VOL. CLXXVIII NO. 30
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2022
HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
Students express mixed reactions Winter rush sees return to news of Hanlon’s retirement to virtual sorority rush, drop in registration
EMIL LIDEN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF EMIL LIDEN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
BY TAYLOR HABER The Dartmouth Staff
On Jan. 25, College President Phil Hanlon announced in a campus-wide email his intentions to retire in June 2023 after ten years at the helm of College administration. In the week since the announcement, students have expressed a wide range of opinions on Hanlon’s presidency and what they hope for in his successor. Students diverged on what they viewed as Hanlon’s most enduring policies. Some, including Sovi Wellons ’24, said Hanlon’s legacy would be defined by his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Wellons said that as a freshman learning virtually last school year, she only ever knew of Hanlon’s impact on her first-year experience through his pandemic email updates. “I think he’ll definitely be remembered as the president who led the school during [COVID-19],” Wellons said, “That’s what I’ll remember him for.” Krishnachandra Nair ’24, echoing Wellons’ sentiments, said Hanlon’s legacy will be “dominated by the [COVID-19]
year and the way that he handled that,” labeling his pandemic policies, mental health policies and housing policies as “very negative.” Others, like Bernardo Burnes ’24, described Hanlon’s welcoming relationship with the student body as the defining feature of his legacy. “I personally don’t feel like [COVID19]’s going to follow him that much,” Burnes said. “At least for me, I feel like his legacy is more in the things he did, like the cookouts he did in his lawn where you could personally meet him. I feel like that helped us see him as a human being.” Anaïs Swift ’22 said Hanlon’s tenure was marked by “a series of administrative failures,” from what she’s seen in her four years as a student. “The ways they’ve mishandled [COVID-19] policies; a lot of the ways in which they’ve mishandled microaggressions against students of color; the handling of students of color, in general; currently, their handling of the fact that dining workers are unionizing,” Swift said. “There’s just been a lot of things that feel like administrative mishaps, and so I think Dartmouth could
use a leadership change.” Swift added that while she views Hanlon as a figurehead for the administration, she praised his holding of office hours for students as “nice” and admired his work as a practicing professor during the school year. Jason Davis ’25 said he was “surprised” by the announcement of Hanlon’s retirement and commended Hanlon’s effort to connect with students on a personal level during his presidency. “Typically, it feels like students are on one side — or on one level — and administration is just kind of up there, in their own little insular space where they don’t talk to students,” Davis said. “They don’t really care about students. But it kind of seems like Hanlon was trying to change that approach and interact with the students.” A number of students did not have strong opinions on Hanlon’s legacy separate from the administration as a whole. Deep Dhanoa ’24 said he “could not clearly” identify how Hanlon made an impact on his college experience, but said that his SEE HANLON PAGE 2
Sadie Alexander Association aims to increase diversity in economics department
SNOWY HIGH 28 LOW 14
BY ARIZBETH ROJAS The Dartmouth Staff
NEWS
SNS STEPPING UP POLICING AT GREEK EVENTS, STUDENTS SAY PAGE 2
OPINION
VERBUM ULTIMUM: BUILD IT ANYWAY PAGE 3
ARTS
ALUM SPOTLIGHT: MATTHEW HEINEMAN PAGE 4
SPORTS
MEN’S, WOMEN’S SQUASH LOSE TO YALE, TRINITY PAGE 5 FOLLOW US ON
@thedartmouth COPYRIGHT © 2022 THE DARTMOUTH, INC.
