VOL. CLXXVIII NO. 27
FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 2022
HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
Upper Valley communities prepare SVPP cancels to welcome Afghan refugees programming for Class of 2023
BEAM LERTBUNNAPHONGS/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
BY Emily Fagell The Dartmouth Staff
Photo credit: CPL Sam Shepherd. Crown Copyright 2011, NZ Defence Force – Some Rights Reserved. Attribution 3.0 New Zealand.
Regional organizations expect Afghan families to arrive this month, and Dartmouth will bring several students to campus.
BY SOLEIL GAYLORD The Dartmouth Staff
Four months after the U.S. officially concluded its military withdrawal from Afghanistan, more than 50,000 refugees have been evacuated from the country and resettled in communities across the U.S., including the Upper Valley. Local community members have been providing support to help Afghan refugees settle down and welcoming them to their new homes. 260 Afghans are expected to arrive in Vermont by the end of February according to VTDigger, and 50 have arrived in New Hampshire already, New Hampshire Public Radio reports. Many Afghans arriving in New Hampshire
have come to the U.S. through a process called humanitarian parole, allowing them to access most services available to refugees but requiring that they achieve asylum to become long-term residents or citizens. Martha Tecca, president of Community Care of Lyme, a community health organization, said that last year her group started to work in the Upper Valley to create a “Welcome Fund” for displaced Afghan families and individuals. “My focus has been to welcome as many people as possible and share the tremendous resources that we have here in the Upper Valley,” Tecca said. “Right now, we’re anticipating a family of 10 and a related family of nine sometime
in the next several weeks.” According to Tecca, two main hurdles exist in the resettlement process — getting Afghans to America and working with federal resettlement agencies to facilitate relocation. Tecca added that federal agencies work with state partners — in New Hampshire, the two state partners are the Ascentria Care Alliance and the International Institute of New England — to help refugees settle in the U.S. “These agencies help communities understand how to create the full set of resources to help a displaced family access all of the benefits that they may be eligible for,” Tecca said. SEE REFUGEES PAGE 2
Local experts weigh in on COVID-19 becoming endemic
PARTLY CLOUDY HIGH 29 LOW -6
BY SAM BROOk The Dartmouth
NEWS
DDS STUDENT WORKERS ANNOUNCE INTENT TO UNIONIZE PAGE 2
OPINION
VERBUM ULTIMUM: ROADMAP FOR 22W PAGE 3
ARTS
THE FORCE OF THINGS TO COME TO THE HOP PAGE 4
SPORTS
MEN’S BASKETBALL WINS AGAINST BROWN PAGE 5 FOLLOW US ON
@thedartmouth COPYRIGHT © 2021 THE DARTMOUTH, INC.
Amid declarations by epidemiologists and public health experts that COVID-19 is shifting from a pandemic disease to an endemic one, Dartmouth professors and public health experts caution against this diagnosis due to the pandemic’s unpredictability. In an email sent out to the community on Wednesday, interim provost David Kotz and executive vice president Rick Mills addressed the uncertainty of COVID-19’s long-term trajectory. “Many epidemiologists and public health officials observe that we are moving from pandemic to endemic status, although it is still not certain how severe or disruptive the virus will become over time,” they wrote. They added that this evolving approach to confronting the pandemic has translated to a shift in focus in federal guidance and local government policies from “containing the spread of the virus to reducing risk and making it easier for people who have been vaccinated and boosted to resume normal activities while taking precautionary measures.” The term “endemic” describes something that is “constantly present or occurring frequently in a region or population,” infectious disease epidemiologist and Geisel School of Medicine professor Anne Hoen wrote in an email statement. “In epidemiology, it can take on a more specific meaning, which is where a disease reaches something close to an endemic steady state in a population,” Hoen added. She contrasted an endemic with an epidemic spread, where introduction of a virus results in exponential spread through a population. Because the omicron variant is causing “massive epidemics” in
many regions of the world currently, categorizing the pandemic as an endemic is not fully correct, according to Hoen. “It is clear at this time that COVID-19 will be here long-term,” Hoen wrote. “So in one sense of the word endemic, yes, that is where we are. But in the more specific epidemiologic sense, ‘endemic’ is not a good description of the current situation.” Rockefeller Center for Public Policy policy fellow and public health practitioner Anne Sosin echoed Hoen, saying that there is “no basis for saying that this is an endemic at this point in time.” “The U.S. is experiencing record cases, hospitalizations … and widespread disruption, so as much as we would like to be done … the desire to say we are finished is premature,” Sosin said. According to Sosin, many are using the omicron variant as proof of COVID-19’s shift to an endemic presence in society. “Many are saying right now that the omicron surge is the endemicity, but many also thought that about [the delta variant],” Sosin said. “So I think we need to recognize that new variants and the sudden surges that they drive are a hallmark of COVID-19, and we need to build the policy infrastructure to manage them.” According to Hoen, the omicron variant has also caused less severe disease than previous variants. This can be attributed in part to increasing immunity due to more people receiving vaccinations and boosters, as well as the variant’s tendency to infect lung cells less easily, Hoen wrote. “The next important variant could be less deadly or more deadly,” Hoen added. Hanover deputy health officer SEE ENDEMIC PAGE 2
In response to under staf fing a n d o t h e r C OV I D - 1 9 r e l a t e d complications, the Sexual Violence Prevention Project — a recent initiative aimed at combating sexual violence on campus — has canceled all planned programming for the Class of 2023. Prior to the pandemic, SVPP did not include a junior year curriculum. With the Class of 2023 forming the project’s inaugural freshman group, the SVPP team planned to proceed by “implementing and developing at the same time,” according to project director Amanda Childress. When the pandemic hit, the staff had to make a choice: utilize their resources to create its first-ever junior programming, or focus on maintaining pre-existing curricula for first-years and sophomores, according to Childress and Student Wellness Center director Caitlin Barthelmes. Facing a staffing shortage and disruptions related to the pandemic, Barthelmes said the team decided to prioritize the first two years of programming. The Dartmouth first reported that cutbacks were being considered in November. “I think it’s no surprise that this year has been more turbulent than we even anticipated, with so many specifically [COVID-19] related pivots and shifts and changes,” Barthelmes said. “The amount of bandwidth that we did have on the staff — that we had hoped could be put towards more development and piloting of those experiences for juniors — got a little bit usurped, so that we could appropriately deliver the current programming.” The SVPP’s core team consists of five permanent members, and an additional hire recently joined the group as a project assistant, according to Barthelmes and the project’s website. While the SVPP has retained its staff throughout the pandemic, Barthelmes said the program “warranted an expanding team.” In an interview in November, Childress estimated that the SVPP would need 12 to 14 full-time staff members to run the program for all four class years. The SVPP is currently searching for a power and equity specialist, as well as recruiting for the student advisory board. Recruitment for student facilitators will take place next term, according to Childress. Barthelmes declined to comment on a hiring timeline, given that such predictions were difficult to make even before COVID-19. She added that she is “happy with [filling a team] as soon as possible,” and praised the current recruitment efforts. “I want to give kudos to the SVPP team,” Barthelmes added. “Any time they are doing a search, they go above and beyond to ensure that they are recruiting the most diverse candidate pool possible, and they continue that search until they feel they have widened that pool enough to ensure the best caliber, as well as the best mix of types of folks who could serve in those roles.” Cia Gladden ’23, a SVPP student facilitator, said the current staffing issues have been mentally challenging, given the weight of the issues that SVPP takes on. “At least once a week, there would be no [student facilitators] ready for one of the sessions,” Gladden said. “Usually me or one other person who would fill in … For me, doing it more than once a week was really difficult.
