VOL. CLXXVI NO. 150
MOSTLY SUNNY HIGH 45 LOW 27
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THAYER STUDENTS REACH FINAL ROUND OF NASA BIG IDEA CHALLENGE PAGE 2
OPINION
MAGANN: TIME TO BACK BIDEN PAGE 6
MCGILL: DISSENT MATTERS PAGE 7
ARTS
‘CITRUS’ BY CELESTE JENNINGS ’18 DEBUTS AT NORTHERN STAGE PAGE 8
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THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020
Over 1,700 women raise $25 million for Dartmouth Hall B y EMILY LU
The Dartmouth Staff
Dubbed “the most ambitious women’s fundraising effort” in school history, a community of women alumni, faculty and students has raised over $25 million to fund the renovation of Dartmouth Hall. More than 1,700 women donated through The Call to Lead campaign to fund the building. The Call to Lead is a $3 billion comprehensive fundraising campaignlaunchedbytheCollege
The Dartmouth
The Dartmouth College Republicans are rewriting their constitution under a newly organized leadership team following the resignations of chairman Daniel Bring ’21 and co-vice chairman Alexander Rauda ’21. Their resignations marked the end of months of disaffection in the group related to the actions of the two departed leaders, which included
Second person infected after DHMC employee broke isolation
in April 2018. According to campaign executive committee member Caroline Hribar ’00, one of the campaign’s goals is inclusivity. “Capital campaigns are really about setting the future course for an institution,” Hribar said. “It was really important to President Hanlon, the board and everyone on the campaign committee that every alum and every student at Dartmouth have the opportunity to shape SEE RENOVATION PAGE 3
College Republicans revise constitution amid group disaffection B y MAYA KEMPF-HARRIS
HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
the exclusion of dissenters, unapproved changes to the organization’s constitution and a lack of communication to the rest of the organization. According to College Republicans interim president Charles Schneider ’22, Bring and Rauda overtook many aspects of the group after taking on leadership of the organization — often excluding members who disagreed with SEE REPUBLICANS PAGE 5
KATE HERRINGTON/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
The DHMC employee who tested positive for coronavirus on Monday broke isolation to attend a Tuck event.
B y THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF A second DartmouthHitchcock Medical Center employee has tested positive for novel coronavirus and is isolated at home. The man was in close contact with the first case in the state — a DHMC employee who had recently traveled to Italy — who attended an invite-only Tuck School of Business event at The Engine Room in White River Junction. DHMC has contacted anyone who might have been in contact with the first individual during the private event. The first individual attended the event on Friday
despite being directed by health officials to self-isolate, and the state has since issued “an official order of isolation” to the man. While health officials said they “expect additional cases may be identified that are related to this investigation,” they also said that neither of the individuals were in contact with patients at the hospital. According to an email sent to campus Wednesday afternoon by leader s of Dartmouth’s coronavirus task force — which meets daily to monitor developments related to the virus — Tuck students who were at the event are deemed to be at “low risk” of developing the virus
because they had no direct contact with the man who tested positive and have no limitations placed on their activities. Four Geisel School of Medicine students were identified as close contacts to the second individual who tested positive and have been self-quarantined, the email said. While the two cases have caused concern on campus about the coming ter m, the College still plans on holding spring term classes on campus. However, the College has cancelled student spring break international SEE CORONAVIRUS PAGE 3
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THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
Thayer students reach final round of NASA BIG Idea challenge B y ANDREW SASSER The Dartmouth Staff
