for temporary solutions. exceed their plan by 1 GB. If a student Even though this isn’t exactly the quick lives in a building with bad Wi-Fi, they’ll fix that most of us students so badly need, probably resort to performing most tasks on it is a relief to know that better access can their phone, which can be a massive drain be expected in the future. At the same time, on their data plan. While some students the administration could clearly improve its have no problem paying an overage fee or communication on this issue — perhaps some upgrading their data plan, it’s certainly not posters in the library that students can read an easy calculation for everyone. I’ve even while we wait for our browsers to load ...
TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2020
PAGE 5
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
Federal agents may legally question individuals in public areas their policies, and while we feel that the safety and security of all Concord to deny consent, Dartmouth Coach Coach Lines [and Dartmouth Coach] employees are instructed “not to passengers should be our primary physically impede an agent from focus, we also believe it is important boarding a bus if they have other lawful to be consistent with our bus industry grounds or otherwise insist on boarding,” partners,” Blunt wrote. Blunt wrote. Federal immigration officers According to the Dartmouth Coach periodically have enacted immigration website, CBP agents may legally question checks within a “reasonable distance” individuals in public areas in Dartmouth from any U.S. or international border, Coach facilities without consent nor which is defined by the federal a warrant. The governmentaswithin website then “While we feel that 100 air miles of an includes a list of the safety and security international border. rights passengers Because Hanover have if Border of all Concord Coach and neighboring Patrol Agents Lines [and Dartmouth towns in the Upper board a bus or Valley are within are questioned. Coach] passengers 100 miles of the These include should be our primary Canadian border, the right to focus, we also believe an immigration remain silent; checkpoint was refuse to answer it is important to be operated on I-89 questions about consistent with our between exits 18 citizenship or and 19 outside of i m m i g r a t i o n bus industry partners.” Lebanon over the status or signing summer and near paperwork the beginning of fall -BENJAMIN BLUNT, VICE without a term — leading to lawyer present; PRESIDENT OF CONCORD protest and outrage ask agents their COACH among members of reasoning for the community. detainment; Geography refuse a search of belongings; and record professor Richard Wright said that many videos of immigration agents. federal ordinances have contributed to These policy changes follow an the racialization of immigration stops. internal Custom and Border Protection For example, Wright cited the Trump memo obtained by the Associated Press administration’s expansion of Section which states that its agents cannot board 287(g) of the U.S. Immigration and private buses without the consent of the Nationality Act as an example of a policy company. that allows the targeting people of color, Concord Coach and Dartmouth especially Latinos. Section 287(g) allows Coach did not immediately support local law enforcement agents to double Greyhound’s policy change. Last as immigration officers –– police officers weekend, Blunt wrote in an email are legally allowed and encouraged to ask statement to The Dartmouth that about immigration status during routine the company would need more time procedures. to “investigate the implications of Immigration checkpoints often create Greyhound’s decision and recent fear and limit the mobility of students developments within DHS regarding its who themselves are immigrants or come clarification on the rules of engagement, from a “mixed-status” family, according as well as consult with counsel and the to CoFIRED student ambassador national association.” However, this Cecelia King ’23. Some students fear past Friday, Blunt said that the company traveling with their families, which can be felt confident that following industry disappointing as they may feel excluded standards was the right thing to do. from the Dartmouth community during “Both Greyhound and the American events such as family weekends, King Bus Association have recently revised said. FROM COACH PAGE 1
NAINA BHALLA/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
Dartmouth Coach buses will no longer allow warrantless immigration searches by federal agents.
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THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS
TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2020
DARTMOUTHEVENTS
TODAY
8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Exhibit: “The Ties that Bind: Slavery and Dartmouth.” Sponsored by the Library, Rauner Special Collections.
3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Talk: “Learning Low-complexity Models from the Data – Geometry, Optimization, and Application.” Sponsored by the Department of Computer Science, Haldeman 041.
4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Talk: “Anthropology Colloquium,” with Dorsa Amir of Boston College. Sponsored by the Department of Anthropology, Haldeman Center, Room 252.
TOMORROW 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Conversation: “Focus on Photography.” Sponsored by the Hood Museum of Art, Hood Museum.
3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Discussion: “ReproducibiliTea — An Open and Reproducible Science Journal Club.” Sponsored by the Library, Anonymous Hall, Room 113.