Talking about [sexual violence] all the time can take a toll. You just have to stop at some point and try to find somebody else who will do it for you because it’s hard to talk about.” Childress echoed Gladden, noting that the team has had to take on new responsibilities in response to staff constraints, as well as rethink current and upcoming projects. “The team’s been stepping up in different places,” Childress said. “Our Student Advisory Board and our student facilitators have always been a really big help and support in taking on some different components and pieces.” The decision to suspend junior year prog ramming comes near the seventh anniversar y of the Moving Dartmouth Forward Plan, an initiative launched in January 2015 “aimed at eliminating high-risk behavior and increasing inclusivity while strengthening Dartmouth’s longstanding commitment to leadership in teaching and learning,” according to its website. The SVPP was launched as part of the plan, and after several years of pilot programming, the Class of 2023 was expected to be the first class to complete four years of it. Barthelmes said the project’s leaders hope to partner with students to design future programming, aiming to solicit input from juniors this year. Elizabeth Hadley ’23 said she thinks getting student input is “a really great idea,” and added that the SVPP team could receive more responses by advertising its initiative in central campus locations or by incentivizing students with a gift card lottery. Although juniors can still be involved in planning, Gladden said she thinks prog ramming “should continue as much as possible,” noting the i m p o r t a n c e o f s ex u a l v i o l e n c e prevention on Dartmouth’s campus. “I think everyone needs that reminder that sexual violence isn’t something that just goes away when you choose to stop thinking about it,” Gladden said. “For some people, it’s an everpresent thing, it’s always at the front of your brain. While Hadley agreed that sexual violence prevention is a “really important topic,” she said she understands why the project would want to prioritize an in-person experience — which she said she views as more effective — for first and second-year students. She added that she feels she “learned enough in the first two years,” the first of which was in-person and the other virtual. Before winterim, the team intended to hold in-person training after break, but high case numbers on campus led to new deliberations. Childress said first-year experience coordinator Amber Strock and student facilitators are currently finalizing winter plans. As of now, the Positive Relationships and Sex workshop will be held online, while the Bystander Initiative will be held in-person but pushed back to week four. Although the adjustments have not been ideal, Barthelmes said she hopes students will show “grace” in a difficult situation. “One thing I’ve always valued about the Dartmouth community is our care for each other,” Barthelmes said. “I’m thankful to be a part of a community that has that mutual respect and understanding for each other. I think that we will continue [to help] our students in building their skills and capacities for creating safer, healthier spaces here at Dartmouth. It just looks a little different now.”
FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 2022
PAGE 2
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
DDS student workers announce intent to unionize
700 booster shots administered at oncampus clinic
JASON ROMERO/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
B Y ANAÏS ZHANG The Dartmouth Staff
This article was originally published on January 13, 2022. Last Wednesday, student workers at Dartmouth Dining Services formally announced their intention to unionize by establishing the Student Worker Collective at Dartmouth. The student workers’ primary demands, outlined in an open letter to the College administration posted on social media, include that the College voluntarily recognize the union through a thirdparty card check agreement and that student workers are guaranteed paid sick leave. DDS director Jon Plodzik declined to comment on the unionization drive — noting “the matter is being addressed by senior leadership of the College” — and referred comment to College spokesperson Diana Lawrence. Lawrence wrote in an emailed statement that the College has “received the letter from the collective and [looks] forward to talking with them.” Though talks to unionize began during the fall term, pressures placed on student workers intensified this term, according to SWCD organizer Kaya Colakoglu ’24. He said that a variety of factors — increased exposure to COVID-19, intense work shifts due to the labor shortage on campus and pay stagnation — have contributed to rising dissatisfaction among student workers. “[These factors are] an exaggeration o f ch ro n i c p ro bl e m s p l a g u i n g Dartmouth, in the sense that these are not just things that happened with the pandemic and they won’t certainly end with the pandemic,” Colakoglu said. Nadine Formiga ’25, a student worker at Novack Cafe and SWCD organizer, said that her work experience has been stressful due to the long lines and potential exposure to COVID-19, adding that many DDS student workers felt “hopeless” about improving their work conditions. “A lot of my friends work for DDS and a lot of them have [COVID-19] right now,” Formiga said. “I just saw a tweet saying ‘I have more friends with [COVID-19] than friends with work
rights,’ and that’s definitely what I’m feeling right now.” Colakoglu noted that since certain dining locations faced shortened hours during the first two weeks of winter term, many students were unable to work. “There are some people who think student workers work for pocket money,” Colakoglu explained. “But, that’s really not the case. Quite a lot of student workers use it to pay for travel expenses and some send money back home.” Colakoglu added that DDS student workers’ pay has stagnated despite increases in the price of food at DDS — one factor that pushed students to unionize. According to Colakoglu, the union’s demands are “two pronged”: that the College officially recognize the union and that it institute paid sick leave. Under the first demand, the College would pick a mutually trusted third party to check student union cards and verify that a majority of student workers are in favor of unionizing. In preparation for the card check ag reement, Colakoglu said that organizers at the SWCD held “hundreds of meetings” that involved one-on-one conversations and group meetings with student workers to garner support for the cause. Formiga said that the students relied on a spreadsheet containing the names of DDS student workers and contacted workers to gauge student interest in forming a union. Over 60% of student workers indicated their support for unionization, according to SWCD org anizer Alejandro Morales ’24. Colakoglu noted that when an initial contingent of DDS workers became frustrated in talks with the management and started organizing for a union in the fall, DDS increased the base wage for its student workers. “If merely the threat of organizing workers unionizing allowed us to win a $2 [per hour] raise, just imagine what we can win with the power of collective bargaining,” said Colakoglu. SWCD organizer Ian Scott ’24 said that the wage increase during fall term was achieved through “individual organizing efforts,” which he said leaves
open the possibility for a rollback of the policy in the future — a problem that he argued the union might address in the future. “A union is a legal institution, and through a union, you’re able to bargain a contract,” Scott noted. “Whatever gains we win are set in stone until a new contract is written.” Morales hopes that the College will cooperate with student demands — and refrain from engaging in union-busting efforts such as those that occured, they said, at Columbia University and Kenyon College. Though a supermajority of students supports unionization, Formiga noted that some of her peers were afraid that the unionization efforts would “backfire,” and others doubted that they would have sufficient energy to devote to the cause given their busy schedules and the demands of coursework. Local 560 branch of the Service Employees Inter national Union president Chris Peck, who provided assistance to SWCD organizers during their unionizing efforts, said that he supplied the students with their book on bylaws — a set of rules for a particular union — and helped students brainstorm on the structure they hoped to put in place, such as electing a president, treasurer and shop stewards at various dining locations. “There’s been talk of graduate students that wanted to organize, but this is actually the biggest effort I’ve seen since I’ve been here,” Peck said. On Monday, DDS director Jon Plodzik wrote in an email to DDS student workers that DDS will increase their pay by 50%. According to Plodzik, the temporary incentive is effective on Jan. 2, and DDS is working out the details of ensuring workers get back pay. “We realize that not all community members are fully complying with the mask mandate, nor the quarantine expectations, and as such, we will pay Dining benefitted and student associates additional pay for their work at this time,” Plodzik wrote. Alejandro Morales is a member of The Dartmouth staff.