For the second consecutive year, engineering students from the Thayer School of Engineering have reached the final round in NASA’s Breakthrough, Innovating, and Game-Changing (BIG) Idea competition. The team — comprised of undergraduate students Chris Lyke ’21, Marguerite Genereux ’21 and Grace Player ’21, and graduate students Adam Gronewold, Austin Lines and Joshua Elliott — are working with engineering professor Laura Ray to develop a series of robots to support exploration of permanently shadowed regions of the Moon. The idea, dubbed “Strategic Highly-compliant Roving Explorers of other Worlds (SHREWS),” is inspired by shrews — small, mole-like mammals that latch onto each other’s tails in order to move quickly as a unit. The robots being developed by the team would have the capability to latch on to each other, which would lessen the probability of the robots getting stuck or having to be rescued. According to Ray, the team’s focus in this year’s competition is on mobility in the polar regions of the moon. Ray said that these regions may possess water ice and other valuable resources needed for future human exploration of the Moon. Gronewold, the graduate student project lead, added that these regions provide extra challenges, as the polar regions of the moon are always in shadow and are hard to communicate with via satellites. “It’s much more difficult to control simply because you can’t continually send a signal to the robot to tell it what to do,” Gronewold said. “If the vehicle gets immobilized in the crater, there’s next to nothing you can do.” Rather than focus on building one vehicle, the team has instead decided
to use a series of robots that can latch onto one another. According to Ray, this approach was inspired by her research on vehicle mobility in the Arctic. Ray added that because both polar regions and the Moon have similarly soft terrains where a robot can get stuck, it made sense to use a series of smaller vehicles instead. “Every robot has its own individual mobility, but if one gets stuck, you can push or pull them out,” Ray said. “We also can use this to create larger vehicles, with different modes of mobility like repelling.” According to Gronewold, the team has only completed the proposal phase of the project and will now begin to work on the design of the robot itself. Ray said that the team will need to select a model crater on the moon and build two Earth analog vehicles. However, Ray also noted that the vehicle will have to be designed with lunar gravity and mass requirements in mind, as the final weight must be 15 kilograms or less. In addition to being named a finalist in the competition, Gronewold said that the team will also receive an $83,000 grant from NASA to help develop the project. He added that the team will go to NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland in November to present its final prototype. According to Ray, if the team is named the winner, its idea will be considered for NASA’s upcoming Artemis missions to the Moon. Gronewold added that last year’s team that won the BIG Idea Challenge for a design of a greenhouse on Mars is currently being evaluated by NASA for viability on future missions there. However, Gronewold also added that NASA will not automatically use their ideas, and will instead refine them further to meet the needs of their missions. “We were only funded $83,000 — I know that sounds like a lot, but
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ELSA ERICKSEN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
The team of students from Thayer are developing robots for Moon exploration.
in terms of interplanetary rollovers, that’s next to nothing,” Gronewold said. “What they will do after that is still [to] take the ideas from different universities and see if they can use that to advance the things they’re already thinking about.”
Player said the dynamic between graduate and undergraduate students was positive. “The graduate students we’ve been working with are all really brilliant in their fields, so that’s been kind of intimidating,” Player said.
“What’s been really nice is that they have such a wealth of knowledge in building robots and designing them, so it’s been really nice being on a team where there’s both undergraduates and graduates who know what they’re talking about.”
THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020
PAGE 3
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
Contingency plans Renovation to be completed by 2023 prepared for spring term FROM RENOVATION PAGE 1
FROM CORONAVIRUS PAGE 1
programming and is discouraging any international travel. Members of the Dartmouth community who do travel internationally and return from or travel through a country rated by the Centers for Disease Control as a Level 2 or Level 3 based on coronavirus risk are required to self-quarantine for 14 days before returning to campus, and those returning from a Level 1 country must self-observe for 14 days. Selfquarantine for travel beginning after March 4 must occur off campus. The College is not prohibiting public events and activities at this time in accordance with guidance
from the CDC and the state health department. “The COVID-19 outbreak is an unpredictable and fluid situation, and although we cannot know how it will evolve, Dartmouth plans to hold spring term classes on campus,” College spokesperson Diana Lawrence wrote in an email statement. “We are also preparing contingency plans to ensure business and learning continuity in the event that circumstances change unexpectedly.” Lawrence wrote that the College is also considering cancelling student foreign programs for the spring term, with an announcement planned for later this week.