ADVERTISING For advertising infor mation, please call (603) 646-2600 or email info@ thedartmouth.com. The advertising deadline is noon, two days before publication. We reserve the right to refuse any advertisement. Opinions expressed in advertisements do not necessarily reflect those of The Dartmouth, Inc. or its officers, employees and agents. The Dartmouth, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation chartered in the state of New Hampshire. USPS 148-540 ISSN 0199-9931
TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2020
THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
PAGE 7
‘Voices’ showcases moving messages about gender and power
B y Emily zhang
The Dartmouth Staff
Hundreds of students, staff and community members gathered in Spaulding Auditorium on Wednesday to see the seventh-annual show of Voices, a student-led performance that centers narratives and people at the intersections of gender, power, violence and resilience. Twenty-eight monologues were performed by over 25 cast members, touching a wide range of issues from sexual assault and self-harm to women-of-color and sexual-minority experiences. Voices is one of the two main productions in the Visibility: 2020 campaign this year. Formerly known as V-February, Visibility: 2020 is an annual campaign at Dartmouth dedicated to promoting gender equity and ending gender and power based violence on campus since 1998. According to campaign committee co-chair Rebecca Luo ’20, V-February at Dartmouth has historically had a reputation of being centered on white, upperclass, cisgender heterosexual women. This year, the campaign planning committee focused on promoting the inclusiveness and intersectionality of the campaign with the goal of broadening the scope of how people understand gender, according to Luo. “One of the reasons why we changed the name from the V-February to Visibility was because the V in V-February historically stands for vagina, and we recognize that not all women have a vagina and we didn’t want to equate biology with gender,” Luo said. “We really want to avoid those kinds of reductionist stereotypes because anyone can really be a victim or a survivor of sexual violence.” According to Voices co-director Madeline Levangie ’21, the production of Voices was initially inspired by Eve Ensler’s play “The Vagina Monologues,” which was developed in the 1990s to explore female sexuality and the social stigma surrounding sexual violence. Unlike past years when both “The Vagina Monologues” and Voices are part of the campaign, this year the campaign
has decided to only perform Voices, hoping to increase the representation of women, trans and nonbinary people on campus. “Voices gives a platform for students who otherwise may be silenced or not heard to share their stories to a really large audience,” Levangie said. Co-director Jane Xu ’20 said that one of the most challenging tasks in directing Voices is to find a diverse cast. This year, the group have managed to get more people involved in the production by reaching out to different identity-based groups on campus, according to Xu. “It was really important to find a diverse cast and have as many people share as possible, and I’m really proud and excited about the diversity of our cast this year,” Xu said. During the show, while some performers chose to talk about heavy topics in a humorous or satiric way, stirring waves of laughter among the audience, others relentlessly uncovered some alarming trends in campus social scenes that trouble their everyday life, leaving the audience to ponder over the heavy message underneath. For instance, Katie Kong ’23 wrote and performed a monologue titled, “No More Fish Poetry,” in which she critically examines her Asian American identity beyond some stereotypical representations that used to confine her own understanding of herself, such as food and family. Inspired by a friend, Kong said she decided to tear down some labels she used to put on herself with a monologue. “It was not until months ago that I realized I was part of the problem,” Kong said. Kong said performers in Voices are brave to share their personal experiences and expose alarming issues related to campus social scenes that she did not have the chance to discuss with others during her everyday life. “Even though it seems that everyone at this school has their lives together and they’re so on top of things, a lot of people on the inside are struggling underneath,” Kong said. “I
feel like there are a lot of unspoken societal pressures at Dartmouth, so this particular production of Voices could point that out and hopefully people at Dartmouth will feel empowered to fix our culture.” While some performers like Kong wrote and performed their own works, other performers presented pieces submitted by anonymous writers. For example, Angeline Janumala ’22 chose to perform two anonymous pieces on the show — “Catch 22,” which centers around bisexuality experiences on dating apps, and “Virgin Who Can’t Drive,” which is about virginity and hookup culture on campus. “I didn’t know who wrote [the two pieces I performed], but they seem like something that I could have been thinking about when I was going through those experiences,” Janumala said. “I want to tell them with confidence and bring them to my voice, and I don’t feel like it’s too much of a reach to perform.” Janumala said that performers and directors in Voices also help each other a lot through the process of rehearsing and improving their performances.
“Writing a piece in the company of other people in Voices is the best way to make it relatable to the rest of the community,” Janumala said. “It was just inspiring to see people performing a piece for the first time with a kind of anxiety and eventually getting comfortable performing on stage.” The performance was followed by a question-and-answer session with the cast and the directors, in which the audience was provided an opportunity to engage with people involved in the show. Some topics discussed included what performers have learned from Voices, how the directors coordinate with different offices and resources on campus, as well as how the production ensures the anonymity of writers who do not feel comfortable sharing their information. “Many topics that are written about can be very personal, vulnerable and emotionally heavy, so it definitely is challenging to hold all of that while also trying to make logistical decisions,” Levangie said. Visibility campaign co-chair Sara Cho ’20 said she values how working in the campaign committee and
productions like Voices connects her to passionate peers and mentors on campus that she otherwise would not have the chance to meet. “I do think by the nature of the topic, it can be sometimes a difficult conversation to have,” Cho said. “But I think it is very meaningful to be a part of making this campus a better and safer place for everyone, and it is a learning process.” Levangie said that going from being in the audience of Voices in her freshman year to directing it in her junior year, she has grown a lot with the production and hopes that Voices can continue to make an impact on the student body. “Seeing Voices in my freshman year made me know that I wasn’t alone for the things that I was dealing with,” Levangie said. “No matter what a piece is about, there’s always somebody in the audience who can connect with that and hopefully the piece will make an impact on their lives.” Upstaging Stereotypes, another major production in Visibility: 2020 that focuses on masculinity, will take place on March 4 in Collis Common Ground.