Dartmouth will bring on Afghan refugees as unmatriculated “special students” FROM REFUGEES PAGE 1
Tecca added that the tight housing market in the Upper Valley presents a challenge in finding accommodations for refugees, but collaboration between organizations in Ver mont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts has lessened the strain. “The centers can work with and support families that may be housed or working on either side of the border,” Tecca said. Tecca said that Afghans coming to the Upper Valley have the ability to get work permits and green cards, which give them longer-term work capabilities. “Even though they don’t necessarily have longer term immigration status, many of them are able to get a Social Security number and work, which, in the Upper Valley — where the workforce is such a challenge — is actually really encouraging,” Tecca said. She added that the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center has been an “eager” employer for displaced Afghans. Economics professor Charles Wheelan, who has advocated for bringing undergraduate and graduate s t u d e n t s f ro m A f g h a n i s t a n t o Dartmouth, emphasized the importance of welcoming more Afghans into the Upper Valley community.
“To the extent that there’s a center of gravity for people who are coming to a place that is alien, having more people who can connect, support each other and share means more is better.” Wheelan said. He added that Americans have a “moral responsibility” for Afghans. Wheelan said that the high number of highly educated Afghans — particularly women — as well as Afghans who put themselves at risk trying to support the United States heighten the U.S. responsibility for ensuring their safety. In an email statement, senior associate director of the admissions office Anna Dechert said that the College is working with the Yalda Hakim Foundation — an NGO that works to support Afghan students — to bring Afghan students to campus. “From my perspective, it’s been incredible to have a leadership team in admissions and at the College who also saw the amazing value of welcoming these students into our classrooms,” Dechert wrote. “Faculty, leadership, staff, and alumni came together to instead say, ‘How can we make this work?’” Dechert added that many Afghans come to the College as “special students,” meaning they are not formally matriculated but take classes
and earn Dartmouth credits, which allows these students more flexibility and time to submit a formal application in the future if desired. Behishta Sadaat, who worked as a program analyst at the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women in Afghanistan, came to the U.S. last August and is now enrolled in Dartmouth’s Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program. Sadaat previously attended the American University of Afghanistan and survived the 2016 Taliban attack against the institution. Sadaat said she checks the news at home frequently. She described the current conditions in Afghanistan as “getting worse and worse every day” amid poverty, a cold winter, unemployment and women being unable to work or go to school. “I am not hopeful about the future of Afghanistan,” Saadat said. However, she added, she is confident that New Hampshire will be a safe refuge. “I have that grief still, leaving everything behind, but everybody gave me the feeling that [the Upper Valley] is like home,” Saadat said. “We feel supported, loved and respected — I’m confident that when people come here from Afghanistan, they all feel the same.”
CAROLINE KRAMER/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
B Y Daniel Modesto The Dartmouth Staff
This article was originally published on January 13, 2022. On Jan. 10 and Jan. 11, approximately 700 booster shots out of the available 1,000 were administered to students, faculty and staff at the on-campus COVID-19 clinic in Alumni Hall, according to College spokesperson Diana Lawrence. The College held its first booster clinic at Alumni Hall on Dec. 6, during winter break, for students. On Dec. 18, the College announced a booster shot mandate: All students, faculty and staff would be required to get an additional shot by Jan. 31 or within 30 days of becoming eligible. In an email statement, Lawrence wrote that discussions regarding the possibility of offering booster clinics were considered by the COVID-19 leadership group in November. She added that the Upper Valley Regional Public Health Network provided the Pfizer boosters, while Axiom Medical — a medical consulting firm employed by the College — provided the Moderna boosters. Axiom staff administered both companies’ boosters at the clinic. Armond Dorsey GR’23 said they “loved how easy” it was to sign up, noting that the College made the registration process “straightforward” by sending students a link directly. While Dorsey said they experienced a “short wait” to receive the booster at the clinic, they noted that there was some confusion over which line was for registration and which was for getting the booster. Michael Cullen Th’22 said that although getting the shot was easy, he had difficulties rescheduling his appointment. He added that when he wasn’t able to reschedule, the clinic “didn’t seem like they cared too much,” and he was able to receive his booster outside of his scheduled appointment time. Like Dorsey, Cullen also noted confusion over the two separate lines, in addition to some “holdup” in the distribution of boosters — specifically for the Pfizer shots. The exact breakdown in the number of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines that were administered is unavailable, Lawrence wrote. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, anyone over 12 is eligible for a Pfizer booster, while those over 18 are eligible for the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson booster. The wait time between receiving the second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine and the booster is 5 months, while the wait time for a J&J booster is 2 months. Kaynaan Henry ’24 received his booster from the clinic on Jan. 10. He said he experienced some soreness right after receiving it, but “didn’t feel the full effect” of the booster until the next day, when he experienced a severe headache and felt nauseous. “I felt really nauseous and I actually had to cancel going to class that day because I physically could not get up and be active,” Henry said. “I did have to stay in for the
rest of the day.” According to the CDC, reactions from receiving a booster are “similar to those after the two-dose or single-dose primary series,” and side effects to the booster include tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, fever and nausea. Henry, who received the Moderna booster, said that after drinking fluids and taking ibuprofen, he felt better by the end of the day. Rene Rodriguez ’22, who received his booster at the clinic, said that he wasn’t planning on getting the booster originally, but did so when the College mandated it. According to Rodriguez, he would have prefered to not get the vaccine, citing the number of breakthrough cases among his friends. “I honestly would much rather not have gotten it just because of what’s going on right now,” Rodriguez said. “Everyone’s getting sick either way, like my friends who have the booster are still getting [COVID-19]. So I don’t really see the point in it, but as long as I don’t have really bad side effects, I’m okay with it.” While breakthrough cases are still possible among fully vaccinated individuals, the CDC notes that those individuals are “less likely to develop serious illness than those who are unvaccinated and get COVID-19.” In addition, the World Health Organization has presented studies that demonstrate that individuals with a booster have “substantial protection” against the omicron variant, according to The New York Times. The College’s decision to mandate boosters came after the administration encouraged students to receive the booster shot in early December. In the campus-wide email explaining its decision, the College cited the surge of the delta and omicron variants. As of Jan. 12, there are 544 active cases on campus. Everett Magnuson ’22, who received the booster on Jan. 11, said he was traveling frequently over winterim, and that the oncampus clinic was his “first good opportunity to get [the booster].” In regard to the College’s decision to mandate boosters, he said he “didn’t really care.” Dorsey said he agrees with the College’s decision to mandate boosters, as it provides students with the “best chances of staying in good health.” Cullen noted that students share “responsibility for the wellbeing of both ourselves and those around us” and added that it is “not unreasonable to mandate that people be vaccinated.” “It’s shown to reduce your symptoms if you get it, and also your transmissibility to others,” Cullen said. “So I think that it is absolutely reasonable that in order to be a part of this institution that you do be vaccinated.” The College is now working to schedule another booster clinic before the end of the month, Lawrence wrote. According to the COVID-19 Response Team, students who have received their booster but have not submitted medical documentation must send their NetID and a photo of their vaccination card to Dick’s House by Jan. 31.