that future.” There are three women-focused initiatives of the campaign — one of which is the restoration of Dartmouth Hall, which has not been renovated since the 1930s. The other two goals focus on gifts of at least $100,000 to Dartmouth’s annual funds and $1 million to The Call to Lead. “We started to think about something that would let all of the women at Dartmouth today and future know that all of us are there to support them,” Hribar said. “That’s how we arrived at Dartmouth Hall, which is physically and symbolically the heart of campus. What better place for us to lead this legacy of women coming together?” ThedonationstorenovateDartmouth Hall began after the goal was announced at a series of The Call to Lead campaign events throughout the country. However, during the Women’s Leadership Summit in November, trustee emerita Denise Dupré ’80 announced a $5 million match once 1,000 alumnae donated — and gifts to the project started pouring in. Hribar said that alumni spread the word through Facebook and email, and in less than a month, the goal of 1,000 donors was met. A key element of the Dartmouth Hall campaign focuses not on the size of the donations, but rather the number of women who donate. The building, once renovated, will include a wall of the names of everyone who donated, regardless of the amount. “Dartmouth Hall is really about celebrating the collective power of women, rather than traditionally in philanthropy, [honoring] the biggest gifts,” Hribar said. “What is making women philanthropy successful is recognizing that there is real power in women coming together, and giving women the opportunity to do things collaboratively instead of competitively.” The campaign hopes to have the building completely renovated by 2023, according to associate dean for the faculty of arts and humanities Barbara Will. It will also serve as a celebration for the 50th year of coeducation at Dartmouth; female students completed their first academic school year from 1972 to 1973.
“The symbolism speaks volumes to how far women at Dartmouth have come,” Hribar said. “Being able to celebrate coeducation with women [coming] together to make their mark on the future of this campus is really wonderful.” While Dartmouth Hall currently houses the foreign language departments, renovations will bring the Leslie Center for the Humanities from Haldeman Center to the first floor of Dartmouth Hall. The changes are also focused on adapting and recognizing the needs of the student body. The College will equip classrooms with new technology and create elevators and accessible entrances to the building. They also plan to install air conditioning and heating. “Since the beginning of the College, it has served as the chief academic building on campus,” Will said. “Obviously as other parts of the campus have grown, Dartmouth Hall is no longer the chief academic building, but it still has that iconic status. Every student passes through Dartmouth Hall or takes a class [there] during their undergraduate career.” The basement auditorium, Room 105, has a particularly rich history as the principal location for guest lecturers. Students frequently gathered there for
discussions and discourse in the past, and the renovations hope to reinvigorate 105 as a hub of activity. Will said that architects plan to bring in natural light and are working to allow visitors to see down into the room when they walk through the front doors. Will said that the women donating to Dartmouth Hall’s renovation are doing so to honor the College’s past, as well as its future. “Female donors are contributing to a building that’s going to become the 21st-century embodiment of teaching, learning, scholarly work and research,” Will said. “These are women who are supporting not just Dartmouth’s past but also Dartmouth’s future. It’s really making a huge statement about how women are at the center of a Dartmouth education.” While the $25 million mark was met in early February, the renovation campaign is extending its goal to 2,500 female donors by 2023. “My personal ambition is that we get as many women as possible to be a part of this with a gift of any size, whether that be a gift of $1, $10 or $500, or more,” Hribar said. “I just love the idea of all students coming in and seeing the collective power of the women of Dartmouth.”
JASON ROMERO/THE DARTMOUTH
The College has passed its fundraising goal of $25 million for Dartmouth Hall renovations.
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DARTMOUTHEVENTS
THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS
WITHIN REACH
THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020
UUGANZUL TUMURBAATAR ’22
TODAY 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Exhibit: “The Ties that Bind: Slavery and Dartmouth.” Sponsored by the Library, Rauner Special Collections Library.
12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Talk: “Anthropology Colloquium: The Lights of Winaq: Gold, Politics, and Andean Futures,” with Elena Turevon. Sponsored by the Department of Anthropology, Haldeman 252.
4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Talk: “America’s Bishop: J. Edgar Hoover and the Shaping of American Religion,” with Lerone A. Martin. Sponsored by ID&E, Religion Department and Rockefeller Center. Rocky 003.
TOMORROW 7:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.
Performance: “Dartmouth Idol Finals.” Sponsored by the Hopkins Center, Spaulding Auditorium.
8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Astronomy: “Public Astronomical Observing.” Sponsored by the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Shattuck Observatory.