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THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2020
Review: What ever happened to the golden age of the rom-com? B y James cronin
The Dartmouth Staff
At the behest of a friend, I recently watched the sequel to “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” on Netflix. Titled “To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You,” I found that even though I didn’t think the movie was particularly good, I still managed to find a kernel of satisfaction in watching it. It was corny, silly, predictable and not particularly well-written or acted; yet still, it managed to relieve some of the dreariness of the horrible human condition that is being on campus at Dartmouth in winter. I kept wondering what could account for my enjoyment of a movie that I couldn’t even defend to myself — but then it dawned on me: I really, really miss romantic comedies. Yes, rom-coms. That beautiful genre of film that effortlessly combines two of the best elements of life — humor and love. While I can’t applaud “To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You” for any of its technical merits, I do applaud it for awakening in me the need to find an answer to a burning question: Where have all the romantic comedies gone? It doesn’t seem that long ago that they were everywhere. In the early 2000s, it seems like one would come out each week, and that they were good, too. Movies like “10 Things I Hate About You,” “Forgetting S a r a h M a r s h a l l , ” “ We d d i n g Crashers,” “Love Actually” and many more were cultural titans between the late 90s and 2010. The rom-com — with its familiar but ever-comforting formula where two characters meet, overcome some obstacle or misperception, realize
their love for one another and reunite — was a regular presence in the Western zeitgeist year after year for decades, and now it’s hard to name a single recent one of note beyond maybe “Crazy Rich Asians” in 2018. Sure, “Crazy Rich Asians” and a few other recent examples like “Long Shot” in 2019 and the mass of mediocre Netflix originals are evidence that the genre isn’t completely dead, but there’s no denying that it’s been gravely wounded in the past decade. As it turns out, there are a few reasons that account for this trend. The first, and likely the most significant, is the rise of the superhero movie. Since 2010, there has been a marked increase in the number of major-studio wide releases of superhero movies, from three in 2010 to five in 2017, with 2014 representing a high-water mark of eight. At the same time, the number of rom-coms that got major-studio wide releases has dropped drastically, from a high of nine in both 2010 and 2011 to zero in 2017. According to Business Insider writer Jason Guerrasio, this is because studios realized that superhero movies were more profitable and, importantly, they made money overseas, which rom-coms often don’t. Guerrasio also quotes Billy Mernit, author of “Writing the Romantic Comedy,” who noted that because of the change in dating culture caused by the advent of dating apps, and because major studios refused to produce rom-coms that reflected this change, “The target audience, the twenty-somethings and above, just no longer related to that kind of a movie and yet the studios seemed to be tone deaf to that change.” There are also a multitude of
other, smaller reasons why we don’t see as many rom-coms nowadays as we used to. One reason is that the form has migrated from more prominent modes of presentation, like big-studio releases, to more localized forms, like television — where it takes the shape of the thousands of rom-(sit)coms that have always been popular on the airways. “Friends” is an example of one of the most successful older network rom-(sit)coms but, in recent years, shows like Hulu’s “The Mindy Project” and HBO’s “Insecure” prove that the genre is still going strong even in the age of streaming, even if the rom(sit)com differs greatly from the traditional rom-com as a result of their respective mediums. Some have also claimed that the genre is heteronormative and sexist, and that their prevalence is a product of a bygone era. This is a fair criticism when you look at the wide catalog of stereotypical rom-coms that seem to reinforce the idea that every independent, career-focused, working woman is secretly in need of a man, but I think that’s a reason why we need more rom-coms, not less. The best rom-coms have always been the ones that have played with the conventions in interesting ways, such as “500 Days of Summer,” with its unique storytelling style, or “10 Things I Hate About You,” with its successful transposition of Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew” into the modern era. These movies still follow the basic formula I listed above, but subvert certain parts of it or frame it in a way that makes them unique and memorable. The ball is in the court of modern rom-com writers to alter the conventions in a way that fix
the issues of the genre — whether it be increased representation or more multifaceted portrayals of women — and for audiences to respond with their dollar as to what they think works and what does not. It’s not that the genre is inherently problematic, it’s that no one has come up with a good idea for one that’s in touch with modern audiences in far too long. This is all to say that the rom-com, sadly, is not likely to ever return to the position of prominence in American culture it once enjoyed. It’s been replaced by tent-pole franchises such as Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe and has joined the ranks of other genres that had their time like the Western and musical. Will it ever see a renaissance? Mernit believes that the golden age of romcoms is gone for good, but stipulates that “the romantic comedy genre
will never die because whether it’s lesbian lovers, a threesome, or a girlfriend in a coma, we are still interested in seeing those stories,” and that he doesn’t see that ever going away. As much as I think they’re great films, I’m sick of the more serious romance films of the past few years. Yes, I love “Call Me By Your Name,” “Moonlight” and “A Star is Born,” but sometimes I don’t want something so heavy. Often, I just want to be comforted with cheesy lines, a few well-earned laughs and a feel-good overly simplified message of love’s ability to conquer all. At their worst, rom-coms provide at least a modicum of satisfaction, like with “To All the Boys: P.S. I Love You,” but at their best, they instill within us a powerfully optimistic message of the power of human connection, and that’s something we should hold on to.