Future variants still cause for concern, experts say FROM ENDEMIC PAGE 1
Robert Houseman also commented on the volatile nature of the pandemic, as “every one of the COVID-19 variants thus far [has] been different.” As for the pandemic shifting to endemicity, he said that “we do not know what an endemic COVID-19 will look like until we are in it.” According to Houseman, Hanover will most likely follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sosin emphasized the importance of implementing policy infrastructure to manage waves of new COVID-19 variants. “I’ve been an advocate for datadriven mask policies as one tool to manage the pandemic,” Sosin
said. “But we also need to have the infrastructure in place, if we see a more virulent variant emerge, to take more drastic measures.” Hoen wrote that for the College, “prevention strategies are still very much needed.” “I think Dartmouth needs to be finding ways to carry out its mission while doing its part to implement the strategies that we know can help to control [COVID-19],” Hoen wrote. “Despite the movement to treat [COVID-19] like other respiratory viruses, we need to acknowledge that it is still causing far more morbidity and mortality than respiratory viruses typically did prior to [COVID-19], and that it is a dynamic situation that will continue to take unexpected turns, at least for a while.”
FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 2022
PAGE 3
THE DARTMOUTH OPINION
THE DARTMOUTH EDITORIAL BOARD
CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST ANN TRAN ‘25
Verbum Ultimum: Roadmap for a Successful 22W
Tran: When Freedom Becomes Harmful
The Editorial Board lays out the right path for the College to follow this term: Keep up the clear communication while investing in class flexibility and outdoor social options. Thus far, winter term has been characterized by unprecedented levels of COVID-19 transmission — with 993 new cases in just the last seven days — as well as a return to some social restrictions and a commitment to in-person instruction. While in-person classes resumed in a limited capacity in the summer and fully resumed in the fall, their continuation despite the spread of the omicron variant is a notable and welcome deviation from previous policy. This Editorial Board commends both the College’s commitment to in-person instruction as well as their clear and continuous communication of any and all changes that are made to COVID-19 policy, but firmly recommends additional investment in hybrid class models for those in isolation. Interim provost David Kotz and executive vice president Rick Mills announced various COVID-19 mitigation policies in multiple campus-wide emails throughout winterim and early in the term, including to-go dining for the first two weeks of the term, arrival testing, booster shot clinics and limits on social gatherings. In these emails, Kotz and Mills explicitly acknowledged the College’s commitment to creating an environment that prioritized student mental and physical health and emphasized the College’s intent to maintain in-person instruction if at all possible. This high quality communication has been maintained as the term has progressed, with helpful updates from the COVID-19 Response Team regularly arriving in students’ inboxes. Overall, these messages have been clear and concise, answered obvious questions, followed up on previous commitments to inform students of changes under consideration and have been refreshingly short on the poetic musings, insensitivity and PR mush that characterized last year. As members of the Dartmouth community, it is comforting to at long last feel as though we are being informed of the changes that directly affect us. This Editorial Board is often critical of the administration, but we must give credit where it is due. Keeping up these communication patterns will go a long way toward restoring flagging student trust and faith. We are also pleased by the implementation of infrastructure for various outdoor activities, such as the return of the ice skating rink on the Green, sledding on the golf course and fire pits near Collis. Such additions demonstrate the College’s understanding that social interactions, and even just going outside, are necessary for students’ mental wellbeing. All the same, more investment by the College in amenities like heat
lamps, fire pits and heated tents could only be a net positive. As welcome as the College’s push for winter activities has been, there is enormous room for improvement in hybrid learning. The administration’s insistence that hybrid learning is not possible is simply out of touch with the impact that COVID-19 transmission is currently having on instruction. Every person on this Editorial Board has a class, if not several, that is currently being taught with a Zoom and in-person option. With COVID-19 cases in the hundreds, the idea that courses cannot be taught in a hybrid manner is simply false. What will make a difference, then, is whether the College will acknowledge reality and support professors in making hybrid learning successful and productive. Helping professors set up technology that will bring remote students more fully into the classroom is vastly better than a hastily set up, muted laptop pointed at two-thirds of a chalkboard. Moreover, the administration’s dismissal of hybrid learning as not feasible or reasonable fails to acknowledge the value that well-implemented hybrid learning could have for students and faculty. During pre-pandemic times, it was the norm for students who felt sick to attend class in-person, thereby risking the health and safety of everyone they came into contact with. Even if COVID-19 were not sweeping across campus like wildfire, other illnesses still exist that can get people sick. Creating a strong hybrid option — available for those who are sick, no matter what illness they may have — has value in both a pandemic and post-pandemic world. As the College acknowledged in an interview on Jan. 5, “we need to start to move forward on a path toward being able to operate with COVID being endemic rather than pandemic” — a sentiment we largely agree with. As we begin to come to terms with the fact that COVID-19 is likely here to stay, we as a community must determine how to handle transmission of the virus, all the while maintaining some semblance of the Dartmouth we knew pre-pandemic. Part of this process involves deciding as a community what reasonable and scientifically sound policies look like. We hope that this roadmap for the winter term will mitigate the spread of COVID-19, help maintain in-person and productive classes to the extent possible and maximize student well-being. The editorial board consists of opinion staff columnists, the opinion editors, the executive editors and the editor-in-chief.
NINA SLOAN ’24: A SUB-ZERO CROSSWORD
The quintessential American value of individualism has taken on a toxic form, inhibiting our response to COVID-19.
Two years ago, our world was transformed with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As my boarding school in Massachusetts, like other institutions across the nation, shifted to online learning, I was forced to book an immediate flight home to Hanoi, Vietnam. From 8,000 miles away, I watched with an outsider’s perspective as America’s devastating COVID-19 response unraveled. From the previous administration’s denial of the pandemic and laissez-faire policy approach to citizens’ anti-masking protests and fatal shootings –– reactions incomprehensible to me given the grave death toll of the virus –– life in the US seemed surreal, almost dystopian. Meanwhile in Vietnam, entire cities went into lockdown at the discovery of even a dozen community transmissions. Everyone wore masks religiously and adhered to strict lockdowns without complaint. Our collective efforts paid off as, until the arrival of the delta variant this year, Vietnam had managed to bring COVID-19 transmissions to a halt despite our densely populated cities. Similar trends can be seen in neighboring countries, such as China, Taiwan and South Korea. While differences in our political systems and administrations are largely responsible for the divergence in Vietnam and America’s COVID-19 responses, a key cultural opposition also underlies this discrepancy: individualism vs. collectivism. If there is one thing that defines America, it is freedom. The U.S. is arguably the most individualistic country in the world. At its best, individualism is a catalyst for innovation, social change and economic growth. However, as we are seeing now, when taken too far, individualism prioritizes personal comfort and convenience over the livelihoods of others. It rejects social responsibility and cooperation, two fundamental pillars of a functioning society. A University of Virginia study sought to quantify the correlation between individualism and adherence to COVID-19-restrictions in the U.S., finding that in counties with greater individualism, as measured by time spent on the American frontier, statewide lockdown compliance was reduced by 41% and pandemic fundraising efforts by 48%. Similarly, a study from the University of British Columbia found that in other nations with higher degrees of individualism, such as Canada and the United Kingdom, social distancing and masking compliance was significantly reduced when compared to more collectivist countries, such as China. America’s COVID-19 response merely confirms what we already know: our hyperindividualism in its current form is toxic. While American individualism can be traced back two centuries to manifest destiny and the frontier, the modern variant of hyper-individualism did not emerge until the mid-20th century. Historically, Americans valued strong, tightly knit communities revolving around their religious or demographic affiliations. These communities wanted autonomy from the government but nourished close interpersonal relationships. However, the rise of capitalism and objectivism –– the doctrine that presents self-interest as the ultimate moral goal –– catalyzed a fixation on the individual pursuit of happiness. Altruism consequently became viewed as destructive and counterproductive. Political columnist Timothy Carney argues