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
THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020
PAGE 5
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
Former leadership often acted unilaterally, excluded members FROM REPUBLICANS PAGE 1
their vision of the club. Schneider said that the two planned events without the approval of — or without even informing — the organization’s board, excluded students who disagreed with them from group chats and sent emails or posted social media posts without the consent of the board. After learning about broader dissatisfaction with Bring and Rauda from other board members, Schneider wrote a report detailing concerns about Bring and Rauda to student organization accountability program director Steven King on Feb. 13. Three days after the complaint was sent to King, Bring sent out an email to campus on Feb. 16 from the College Republicans’ email account with the subject line “They’re bringing drugs…” to advertise Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bryant “Corky” Messner’s planned visit to campus. King declined to comment for this story.. Schneider said that Bring and Rauda did not include other members of the College Republicans’ board in the planning or advertising process for the Messner event, which he said did not align with the leadership’s values. “As far as I’m aware, no one else in the leadership other than [Bring and Rauda] was even aware that the event was even happening,” Schneider said. “All of us found out the event was happening by receiving the email like the rest of campus.” According to Schneider, had the rest of the board been included in the decision-making process, the email would never have gone out. Bring told The Dartmouth that he met with Safety and Security and an officer from the Hanover Police Department on the morning of Feb. 17. A spokesperson from Hanover Police confirmed that they were in contact with Bring on Feb. 17, the day before Messner’s scheduled campus visit. However, another statement from Hanover Police on the day of the canceled event stated that they were not involved in the decision to cancel the event. Bring said that he had submitted “one remark” that he found “particularly threatening” to Hanover Police, but they
had not completed their investigation when the event was canceled. On Feb. 18, the College Republicans sent out another email stating that Messner’s campus visit scheduled for that evening was “postponed indefinitely” due to “serious security concerns.” Schneider said that Bring and Rauda never informed him of any threats to the event. He added that he was also never made aware of any contact between Bring and Safety and Security or Hanover Police. That same evening, Bring and Rauda stepped down from their positions as chairman and co-vice chairman of the College Republicans. Both have claimed that the handling of the Messner event was not the cause of their resignations. “This event really highlighted those failings, and it was a wakeup call for us that maybe it would be best if we just took a step back from the organization and politics on campus,” Bring said. On the evening of Feb. 18, the Messner campaign posted on Twitter that his appearance on campus was canceled due to “the militant stance of the Dartmouth College Dems.” Bring denied responsibility for the statement. “We are not responsible for his campaign messaging,” Bring said, “and we did not — at least, I know I did not — identify the College Democrats in any way as the source of these threats, either to the Messner campaign or Safety and Security and the Hanover Police Department.” Schneider said that he was hesitant to blame Messner for the campaign messaging, saying that he was likely operating off of false information from Bring. “I think the most important thing to realize here is Mr. Messner — as well as everyone else both on the Republican and Democratic side that responded to this — were operating under what I understand to be bad information,” Schneider said. “I have a very hard time faulting Mr. Messner or any of the Democrats that came out pretty strongly against us.” Schneider said that the Messner campaign “believed they were speaking to a credible source on behalf of the Dartmouth College Republicans,” but that in speaking to Bring, the campaign was in reality “speaking to a member who
at the time and in recent history did not represent the College Republicans.” College Democrats communications director Katie Smith ’22 said that the organization has since demanded an apology from the Messner campaign. “They essentially weaponized this controversy and have been raising money off of the ‘fact’ that ‘violent leftists’ were making threats against them and their candidate,” Smith said. “And that’s obviously not true.” Since this leadership change, the College Republicans have been working to restructure the organization. The group is currently rewriting its constitution with the help of the Council on Student Organizations. This restructuring comes after the Schneider questioned the legitimacy of some revisions made to the document under Bring and Rauda’s leadership.. Bring said that the constitution was revised at “several points” during previous leadership, but that it was only revised “once or twice” during his time as chairman. Schneider estimated that the constitution was changed “at least five