The Sadie Alexander Association, named after the first African American person to receive a Ph.D. in economics, is looking to foster more diversity in Dartmouth’s economics department. Since its founding in the spring of 2021, the SAA has taken steps in strengthening introductory courses’ teaching assistant system and bringing guest speakers to campus to discuss topics related to inequality and discrimination. Founding member and co-director of SAA Mothibi Penn-Kekana ’22 said that ideas to create the association first started in the spring term of 2021, when he and members of the department’s diversity committee — which includes economics professors Andrew Levin and Claudia Olivetti, the SAA’s faculty advisors — discussed inclusivity and stereotypes about the department. From these discussions, the SAA was established to encourage students of color to pursue economics and provide “continuous feedback” to the department on making economics more inclusive, according to Olivetti. To that goal, the economics department raised the median grades for economics courses. This past December, after 10 years enforcing a B median, the department voted to raise the median to a B plus in an attempt to encourage more first-generation and minority students, who may have “no prior economics background and whose family might not have gotten the Wall Street Journal or talked about the stock market at the dinner table” to enroll, according Levin. The SAA is also calling for the department to increase the number of student teaching assistants for introductory economics classes and hire students of color when possible, PennKekana said. According to Olivetti, who was a first-generation student herself,
working with the SAA made her realize how “important” it was to have TAs in introductory classes. She added that although a given economics professor may not be a person of color, having a TA from an underrepresented minority group can create “role models” early on for some students. In addition to strengthening the TA program, the SAA is partnering with the economics department on a lecture series called Inequality, Discrimination and Opportunity. According to PennKekana, each term, the SAA helps identify a list of potential guest lecturers that the diversity committee coordinates to invite. Past speakers include public policy professor Rucker C. Johnson from the University of California, Berkely and president of the National Economic Association Nina Banks. In the coming spring, research associate Trevon Logan from the National Bureau of Economic Research is scheduled to speak at the College. The association has also invited Byron Boston ’81 — CEO of real estate investment firm Dynex — to speak to the club, according to SAA secretary Jenique Richards ’22. She added that Boston talked about his experiences at Dartmouth and his career as a Black man working in the finance industry. Richards said that there are “a lot of things on the to-do list” for SAA, including a course selection meeting to provide advice for students, a buddy program to partner lower and upperclassmen and an upcoming career workshop with the Center for Professional Development. To further support prospective economics students, the SAA has also sent members to introduce themselves as a resource to all ECON 1 classes. Crystal Igwe ’24, a prospective economics major, said she has found SEE SADIE ALEXANDER PAGE 2
Due to a surge in COVID-19 positivity rates at the start of the term, the ISC returned to virtual rush, according to Inter-Sorority Council president Molly Katarincic.
BY PARKER O’HARA The Dartmouth Staff
Despite conducting in-person rush last fall, winter rush saw a return to virtual rush amid an increase in positive COVID-19 cases on campus. According to Inter-Sorority Council president Molly Katarincic ’22, 94 students registered to participate in the sorority rush process this term, marking a significant decrease from the 417 students who registered to rush during fall of 2021 and the 393 students who registered last winter. Rush was not held during fall of 2020, which according to Katarincic likely prompted last winter’s higher-thanusual registration numbers. Of the 94 students who registered for sorority rush, 71 accepted bids, yielding a retention rate of about 76%. This marked the second sorority rush cycle in a row with a retention rate over 70%, compared to 63.7% in 2019 and 62.2% in 2018. In formal rush, Alpha Phi sorority extended nine bids, Alpha Xi Delta sorority extended eight, Chi Delta sorority extended eight, Kappa Delta sorority extended nine, Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority extended nine, Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority extended eight and Sigma Delta sorority extended eight, according to Katarincic. Epsilon Kappa Theta sorority and Kappa Delta sorority participated in the continuous open bidding process, she added. According to EKT president Laurel Semprebon ’22, EKT brought on four new members through continuous open bidding. Katarincic said that a potential reason for this winter’s decrease in bids is the abnormally high retention rate from fall 2021 rush. “I was not surprised that we had less people registered since fall rush ended up going well for a lot of people,” Katarincic said. She also attributed the small numbers to hesitation to participate in virtual rush. Due to high COVID-19 positivity rates on campus, Katarincic explained that Greek organizations didn’t feel comfortable hosting indoor gatherings for rush, even if those events were in compliance with the College’s guidelines. The virtual rush process, though making it hard to “simulate being in chapter’s physical spaces,” actually allowed for more participation, according to Katarincic. “Had we held [rush] in person, we would not have been able to accommodate [potential new members] or chapter members that tested positive throughout the process,” Katarincic