that this cultural shift has created a dilemma where Americans are now trading real, personal relationships for superficial affiliations. For example, people are likely to feel attached to their political party, yet not know their neighbors’ names. These surface-level connections cannot replace the value of genuine person-to-person relationships. Connection teaches us empathy and compassion: how to show unconditional respect, kindness and care for others. These values are the core of humanity; they make us better people and therefore, better members of society. The far-reaching consequences of hyperindividualism are already becoming evident. According to the Manhattan Institute, the proportion of American adults experiencing chronic loneliness has doubled since the 1980s. This rise in loneliness has undoubtedly been accompanied by a rise in mental health issues. Hyper-individualism has also exacerbated partisanship in the U.S., especially fueling right-wing populism. The byproducts of hyperindividualism may thus leave lasting dents on the fabric of American society. If the response to COVID-19 is any indication, we are wholly unprepared for the next global catastrophe. This pandemic has repeatedly shown us the importance of collective action as well as the many consequences of a lack of cooperation. Given that our increasingly complex global issues will continue to require collective efforts, our culture of hyper-individualism must change. This does not mean that an individualistic society cannot present a united front. New Zealand is a prime example. They are regarded as one of the most individualistic nations in the world, yet have had one of the best COVID-19 responses. While some of its success can be attributed to isolated geography, New Zealand’s robust collectivist messaging — calling citizens to protect one another and rally around the fight against COVID-19 — cannot be overlooked. Their primary campaign even used the slogan: “Unite Against COVID-19.” Fellow individualistic nations like the U.S. might do well to follow suit. Messaging from political leaders emphasizing the importance of collective action is crucial. Last year we saw how the previous administration’s individualistic stance impacted the public’s view on COVID-19. The opposite must be done now. COVID-19 policies should be informed by cultural and demographic analysis — for instance, governments might specifically bolster interventions in areas with higher individualism. Even beyond specific COVID-19 messaging and policies, there are other steps we might take to increase collectivism in American society. For instance, increasing spaces conducive to classmixing –– be it racial or socioeconomic –– has been shown to cultivate collectivism. Public spaces such as libraries, parks, community centers, and religious places where people can form meaningful relationships with those around them are critical to regaining a sense of community and consequently, fostering compassion and empathy. I am not suggesting we abandon individualism for collectivism, as that would simply be impossible. However, I believe that, contrary to popular assumption, these two forces are not diametrically opposed. To address the complex problems of today, we must strike a balance: give value back to the community while also preserving individuality.
GABRIEL MODISETT ’25: THE FRAT FLUID MONSTER
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FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 2022
THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
‘The Force of Things: An Opera for Objects’ brings environmentally-minded theater to Dartmouth BY ALEXANDRA SUPRENANT The Dartmouth Staff
This article was originally published on January 13, 2022. Loosely categorized as an “opera,” “The Force of Things: An Opera for Objects” is an intense visual and sonic performance intended to engage with the ramifications of climate change through a collective audience experience. The performance will take place from Jan. 13 to Jan 16 at the Moore Theater in the Hopkins Center for the Arts. It is created by sibling duo Adam Fure and music professor Ash Fure and co-directed by music professor César Alvarez. Ash Fure also works as a music professor at Dartmouth, and Adam Fure is an architecture professor at the University of Michigan. The performers’ design process was largely collaborative, though Adam Fure took the lead on the physical set and Ash Fure, who works in music composition, focused primarily on the sonic art. Indeed, the siblings blur the line between musical instrument and set design — as seen with performers plucking the large aircraft chords that stretch across Moore Stage. The duo worked to create a synergy in which space and sound overlap. “The audience is wrapped in sound and wrapped in the physical space,” Ash Fure said. “There is no separation between an object which is there purely for visual purposes and an object which is there purely for acoustic purposes.” The performance employs a variety of instruments: a system of vibrating subwoofers projecting sound below the range of human hearing, 75-foot aircraft cables strung across the stage described as “gigantic double bass strings” by Ash Fure and mouth tubes
and megaphones played by performers. Ash Fure elaborated on the potent effect of these original instruments. “The speaker cones in this piece that are too low for us to hear become these palpitating surfaces that get played on dynamic active percussion instruments,” she said. “And that tremble and shiver of the scenic architecture is just hanging around the piece. So all of the soft parts of the installation are also connected to this system of subwoofers.” Additionally, the perfor mance incorporates the audience through unconventional seating arrangements. “The performance takes place on the stage of the Moore Theater and in the wings,” Ash Fure said. “Space is extended for this performance, and the audience is onstage with the performers and inside of the immersive installation. They’re not sitting in traditional seats.” The Fures began working on The Force of Things in 2014, propelled by a rising sense of dread regarding climate change. Ash Fure was inspired by the format of opera, which allowed her to dramatize the gravity of the issue. “Opera and tragedies have always been where humans came together to experience collective catharsis and to connect to timescales that are longer than our own,” Ash Fure said. “It allows us to reach for these grand existential themes, and to find a place to collectively process them.” Alvarez joined the project in 2017. As co-director, they work directly with Ash Fure to coordinate the various parts of the performance, including sonic, visual, dramaturgical and performative elements. Alvarez welcomed the innovative nature of the piece. “This work is unlike anything I think any of us have ever worked on,
COURTESY OF RICHARD TERMINE
The upcoming performance at The Hop grapples with the weight of climate change.
in that it lives in this very wild space between experimental music and performance,” Alvarez said. “All of the instruments in the piece are invented. So it’s truly an alien landscape ... It is an opportunity for audiences to really step outside of the world we know.” Both Alvarez and Ash Fure emphasized that the performance creates an environment through the strength and depth of its sensory experience, which forces the audience to enter a new space in which time seems to slow. In this way, Ash Fure hints toward the complexities of climate change; audience members can abandon the egocentric mindset of everyday life, and enter a collective mindset.
“We call this an opera for objects, but there’s no words in the piece,” Ash Fure said. “There’s no characters. There’s no referential images. We are really trying to see if we can hold the empathetic gaze of the audience away from human melodrama, and towards these physical tensions in the space.” Ash Fure clarified that the piece does not seek to produce an articulated message on climate change. Rather, through its abstraction and physicality, the performance can suggest a way to react and move forward. “We can slow down long enough away from our phone and away from the barrage of statistics,” Ash Fure said. “[The performance] is not message. It’s not picture. It’s not
moralism. It’s just that we have to stand still long enough to feel this, especially if we’re going to find the reserves to actually shift and move together.” Victoria Quint ’22, the Hop’s Ceramics Studio Fellow, is planning to attend The Force of Things, and looks forward to how the performance involves the audience. “It seems very immersive and plays with sound and architecture and different ways of performance,” Quint said. “It sounds like some of the singers will be next to the audience rather than just on the stage. It’s really exciting to have that opportunity for the audience to engage in a new way with art and ideas of opera and also pressing climate concerns.”
Alum Spotlight: studio art intern Phoebe Kong ’21 prepares for 2022 exhibitions
NAINA BHALLA/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
“In the interest of self preservation” by Phoebe Kong.