times” during Bring’s time as chairman, although he said that he had no definite way of knowing whether that estimate was accurate. When asked whether Bring’s claim that the constitution was revised once or twice sounded plausible, Schneider said he believed that was not correct. According to Schneider, the College Republicans’ board was not informed when changes were being made to the constitution under Bring’s chairmanship, and that he does not believe that the changes made were approved by COSO. “The only reason I found out that changes were being made was I went to look at the constitution when it came time when we were all very concerned about [Bring and Rauda’s leadership] and we were considering options for removal,” Schneider said. “I noticed that it said it had been edited two days before I was in there, and none of us knew about it.” According to Schneider, COSO reached out to the College Republicans and asked to discuss recent changes that had been made to the organization’s constitution, giving him the impression that COSO was also unaware of the
changes made to the constitution until after they were implemented. That meeting happened the day after Bring and Rauda stepped down. “As far as I’m aware, the changes were not brought to COSO or to College administration before being put into the constitution,” Schneider said. “I believe they were just changed.” After learning more about the policies of the College Republicans, COSO is helping the organization revise its constitution. “The COSO board, which oversees student organizations under its purview, has spent considerable time and effort learning about the policies and operations of the College Republicans,” the COSO board wrote in a statement to The Dartmouth. “COSO is currently working with the College Republicans on revising their constitution and many of their organizational practices to help them make changes to support positive contributions to the community.” Schneider said that the organization plans to have a structure for the new constitution completed by the end of winter term.
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THE DARTMOUTH OPINION
THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020
OPINION EDITOR MATTHEW MAGANN ’21
Time to Back Biden
Joe Biden is the only candidate who can beat Trump — he deserves your support. Former vice president Joe Biden isn’t a Biden is the only remaining candidate favorite among Dartmouth students. Mention who can defeat Trump. The day after the his name, and you often elicit groans. He’s old, New Hampshire primary, I wrote a column the line goes. He’s forgetful and stumbling. arguing that Democrats should unite behind He’s Uncle Joe. In a recent poll by The whichever one of the center-left candidates Dartmouth, Biden attracted just 5.7 percent stood the best chance come Super Tuesday. support among Dartmouth students planning To my surprise, that’s just what the candidates to vote in the New Hampshire Democratic did. Seeing that Biden was in the strongest primary — that’s less than Andrew Yang position to win, both Buttigieg and Klobuchar received. In many of the dropped out to endorse informal exit polls that the former vice president. “What’s most spread through campus Mike Bloomberg held out important, though, is longer, but even he got group chats on Election Day, Biden wasn’t even that Biden is the only behind Biden by early listed as an option. morning. remaining candidate yesterdayThe I’ll admit it: When it race is now who can defeat comes to pure political effectively down to Biden acumen, candidates like a n d B e r n i e S a n d e r s. Trump.” Amy Klobuchar and Pete Sander s is a popular Buttigieg outdid Biden. candidate here, tying with Their clear-cut, energetic rhetoric stood in Buttigieg for student support prior to the New contrast to Biden’s old-fashioned, folksy and Hampshire primary. But even if you’ve felt at-times rambling delivery. Frankly, Biden is the Bern since 2016, it’s time to face the facts. old, and many students at Dartmouth were Sanders stands a much worse shot against looking for someone younger who would Trump than any one of the mainstream represent a new generation of leadership in liberals ever did. Sanders is further left than the Democratic Party. I don’t disagree with George McGovern — who, by the way, lost that sentiment, but that downside isn’t the every single state but Massachusetts and the only aspect of Biden. He may be 77, but few District of Columbia in the 1972 presidential can doubt Biden’s commitment to public election — and the stakes in 2020 are a whole service, even in the face of immense personal lot higher than they were in 1972. tragedy. He spent 36 years representing There’s now a cottage industry of Delaware in the Senate, and he served as rationalizing how the self-described vice president and close confidante to Barack “democratic socialist” Vermont senator can Obama for all eight years of one of the most win against Trump. But let’s look at the hard successful administrations in recent memory. data. In a recent Gallup poll, 53 percent of What’s most important, though, is that Americans openly declared they would never