said. “This way everyone was able to sort of complete the process, regardless if they ended up testing positive or not.” Katarincic also said that virtual rush provides an opportunity to eliminate bias from the process. “Being on Zoom can actually remove a lot of bias that just comes with having short conversations to try and get to know people,” Katarincic said. “You’re really focused on what they’re saying instead of what they might look like or what they might be wearing.” Dawn Lim ’24, who accepted a bid from AXiD, participated in winter rush and said she was not dissuaded by the transition to virtual. “I went in with an open mind, so [going virtual] didn’t really affect my decision to rush or not,” Lim said. “I really wanted to find a community in Dartmouth that was really based on sisterhood, whether or not it was virtual or in person didn’t really matter to me.” Additionally, Kappa Kappa Kappa frater nity, Sigma Nu frater nity and Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity participated in frater nity rush, according to Interfraternity president Danny Gold ’22. Just as he did last fall, Gold declined to share a houseby-house breakdown of bid numbers, writing in an emailed statement that houses “are under no obligation to share” rush numbers. According to Tri-Kap president Max Pumilia ’22, four bids were extended at Tri-Kap. Sig Nu president Jordan Sanz ’22 did not respond to multiple requests for comment. This winter marked Sig Ep’s first rush cycle since returning back to campus. According to new Sig Ep member William Reicher ’22, the fraternity took seven new members. Reicher said he enjoyed the fraternity’s unique approach to rush. “People basically fill out an interest form to signify their interest in the fraternity,” Reicher said. “And these two guys from the national organization would get in touch with them and would schedule a meeting to talk to them about what their goals were, why they were interested in the fraternity, what kind of person they are [and] whether they would be a good brother or not.” Gender-Inclusive Greek Council president Tanvir Islam ’22, Alpha Theta president Mara Kotz ’22, Phi Tau president Kai Frey ’22 and The Tabard president Jason Carpio ’22 did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2022
PAGE 2
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
SNS stepping up policing at Greekhosted events, affiliated students say
As students deal with inconsistent dorm temperatures, College looks to update heating
SUMMER HARGRAVE/THE DARTMOUTH
B Y Adriana james-rodil The Dartmouth Staff
This article was originally published on February 3, 2022. Affiliated students have reported that the Department of Safety and Security has, in recent weeks, more strictly policed fraternity events than during fall term and the beginning of winter term. According to members of each house, on Jan. 19, Bones Gate fraternity was temporarily suspended for hosting a large event with multiple fraternities and sororities in attendance, Gamma Delta Chi fraternity remains on probation and Beta Alpha Omega fraternity has received multiple warnings. All three members requested anonymity in order to speak candidly about their houses’ situations. The member of BG and the member of GDX were unsure if their fraternities’ respective repercussions were due to violations of COVID-19 guidelines or stricter policing in general, and multiple students expressed concerns that it is unclear which rules are actually enforced. On Jan. 14, provost David Kotz and executive vice president Rick Mills sent an email encouraging Dartmouth students to recommit to mask-wearing, and on Jan. 17, the College’s ban on social gatherings was lifted, but regulations still require that attendees are masked and that no food and drink are present. A few days later, on Jan. 19, Safety and Security officers responded to a LiveSafe report about a gathering hosted by a Greek organization that resulted in a temporary immediate suspension by the Office of Greek Life on Jan. 21, according to an emailed statement from College spokesperson Diana Lawrence. She added that the incident is pending a conduct hearing. Although Lawrence would not disclose which Greek organization was placed on temporary immediate suspension, a member of Bones Gate fraternity, who requested anonymity in order to speak candidly about his house’s situation, confirmed that BG is the house in question. The source added that prior to its temporary suspension, BG was not on probation. The member of BG explained that the event that resulted in the suspension was a large social gathering that drew more guests than anticipated. According to the member,
when Safety and Security officers arrived, they asserted that the gathering was too large and that the incident would be reported. “Safety and Security followed up on all reported concerns,” Lawrence wrote. “There have been no patrol changes.” Safety and Security director Keysi Montás declined to comment. Although a hearing date has not yet been set, BG has been banned from hosting events until after the hearing; a violation could result in a longer suspension, the member of BG added. Lawrence wrote that no other Greek organizations are currently on temporary immediate suspension, but she declined to disclose if any other fraternities are currently on probation, noting that the status “does not affect the ability of the organization to function normally.” A member of Gamma Delta Chi fraternity, who requested anonymity in order to speak candidly about his house’s situation, said that GDX has been on probation since the end of fall term violation during one of Safety and Security’s routine walk-throughs. Although he said he believes the probation will end in one to two weeks, he added that he does not feel GDX has been able to function normally since the start of the probation due to the College’s policy prohibiting registered events involving food and beverages. A member of Beta Alpha Omega fraternity, who also requested anonymity in order to speak candidly about his house’s situation, said that Beta has received warnings from Safety and Security officers, including one during a routine walkthrough on Jan. 26. According to the member, Safety and Security said the incident was Beta’s “last straw.” “At the beginning of the term, they said they were not going to police anybody — but then it seems like they’ve been trying to police people ever since they said that they were going to try to avoid it,” the source said. Chi Heorot fraternity vice president Erik Urbank ’22 said Safety and Security has ramped up the frequency of its walk-throughs “probably due to COVID-19 reasons.” He added that he believes Heorot has not acted “out of line.” Students who have attended various social events at fraternity and sororities also said that Safety and Security has been less tolerant of gatherings recently. “I’ve seen [Safety and Security] a lot more