BY MEI Xu The Dartmouth
This article was originally published on January 11, 2022. Studio art intern Phoebe Kong ’21 sits at the desk of her studio in the Black Family Visual Arts Center. As one of five chosen interns, she will spend the year building her portfolio and assisting in undergraduate art classes before applying to MFA programs. Behind her is a collage wall composed of various prints of her family, each connected by her various drawing studies. The wall is an ode to her family members — ones she knows well and the ones she will never be able to meet. It’s an attempt to explore her heritage, connecting the pieces and people of her family and filling in the missing gaps with her own art, according to Phoebe. “So much of what we think and what we believe about our families is romanticized,” Kong said. “The
further away you get from your relatives, you hear all these almost epic-like stories about what an amazing person they were and what they did. I realized I’ll never really get to know any of [my relatives who have passed away]… These relationships that I’m studying are not made up, but I’m filling in [the gaps] on my own.” For Kong, the complexity of human relationships — relationships with oneself and with others — has always been a source of inspiration. Much of her art, she said, seeks to explore human tension: connection and disconnection, desire and rejection, satisfaction and frustration. “There’s almost this universal experience of loving people and also having issues with them, or wanting to connect with somebody, but struggling to do so,” Kong said. “And wanting to receive love and not getting it …. I’m trying to take … the tensions that we experience as a part of being human and put them in obvious terms.” To convey these emotions, informed by her own feelings of anxiety and
personal relationships, Kong uses contrasting colors and intertwined figures. “There’s a visual tension [in my art], and you can see that with a lot of my mark making. With a lot of the bright colors that I use, there’s a tension there,” Kong said. “But the figures that I draw, they also can’t get away from each other. They’re always kind of connected through line or paint … It’s a literal connection to allude to a more abstract idea of what we feel with people in our lives.” Gerald Auten, senior lecturer and director of exhibitions for the studio art department, views Kong’s art as deeply personal and impactful, noting the impressive development of her unique drawing and painting style. “She early on developed a very personal style — it’s almost like she’s drawing with paint… [Her art is] sincere,” Auten said. “I think she’s found her own kind of language.” Auten, who is colorblind, specifically points to Kong’s use of color and value as to what makes her work stand out.
“There’s something about the color and how she uses value that I really respond to,” Auten said. “I think colorblind people tend to look at work through value, and in terms of that, she’s really got that going — it’s really excellent.” Studio art professor Enrico Riley, a critic of Kong’s senior thesis, highlights the interconnectedness of Kong’s art — in relation to both herself and the audience — as being impressive. “She is a very gestural and kinetic artist,” Riley said. “I think there’s a real sense of energy in her painting. There’s also a sense of interiority, a very personal conversation she’s having with herself.” Kong’s friend and former sculpture art teaching assistant Lucy Li ’19, who was also a studio art intern at Dartmouth, echoes both these perspectives. “What is cool about her painting is that you don’t really know what’s going on, but at the same time you feel like you have this window into a very chaotic, but also beautiful, but also strange world,” Li said. “It feels like you’re being let in on a little secret of what’s going on internally.” This medley presented in Kong’s art, though, is not to comfort the viewer, she says. Rather, it is intentionally unsettling, and prompts the viewer to take time for personal reflection. “My goal is never really to please the viewer or to calm the viewer,” Kong said. “If anything, it’s to evoke some kind of discomfort or maybe confusion and irritation as to what’s going on…I want there to be some kind of urgency, some kind of sense of anger…I want the audience to feel how I felt when I paint[ed] it.” In March 2022, Kong will display her work in the Hop rotunda. Additionally, this summer, as one of two recipients of the 2021 Perspectives on Design award, Kong will have her own exhibit showcase at the JaffeFriede Gallery in the Hop. She will collaborate with fellow POD award recipient Carson Levine ’21. The two interns are experimenting with digitally-controlled lighting to alter how viewers see art consisting of
objects and paint, according to Levine. As Kong reflects back on her time as an undergraduate art student, she has some advice for other student artists and aspiring creatives. “A while ago, I heard somebody say ‘you can’t be good at anything unless you’re really bad at it,’” Kong said. “For a really long time, and still now, I would get mad at myself for making bad art….Don’t be afraid of making bad art.” Lucy Li is a former opinion editor of The Dartmouth.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 2022
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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS
SPORTS
Men’s basketball team earns first Ivy League win against Brown
COURTESY OF GIL TALBOT / DARTMOUTH ATHLETICS
BY Jason NOrris The Dartmouth
This article was originally published on January 10, 2022. On Saturday, the men’s basketball team took down Ivy League rival Brown University 58-46 for their first win of the season against an Ivy opponent. The team is now 1-1 in conference play after a 79-71 loss to Cornell on Jan. 2 and holds a 4-9 overall record this season. The win over Brown extended Dartmouth’s program record vs Brown to 82-80 and prevented the Bears from evening the score. The Bears came out of the gate strong, going on a 10-0 run in the first four minutes of the game. Coming off of a victory against Harvard University the night before, the Bears had all the momentum. Dartmouth guard Ryan Cornish ’25, who had his first career start Saturday and led the Big Green in scoring with 14 points, combined with Dame Adelekun ’23, who scored
11 points and hauled in 12 rebounds in the Big Green win, to score Dartmouth’s first 12 points and put a stop to the run. The first half ended with Dartmouth on top, 24-23. To start the second half, Cornish opened up the scoring with his second 3-pointer of the night, widening the Dartmouth lead. Despite a threeminute scoring drought and runs from both teams in the second half, Dartmouth managed to pull out the win due in large part to a 14-point run in the middle of the half. The Big Green’s season so far has been defined by narrow losses. Four of the Big Green’s nine defeats this season have been by a margin of six points or fewer. Fifth year forward Aaryn Rai ’21 said that Dartmouth’s ability to close out Saturday’s game demonstrated improvement in those situations. “All the games we’ve played for the past month [have] all been close games,” Rai said. “Knowing we were in the same situation last night but pulled
off the win means a lot, because it shows we’ve learned from those situations and understand what each person and the team collectively needs to do to come together and win.” With neither team shooting over 34% from the field, it was a physical and defensive game. Dartmouth had nine steals total, four of which came from graduate student guard Brendan Barry ’20. On the glass, the Big Green ended with a season-high 43 rebounds; Adelekun led the team with 12, seven of which were offensive. According to Rai, who had seven rebounds himself, this was a focus going into the game. “Coach said these guys are really good on the glass and that it would take a good effort from everyone to beat them,” Rai said. “We tried to really attack the glass, especially when they were coming off a really big game [against Harvard] and were trying to out-physical us… We didn’t shoot super great, but I thought we really defended well, and that was the difference maker.” Cor nish stepped into Taurus
Samuels ’22’s role after the latter was sidelined after testing positive for COVID-19. As a freshman replacing a senior leader in one of the biggest games of the season, Cornish knew he had to step up, and he did; despite the team’s shooting slump, he shot 40% from three and 62.5% from the field to lead the team in scoring. “With Taurus, he’s one of our leaders, so I knew I had to be more vocal on the court,” Cornish said. “I was talking to myself all before the game knowing how important it was to earn a good reputation in my first start. Playing well in the game showed I can be relied on when I need to.” Samuels credited a lot of the win to Cornish. “Ryan really got us going and got some big buckets for us,” Samuels said. “It’s awesome seeing that, because for a lot of our guys on the roster, these are their first Ivy League games, so it’s really cool to see him take that opportunity and take advantage of it. Everyone knows Brendan, everyone
knows Aaryn, so when we have guys off the bench — or even on the starting lineup — contribute, it just makes our team that much better and harder for other teams to scout and defend us.” Wi t h i n c r e a s e d C OV I D - 1 9 transmission on Dartmouth’s campus and in the region, the Big Green has faced setbacks, such as Samuels and forward Dusan Neskovic ’24 having to sit out of the game against Brown. In addition, games against the University of New Hampshire on Dec. 29 and Yale University on Jan. 7 were postponed and have yet to be rescheduled, and Tuesday’s game against Northern Vermont University, Johnson has been postponed as well. Dartmouth has also changed its spectator policy with the COVID-19 outbreak — the only spectators allowed in the arena for Saturday’s game were those put on a limited guest list. According to Samuels, these postponements and other COVID-19 protocols have been frustrating. “After having our season canceled last year, it’s tough to have games postponed and canceled,” Samuels said. “We just came off a year of not being able to play and we’re still having these things happen to us. We have a pretty close group of guys that love the game and each other so we’re just trying to be there for each other and stay locked in and win the games we do get to play.” Despite the potential obstacles this season has in store, the team is staying focused on earning an Ivy League playoff berth, which requires a top four record; currently, Dartmouth is tied with Columbia University for fourth. According to Rai, the team is trying to focus on each individual game right now rather than be distracted by the big picture. “You can get lost if you think about all the games in a row, so what we try to do is take one game at a time because each game is as challenging as the next one,” Rai said. “Right now, we’re going to lock in on [the University of Pennsylvania] and have a couple good days of practice so we can attack Penn like we did Brown.” As the Big Green dives into the second half of the season, Cornish knows that it’s now or never. “We need to start winning now if we want a chance to make it to the Ivy League tournament,” he said. “Obviously we don’t want to get one win and start losing again — we want to ride this momentum out and get to the top of the Ivy.”