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vote for a socialist from their own party. Even That brings me to the other major among Democrats, 26 percent responded candidate still in the race: Biden. The former that they would not vote for a Democratic vice president isn’t perfect, and I’ll be the “socialist.” We receive a skewed perspective first to admit it. But few can question his on that here at Dartmouth, where Sanders is integrity, and there’s a reason why Buttigieg, popular and well over half the student body Klobuchar, Beto O’Rourke and now even defines itself as left of center. Nationally, Bloomberg have dropped out and endorsed however, Sanders’ ideas just aren’t that him. And there’s a reason why voters in 10 popular. out of 14 Super Tuesday states voted for Sanders often references Biden. his ability to boost turnout The time has “If Sanders can and surge to victory. But come for Democrats to if Sanders can generate put aside our differences. generate a massive a massive bloc of voters Whether you supported bloc of voters to to supplant both swing Buttigieg or Klobuchar, supplant both swing Bloomberg or Kamala voters and the moderate wing of the Democratic Harris — who, if the voters and the Party, we’ve yet to see any rumors are to be believed, moderate wing of evidence of it so far in the Biden may wisely choose primaries. the Democratic Party, as his running mate — In fact, Sanders electoral process has we’ve yet to see any the is dramatically had its say, and Biden has underperforming evidence of it so far in emerged as the only viable compared to the 2016 candidate against Trump. the primaries.” D e m o c r a t i c p r i m a r y. I’m admittedly The senator won New biased; I have supported Hampshire by over 22 percentage points Biden from the beginning, because I believe he in 2016 — this year, even against a divided can use his lengthy experience and bipartisan center-left, he scraped by with just a 1.3-point record to restore some sense of unity after lead over Buttigieg. And in Sanders’ home four years of Trump. But I had little doubt state of Vermont, this year’s Super Tuesday that Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Harris, Corey brought similarly disappointing results. Booker or many of the other candidates Though Sanders easily carried the state with would have done exceptionally well in office. a 29-point lead, that margin of victory is a Their differences were minor, and I would huge decline from his 2016 performance, have felt happy with any one of them as when he managed to win Vermont by a the Democratic nominee. But whoever you whopping 72.5 percent. supported, it’s a Biden-versus-Sanders race Sander’s much-touted turnout hasn’t now. And only one of those candidates — happened. In fact, youth turnout — a key Biden — can defeat Trump. factor for Sanders — was actually lower in With Biden as nominee, I know I won’t many Super Tuesday states than it was in wake up every morning and anxiously check the 2016 Democratic primary. Meanwhile, the news for whatever self-generated crisis the the surge of overall voter turnout on Super President has created. I won’t have to Google Tuesday seems to have mainly benefitted “Trump” every few minutes and wait for the Biden. The formula looks clear: increased latest debasement of our country to pop up. turnout favors Biden, not Sanders. I’ll know that, even if Biden occasionally If these statistics make anything clear, it’s stumbles, the President will be a civil servant, this: Sanders is in no position to win against not a narcissist, and few doubt he’ll put the Trump. Some people love Sanders’ policies, nation’s best interest over his own ego. Few while others don’t. But nationally, Sanders just doubt that Biden will assemble an all-star doesn’t have the support needed to win. We team of advisors and work tirelessly to push should never allow wishful thinking to cloud for real progress in the wake of the Trump our view of who’s electable. The stakes are too era. high. Let’s be realistic and admit that — even I’m not afraid to say it: I support Joe Biden. if we’ve felt the Bern since 2016 — Sanders He’s a man of integrity, he’s a candidate who simply does not have a path to victory. can win and he deserves your support.
THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020
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THE DARTMOUTH OPINION
GUEST COLUMNIST BLAKE MCGILL ’22
Dissent Matters
Campus polarization will not be fixed by in-group insularity. Last week, Daniel Bring ’21 and Alexander Rauda ’21 wrote an apology in The Dartmouth in response to the criticism they received regarding their handling of the College Republicans’ attempt to bring U.S. Senate candidate Bryant “Corky” Messner to campus. The vast majority of the criticism they received focused on the inflammatory subject line “They’re bringing drugs…,” which introduced the campus-wide email inviting students and other members of the Dartmouth community to the event with Messner. While their apology is appreciated and long overdue, their removal from positions of leadership will likely do little to ameliorate the polarization plaguing this campus. My freshman fall, I attended a number of College Republicans meetings. In my experience, it was not a space for internal reflection or self-criticism. The majority of members made it very clear that this was now the party of President Trump, and that any critique of his administration was unwelcome. For example, I was met with snickers by a number of members when I suggested that one possible problem with erecting a wall on our southern border would be filing many eminent domain-related lawsuits. As limiting the role of the federal government — in particular executive power — has historically informed Republican policy positions, I was disappointed by this response. But given a lack of in-power political role models, I was not surprised. I was eventually “purged” from the College Republicans GroupMe, which to this day I have no explanation for, but will assume no ill-will. I would challenge the new leadership to use their club as both a space for self-reflection and an embodiment of the “big tent” promise of the GOP — which means that those critical of the current administration should not only be tolerated, but welcomed. I hope the College Republicans bear that in mind as they redefine themselves in the wake of Bring and Rauda’s resignation. While this column is in response to the aforementioned Bring and Rauda article, my sole intention is not to criticize the College Republicans and their insularity. As a rightleaning moderate, I am generally hesitant to publicly criticize “conservative” spaces, which are already the subject of much flippant scrutiny. I mention the College Republicans by name because recent events involving their leadership make obvious the larger problem.
The larger problem — which plagues not only this campus but also our country writ large — is a lack of cross-partisan dialogue. The purpose of college is to move us both physically and intellectually beyond the parochial understandings we inherit during the first 18 years of our lives. The goal of higher education is not to arrive, pay large sums of money and spend four years in echo chambers seeking out only congenial information. Until we drive up to Hanover ahead of First-Year Trips, many of our worldviews have been wholly shaped by our experiences and the opinions of our parents, teachers and religious leaders. Many of us have grown up in political, religious, racial and ethnic bubbles. Even those of us who listen to podcasts and read frequently probably have a narrower understanding of others’ lives than we believe we do. I was a Great Issue Scholar in-residence, and my floor was home to a diverse set of students — many of whom were international, and all of whom had some interest in the political, economic and social issues which challenge our world. By forging relationships with people from different backgrounds, we were able to have incredibly difficult conversations about complicated issues without assuming malintent. I feel I am a better student, citizen and person for engaging with people whose opinions and experiences differ from my own. If campus organizations want to stop contributing to polarization, a number of steps can be taken. Gathering member-only meetings that allow for open and honest conversations about their parties’ futures is one step. Campus would also benefit from productive public lectures — which challenge preconceived notions and broaden perspectives. These lectures should be a forum for all people — in particular those who may not think they agree — to listen and raise questions. This does not need to be a battle of “Us versus Them” or a zero-sum game. We do not need more echo chambers. We need a vibrant political culture and we need people of all reasonable reasoning belief systems to come to the table. McGill is a former member of the Dartmouth College Republicans and a former member of The Dartmouth staff. The Dartmouth welcomes guest columns. We request that guest columns be the original work of the submitter. Submissions may be sent to both opinion@thedartmouth. com and editor@thedartmouth.com. Submissions will receive a response within three business days.