just patrolling around,” Lauren Kidman ’25 said. “This past Friday, I was in [Kappa Delta sorority], and I was just playing pong, and they did say ‘[Safety and Security] is here.’ Everyone just puts on a mask in case they come down because it seems like they’re being extra on patrol because of COVID-19.” A member of the Class of 2024 in Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, who requested anonymity in order to speak candidly about her experiences, said Safety and Security was “pretty lenient about [fraternity] parties last term,” and that “they’re starting to be more strict about it.” She said that the spike in disciplining fraternity events reminds her of Safety and Security’s strict enforcement of COVID-19 guidelines in the 2020–21 academic year. She added that, in her experience, fraternity members practice certain precautionary measures in case Safety and Security busts their parties. “If we’re in a basement, most of the frat brothers usher us upstairs and hide us in rooms,” she said. “We stay up there until [Safety and Security] leaves.” Although the member of Beta said that they “understand we’re still in a pandemic and are fully willing to comply,” he said he feels there is a sentiment among Beta members that they want more transparency about regulations they need to implement in order to avoid repercussions from Safety and Security. The member of BG expressed a similar concern about unclear enforcement guidelines. “If there’s no definitive benchmark — if they don’t give us any concrete details and just leave it quite wishy-washy or vague — then, of course, fraternities are going to get in trouble, or suspended, or put on probation because there’s no guidelines to live by,” the member of BG said. “To a degree, it’s good that they keep it vague, because that way, we can argue how we interpreted it, but then, it’s also sort of easy to get in trouble.” The member of GDX added that he believes “inconsistent policing” is what has caused more fraternities to face consequences recently. Urbank expressed a similar sentiment, noting that he believes the severity of consequences depends on which Safety and Security officer arrives. BG president Brian Lee ’22, Beta president Will Frohlich ’22 and GDX president Griffin Lehman ’22 did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Students: Hanlon legacy items will include Call to Lead, pandemic, mental health FROM HANLON PAGE 1
time at Dartmouth has been shaped by the administration’s decisions. “I can’t really differentiate his actions from the entire administration, but I feel like with [COVID-19], especially, I just have a very different experience of Dartmouth from upperclassmen,” Dhanoa said. “And for that, I can’t really pinpoint on Hanlon alone.” Krista Schemitsch ’24 also noted that she was unable to discern the difference between Hanlon’s decisions and those of the whole administration. She said that “their lack of concern for mental health resources” after the events of last year, when three first-year students — Beau DuBray ’24, Connor Tiffany ’24 and Elizabeth Reimer ’24 — died by suicide, leave work to be done by the next president. “I don’t think anything groundbreaking was done, but I also don’t think anything was so negative that we can’t come back from it,” Schemitsch said. “I just hope that whoever takes his position does try to do more and make a more pronounced legacy than him –– not that he did anything horrible. But, if the next person does get to focus on mental health, that would definitely be a plus.” Lily Easter ’25 criticized Hanlon’s creation of the house system, a residential program enacted in 2016. A part of Hanlon’s Moving Dartmouth Forward initiative, the housing system transformed undergraduate residential life by assigning each student a set of dorms for their four years on campus. “I do not like it,” Easter said. “I don’t really have a lot of friends in my house, and
I would love to room with some of my other friends, but I can’t because they’re not in my house. I don’t see any benefits to it.” Sanjana Raj ’25 expressed acute concern for a lack of attention to diversity on campus, which she viewed as one of the administration’s failings since she arrived this fall. “I think [Hanlon] tends to reiterate the idea of a call to diversity, and him being responsible for diversifying the school,” Raj said. “And that doesn’t really manifest into what classes are offered, or the way that faculty of color have been treated, to my knowledge.” Raj said she “can’t imagine” that the next president will be vastly different from Hanlon in the way they direct the College. She added that she feels that the role of the president is designed in a way that attracts people seeking to preserve the legacy of the College, and thus those who, by definition, are not leaders of change. “I don’t know what [the College] was like before [Hanlon], but I imagine it was very similar, in that to some degree, the person in this position will behave the same way and be the same type of person with the same priorities,” Raj said. “I think that someone at an elite college whose job is to fundraise and preserve whatever the tradition of the College is is going to keep doing those things.” Adriana Chavira Ochoa ’24 echoed a call for diversity with the selection of the next president. Chavira Ochoa said she found the announcement of Hanlon’s departure to be “refreshing,” as it presents an opportunity for more representational leadership.