From the Bleachers: Playoff Pandemonium
BY Will Ennis
The Dartmouth Staff
It’s been two years since I wrote my first edition of “From the Bleachers” about a changing of the guard in the NFL during the 2020 playoffs. In that piece, I told tales of an exciting new era in the NFL, one in which fading dynasties like those of the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks made way for new blood, like Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs. I discussed the possibility of players who were then seniors in college, just like I am now, becoming NFL superstars. I discussed my all-time terrible Super Bowl pick, where both my AFC and NFC champion lost their first playoff game… in the Wild Card Round. Two years later, much has changed, but an exciting new era in the NFL is certainly well under way. Kansas City has one Super Bowl championship and two Super Bowl appearances to its name in the last two years, as Patrick Mahomes aims to make his case in the GOAT conversation — too soon? Joe Burrow was a senior in college who still watched SpongeBob regularly — just like me if I had a national championship ring. He now leads the Cincinnati Bengals to the playoffs for the first time in six years, hoping to bring home the franchise’s first playoff win since 1990, six years before Burrow was born. The 2021 NFL season has been tremendous so far, and parity is higher than it’s been in a long time. For all the hate the NFL got for adding a 17th game and expanding the playoffs to seven teams per conference, both decisions have proven to be entertaining as ever. I can’t remember a more enjoyable final day of the regular season than this past Sunday. Week 18 brought hilarious upsets (apologies to Indianapolis), miraculous
comebacks (sorry to the four Los Angeles Rams fans), and a poorly managed prisoner’s dilemma in a game that almost sent both teams to the playoffs on a tie (sorry to the three Los Angeles Chargers fans). We now look ahead to Super Wild Card Weekend, which consists of six games instead of four, and the first-ever Monday Night Football game in the playoffs (how did no one think of this sooner?). Burrow, Jalen Hurts, Kyler Murray, Derek Carr (finally) and Mac Jones will make their playoff debuts. Trey Lance may, too, based on evidence that the San Francisco 49ers’ general manager wanted to leave Jimmy Garoppolo on Broadway for the weekend after a devastating loss to the Tennessee Titans a few weeks ago. Rookie quarterbacks Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson and Justin Fields will have to wait their turn. In the NFC, old rivalries will be renewed as the 49ers and Dallas Cowboys meet for the first time in the playoffs since the ’90s. The two franchises dominated the early days of the NFL, combining for 10 championships in the first 29 seasons of the Super Bowl era. But Joe Burrow and I don’t remember any of that — we’re more of the “What have you done for me lately?” mindset. Neither franchise has won a ring since 1994. The quest for a sixth ring starts on Sunday in the game I’m most looking forward to this weekend. The Arizona Cardinals and Rams will renew their NFC West rivalry on Monday Night Football with the first playoff win of both Matt Stafford and Murray’s career at stake. The teams split their season series, with each team getting the upper hand on the road. The same is true of Saturday night’s Patriots-Buffalo Bills clash. The Patriots beat the Bills in December in one of the windiest games in Bills history, and Saturday night will bring similar conditions with temperatures in the single
SOPHIE BAILEY / THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
digits. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Philadelphia Eagles will pick up where they left off after meeting in the playoffs in three straight years in the early 2000s. The Bengals and Las Vegas Raiders are both trying to break embarrassingly long playoff droughts. The Pittsburgh Steelers are trying to cover a 12.5-point spread in Kansas City. There’s a lot to look forward to. While a new playoff format and new teams are in play, one thing will never change: the presence of Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. in January, and maybe February. I would be remiss if I didn’t spend some ink talking about the greatness of No. 12 in Tampa Bay. A month after I was born, Brady was drafted into the NFL. Now, he is almost my dad’s age, and he is in contention to win his
eighth Super Bowl and his fifth MVP. I wasn’t sure if Brady had enough left in the tank to win a Lombardi Trophy with a new team. After watching what Brady did last season and after binge-watching Man in the Arena over winter break, I’m sold. All of this means that making a Super Bowl pick is even harder than it was when I completely screwed it up in 2020. I’m inclined not to bet on the high-risk, high-reward teams in Wild Card weekend in fear of repeating my same mistake from 2020. But it wouldn’t be fun if there wasn’t a legitimate chance for at least one of my Super Bowl teams to be eliminated in the first round. Buffalo has the highest point differential in the AFC this season, and the Bills proved to be road warriors this season in beating
the Chiefs, Patriots and nearly the Titans and Buccaneers outside of Orchard Park. Even though the Bills have a tough path ahead of them, I like Buffalo to punch their ticket to Los Angeles. Picking the Bills to make it to the Super Bowl and then lose seems like a safe enough bet. Speaking of safe bets, I would like Green Bay to finally win a conference championship game and advance from the NFC. It’s not easy to win on the road at Lambeau Field in January, and while Tom Brady did it last season, the Bucs’ Super Bowl hangover may finally catch up to them. So there you have it. You should watch every playoff game this weekend, and you should count on the Packers beating the Bills in the Super Bowl. I guarantee it, unless the Patriots or Chiefs beat the Bills.