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THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020
THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
‘Citrus’ by Celeste Jennings ’18 debuts at Northern Stage B y Jack hargrove The Dartmouth Staff
Last Saturday, “Citrus” debuted at Northern Stage in White River Junction. Celeste Jennings ’18 wrote “Citrus” as her senior year fellowship project while at Dartmouth. JaMeeka HollowayBurrell, who directed the initial reading of “Citrus” at the College last May, is directing the production’s Northern Stage iteration as well. “Citrus” is not a play in the traditional sense; rather, it is a choreopoem, which combines dance, music, poetry, rap and acting. It tells the stories of black women throughout history and in the present day, with a focus on personal experiences. “[The play was] extremely welldone,” said audience member Debby Clinton after viewing the preview performance. “I love the transition of ages and seeing the different perspectives of women in different times.” At Dartmouth, Jennings focused on design while working at the costume shop, and, as a result, “Citrus” focuses heavily on what clothes the characters wear. “I was definitely a costume designer before I was a playwright,” Jennings said. “So when I first started thinking about this project and what I wanted it to be, I knew that clothes had to be a really integral aspect of it.” Specifically, Jennings is interested in studying how fashion and class impact one another. Throughout the choreopoem, the costumes that the actors wear are an integral part of each character that they play. Costume changes happen on stage, allowing the audience to see actors transition from playing one character to the next. The costume design also helps the audience situate the different time periods in which the various stories take place. “It was really important to me to
study [clothes] and try to figure out how I could make dress a part of the show without making it a show about fashion history,” Jennings said. The personal nature of the writing creates a challenge for the actors, as many of the stories relate to the experience of being a black woman in the modern world. For example, actress Samantha West ’20 said her role was to be a window into common experiences of black women. “One of the tenets of the piece as a whole is that we are ourselves up on that stage,” West said. “Like my own character, I play a character at [the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee] in the ’60s, and on my overalls is a pin that has my actual name on it. It’s this whole idea that we are the women of the past, and the women of the past are us now. There’s a circular idea of time, with all of it being intertwined.” Jennings expressed a similar sentiment about the acting in the choreopoem. “It’s been especially beautiful watching the actresses find themselves within these poems,” Jennings said. “In ‘Citrus,’ you’re not just a character in a play; we really want the actors to be themselves right now and their ancestors from years ago.” The play features nine actors who rarely leave the stage during the choreopoem. West said there was a great amount of interplay between the actors. “On stage, we ourselves are reacting as ourselves, and we get to be friends in the space just like we have become friends outside of it, which I love,” West said. “Performances change every night, and you react in different ways.” The actors’ performances also provide a palpable sense of joy in many scenes. They are clearly having fun on the stage, and this glee transfers directly to the audience. Through tales of adversity, “Citrus” promotes a message of resilience and
hope. Some stories are more lighthearted and humorous, such as the “awkward black girls” sketch that drew laughter from the audience. On the other hand, some explore darker themes, including unwanted advances made by men. “Citrus” paints a realistic picture through this combination of dark and light. As a result, West said the choreopoem is deeply relatable to many people. “I think the beauty of Celeste’s writing is that it truly feels so personal, and she conveys in the most precise and poetic way something that quite a few of us, as black women on that stage, have felt,” West said. “Whether that’s being awkward, or feeling like you’re not enough, or feeling excited about something.” Spoken-word poetry plays a major role in “Citrus” alongside the music and acting. The choreopoem is frequently broken up by recordings of various poems being read, unifying the disparate
stories of the characters into one shared experience. In fact, Jennings said that these poems explain how her writing process for the choreopoem began. “It was just me taking my poems and putting them all in a document, and then figuring out how I want to organize them,” Jennings said. “And then from there, I thought, ‘I could get my friends in here,’ and then it became a thing about my friends. And then each new iteration added more, until, here we are now.” The title of the choreopoem itself comes from one of these poems, in which the experience of sitting in the grass and eating an orange is described in vivid detail. Jennings explained that the orange was a metaphor for the themes in the choreopoem. “I personally think that [oranges] are super delicious, and they’re juicy, but you have to work at an orange,” Jennings said. Jennings went on to discuss how oranges tend to be messier than apples,
and that is why people tend to gravitate toward apples as their snack of choice. “I think sometimes people are like, ‘I don’t want that. I’m not going to bring an orange to work because it’s messy, and it’s gonna be such a hassle.’ A lot of the time, I think black women are also treated as such, because of all of the burdens from our history that we’re associated with, and in everyday life that we’re still undergoing systematic racism.” After the initial production at Dartmouth, moving to the professional venue of Northern Stage has presented both opportunities and challenges to the cast and crew, according to West, who has been in both productions. “It’s different in a lot of ways,” West said. “It’s interesting being in a much larger space, which is exciting, but also scary in certain ways. The story gets to reach more people. “Citrus” will run Wednesdays through Sundays at Northern Stage until March 15.
COURTESY OF KATA SASVARI
Samantha West, Nemunda Ceesay, Stella Asa and Jazmine Stewart perform in “Citrus” at Northern Stage.