“I’m a bit happy that he is [leaving], just because we need a younger leader to be leading our school –– someone with a new perspective,” Chavira Ochoa said. “We need someone that’s a woman leading, or someone of color.” Nair said he applied to Dartmouth in large part because the College boasted a focus on its undergraduates, which few other institutions claim. Hanlon is the person Nair said he believes people will most blame for the College’s transitioning away from its attention on undergraduates. “Hanlon’s really pushed the graduate school and the development of the graduate school, but I think at the cost of undergraduate learning in a lot of different areas,” Nair said. “And I think that’s losing what the core of Dartmouth is all about.” However, in recent years, Hanlon’s policies have also positively impacted the student body by offering new research opportunities and opening academic buildings, he added. Carter Welch ’23 said the Call to Lead campaign, which has raised more than $3 billion, “set up a really strong financial base” for the College. He said that Hanlon’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, has been “poor,” and added that the administration’s health and safety policy underscored some of the College’s failings over the past several years. “So, in terms of legacy with how students interacted with the administration, I think [the pandemic] pushed students to ask for and demand more,” Welch said. “And I think maybe we’ll be on the way to getting that with the new hire.”
HANNAH LI/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
B Y ANGUS YIP The Dartmouth Staff
This article was originally published on February 3, 2022. As students trudge through winter term on campus, some are finding themselves too cold or too hot in their rooms due to inconsistent heating and outdated climate control systems. Ethan Koehler ’25 said that when he first moved into his room in North Fayerweather Hall, a radiator unit that was improperly installed into the wall caused the radiator knob to stay stuck at the highest heat setting, resulting in constant overheating. Koehler added that while he eventually figured out that he could turn the knob with a wrench, the heating in his room has remained “total chaos” throughout the winter term. “One second the heat’s working and one second it’s not … it’s just impossible to control,” he said. Associate vice president for facilities operations and management Frank Roberts said that the majority of heating-related complaints come from residents in dorms with steam heating systems — including North Fayerweather. According to the Office of Residential Operations’ website, the College’s residential dorms are heated by three different systems: steam heating, radiant floor heating and hot water heating. Steam heating systems warm the Choates cluster, the River cluster, the Fayerweathers, Massachusetts Row, the North Park senior apartments and Butterfield, Gile, Lord, Richardson, Ripley, Russell Sage, Smith, Shabazz, Streeter, Topliff, Wheeler and Woodward Halls. Roberts said that the steam heating systems are outdated compared to the radiant floor heating systems — which circulate hot water through the buildings via tubing in concrete floors — that are unique to Fahey Hall, McLane Hall and the McLaughlin cluster. Fahey and McLane, specifically, are heated by two 1,452 foot deep geothermal water wells on the north sides of the buildings. According to the Residential Operations’ website, a series of heat pumps extract heat from the well water and cycle the water through the building. The rest of the residence halls — the East Wheelock cluster, Hitchcock Hall, the Lodge, New Hampshire Hall and all of the senior apartments except for North Park — use hot water heating systems, according to the Residential Operations website. Roberts explained that in a steam heating system, steam is provided to the building through centrally operated valves, traveling up pipes to each room where it enters the room’s radiator. However, he noted, the pipes are poorly insulated and give off heat, which may cause overheating. “We have to make educated judgments about how often to operate the valves, because if we were to leave them on all the time, the pipes and the walls would just heat up and continually overheat the building,” he said. Roberts noted that while residents can control how much steam enters each room’s