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MIRROR THE DARTMOUTH MIRROR
FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 2022
Pay No Attention to that File Behind the Curtain STORY
By Connor Allen
This article was originally published on January 12, 2022. Like many, I was often frustrated during my senior year of high school by the swirling mystery encapsulating my college admissions fate. Would Dartmouth prefer if I highlighted my volunteer hours, or should I instead save my precious humble-bragging essay space to discuss some vague, appealing concept like character? I hated how much the college admissions process reduced my passions to a cold, calculated maximization problem, wherein my only constraints were sleep hours and maintaining some level of humanity. Even worse was the Lovecraftian, existential horror of it all: No matter how much effort I managed, my fate was equivalent to that of a Bingo ball bouncing around in the cage — that is, totally, unconscionably random. College admissions, no matter how hard one could try to game the system, had all the agency of a blinded swing at the pinata. And so, I had been resigned to a sorry state, attending the College on the Hill without knowing what had happened that got me here. Given this particularly devastating situation, my moping, as you may well imagine, knew no bounds. At last, I heard whisperings of the chance to look behind the curtain: Some told of a process through the admissions office where you could receive your actual admissions file, and view the comments, ratings and evaluations that got us in. Of course, I had to investigate, out of a personal curiosity and a high-minded journalistic sense of virtue: The people had to know the truth. My excitement was immediately tempered by the admissions office’s response to my email inquiry: The
process would be put in motion, which would mean my file would be ready to be viewed in a few months time. This is an important facet of the process to note: It does not lend itself to moments of spontaneity, and thus, no one should expect to stumble into McNutt Hall at midnight to immediately see just how far you’ve digressed from your high school self. You would have to wait a few months for that moment. The process is highly official, highly austere, highly confidential and not necessarily a fun Sunday activity. But at last, after spending my fall term and winter break thinking of nothing except for my admissions file, I received an email that I could set up a Zoom meeting to view the artifact. And set up a zoom meeting I did; I was ready to venture deep into muddy, FERPA-y waters. At this point I should break the obviously building tension by mentioning that the Zoom call was incredibly anticlimactic. I hope I’ve included this disclaimer at a point early enough in the article that I’ve discouraged anyone from trying the same process. What I had expected was not quite the holy PDF my very helpful zoom proctor screen-shared with me. Missing were the highly personalized comments, emotional ratings of individual essays, thrilling discussions of my extracurricular activities and exact qualifying of the particular characteristics of my application I had dreamt of. I would have even settled for mean, defeating comments as opposed to the total lack of information I received. The file was a series of mostly empty charts, with scant and unclear information. For example, I learned that my IQ rating was a 3. I was fairly confident that this did not
correspond to my intelligence quotient, and ventured to ask my proctor what IQ stood for in this context. Of course, and as I should have expected, I was not privy to such an enlightenment. I can think of a few guesses as to what some of the ratings meant, but for now, I will stick with my hope that it refers to my ice quirks. It was also amusing to see how easily and fully I was described. In addition to a couple of numbers with meanings I am not allowed to know, I was summarized as “busy, well rounded, lots of leadership” — reduced by the sheer volume of applications to six fairly accurate words. Along the same
lines were the (very) quick descriptions of my extracurricular activities. I was described as ‘Debate C,’ ‘NHS P,’ along with a few equally-brief others. Throughout the whole application process, I was aware of the sheer mass of numbers vying for the same few spots in the Class of 2025, but only in viewing this file did I fully grasp just how many identical Connor Allens must have applied to Dartmouth. So many that spelling out the word captain would be a waste of time. I was given 30 minutes to view the file, the first three of which were spent viewing the scant actual information on the PDF — heaven forbid I leave
a single electronic device on in the room during the Zoom call, as I might be trying to record or copy the file. I was able to use the rest of my time to copy down exactly what was on the PDF, with no resistance from my succinct yet polite proctor. I didn’t really understand that logic, but I was thankful for it nonetheless. Ultimately, the process of viewing my admissions file was not what I had expected, but I couldn’t blame anyone; of course, with all the pesky educational records rights, much of the information would have to be concealed or blocked. So, the fact that I was able to see anything at all is not at all worth disregarding.
OLIVER DE JONGHE/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
First Snowfall: ’25s on Navigating their First Winter on Campus STORY
By Eliza Helmers
This article was originally published on January 12, 2022. Now that we have officially begun 22W here at Dartmouth, inaugurated by the traditional school-wide snowball last Friday night, I think back to my first winter here in the still North. At that point, I had been living in Puerto Rico for almost five years, so I was very nervous about how I would adjust to the snow, ice and freezing wind. For the seniors who still remember, 19W was especially cold, and the temperature seemed to be hovering perpetually in the negatives. But for some students, especially those like Noor Najeeb ’25, from Detroit,
Michigan, the winter weather isn’t very daunting. “I’m used to the cold, actually,” Najeeb said. “I love the cold! I’m excited to be knee-deep in the snow.” This sentiment was echoed by Eilidh Haakanson ’25, from Kodiak, Alaska, who explained that despite it being -10 degrees Fahrenheit when she left home, it’s still been one of the hottest winters on record in her hometown, potentially due to climate change. During my freshman year, I remember how eager I was to come back to Hanover — despite the cold — and see some of the new friends I had made during the fall. While I had enjoyed the time off with
my family, six weeks was long enough to turn my relaxation into boredom. Katherine Clark ’25 described a similar experience. “I was definitely pretty excited to come back,” Clark said. “I mean at some point there was not a lot of stuff to do [at home]; I’d kind of gotten bored of it.” Yet, despite our excitement, neither of us returned early to spend New Year’s on campus, which is what Najeeb ended up doing. She celebrated a quiet evening in Hanover, enjoying the cheerful holiday decorations and peaceful atmosphere on campus. “Honestly, it felt like its own little world, and it was just really great to experience
overall — I just wish it lasted longer,” Najeeb said. “I love the Christmas tree, and especially when they turn the lights on, it just feels so festive. I really hope they keep it up!” During my first Dartmouth winter, I had grand aspirations of skating on the pond and sledding through the golf course, something that I had only ever seen people do in movies. Haakanson, Clark and Najeeb have a similar mindset, each back on campus with a couple of items on their winter bucket list. Clark, for example, is looking forward to skiing on Dartmouth’s skiway, while Haakanson will bravely attempt the polar plunge during Winter Carnival. Najeeb
MICHAELA LEDOUX/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
is excited for all that her first Hanover winter has in store for her. “I want to do everything I could possibly do this winter, as long as the weather permits!” Najeeb said. “I’m also really excited for Winter Carnival, and I honestly don’t know too much about it, but I heard that there might be an ice skating rink, and I love to ice skate! I’m not great at it, but I think it’s a lot of fun, and it’s a cool bonding activity.” In fact, after Friday night’s traditional snowball melee — organized, of course, by Dr. Seuss and Robert Frost — there seems to be excitement in the air that can serve as a distraction from the hectic start to this term. Both Najeeb and Haakanson mentioned that they are organizing more snowball fights with their friends. “A couple of my friends and I were planning a snowball fight, and we are getting official with it and making a roster,” Najeeb said. “The planning process has been really fun, and it’s also been a really nice way to distract myself from the rigor and the challenges of online classes.” “I definitely have some snowball fights planned outside, with masks,” Haakanson added. While many things here on campus have changed over the past three years, it’s nice to see that some traditions, like several hundred people hurling snowballs at each other past midnight, seem to last. Yet, despite the comfort that this continuity brings, it’s also easy to see how much has changed in such a short time. During my freshman winter, my biggest concerns were my classes and my friends — there were no public health crises on my mind. Unfortunately, for everyone on campus this winter, the specter of COVID-19 looms large. According to Najeeb, however, the best thing we as a community can do is maintain hope. “We are doing the best we can, and so I guess just maintaining that hope and just trying to stay in the swing of things is the best we can do at the moment,” she said. As I enter my last Dartmouth winter, with snowballs flying left and right, I remember how it felt to step off the coach into the freezing cold for the first time. I remember the excitement, the nervousness and how happy I was to be back. To the ’25s, and everyone experiencing a winter on campus for the first time — savor all the good times this term has to bring, despite the challenges!