radiator, if the central valves are closed, no steam will travel through the building, so the room will not heat up. Hitchcock resident Lucy Ruji Shao ’23 said that while she is satisfied with the heat in her room, her roommate often uses her own heater in her room. Hitchcock utilizes a hot water system, and each room has a thermostat allowing the resident to set the room temperature between 64 to 69 degrees. “Hitchcock is nice because we can monitor and control the temperature in our room, but most people just have to deal with whatever the central heating is set to,” she said. Roberts said that apart from problems with radiator units, another source of student complaints are from windows being improperly shut. Izzy Morales ’25, who lives in Judge, said that until this month, there was a malfunction with their room’s window that allowed cold air to blow into the room and made it “continuously freezing.” “My attempt to try to make this better for myself was quite literally sleeping in my jacket, gloves, hat, scarf and earmuffs on top of my blankets,” Morales said. “I also tried creating some sort of DIY insulation out of old clothes for the window, but unfortunately this did not do anything to help.” Morales noted that when they contacted Residential Operations about this issue, the office sent someone to fix their window the same day. They added that this experience was not unique to them — as their floormate also wears a jacket and hat to sleep due to inconsistent heating — and they believe the College’s heating systems should be better maintained, especially given the College’s growing endowment. Last March, the College announced the creation of an infrastructure fund drawn from the endowment to support infrastructure renewal projects, including renovating residence halls. The College currently intends to renovate “approximately 60% of existing undergraduate residence halls over the coming decade.” Roberts said that the College hopes to eventually replace all existing steam heating systems in residence halls with hot water systems, which will help to mitigate the amount of heat wasted in buildings. He noted that while Fahey, McLane and the McLaughlin cluster have radiant floor heating systems installed, it may not be possible to install such systems when renovating an existing building due to the technical difficulties involved. In previous summers, students have also expressed discontent over the lack of air conditioning in some residence halls. Roberts said that the College plans to install air conditioning in most residence halls in upcoming renovations, such as in Massachusetts Row, the Fayerweathers, Streeter and Gile. However, he mentioned “exceptions” as “each building is different and it may not be appropriate [to add air conditioning] with every building.” “If we know a building is not going to be occupied in the summer, it probably doesn’t make sense,” Roberts said.
SAA calls for more economics TAs FROM SADIE ALEXANDER PAGE 1
SAA emails to be helpful because they include links to different opportunities to get involved with economics programs. Igwe added that she plans to attend the course selection meeting to see what classes she should take in the spring term. Despite the initiatives that it has taken, the economics department still has no Black faculty members, according to Levin. He said that recruiting is challenging due to Dartmouth’s rural location and professors with spouses having to make a joint decision to move to Hanover. He added that instead of hiring one single Black faculty member, the department’s goal is to create a “department as diverse as possible.” “Because of systemic problems, and the whole field of economics for 100 years [being largely white], the number of tenured Black economics professors at
the top 50 research universities is small,” Levin said. “It’s a terrible problem, but it’s a fact. This is a symptom of a longstanding issue.” Because economics studies “the world, money and how it’s all intertwined” and involves everyone, Richards said she thinks the subject should be more diverse in its teachers and students. Besides herself, Richards said she knows “only four other seniors who are Black and econ majors.” In economic terms, demand has increased for diverse economics departments; however, the supply of professors is largely inelastic and limited, according to Levin. Part of the SAA’s mission, he added, is to encourage minority students to take classes in economics and major in economics, so that “the supply curve can shift outwards.” “We say we need some patience, but we also need some persistence and we need to make some progress,” Levin said.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2022
PAGE 3
THE DARTMOUTH OPINION
THE DARTMOUTH EDITORIAL BOARD
CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST JACK BUSHONG ’25
Verbum Ultimum: Build it Anyway
Bushong: An Ode to the Wilderness
The Lyme Road project has some big problems. The College should still move ahead with it. Last month, the College announced plans to construct apartment-style undergraduate residences on Lyme Road. The new dormitory will house roughly 300 students and, by creating more supply, allow the College to renovate “approximately 60% of existing undergraduate residence halls over the coming decade,” starting with the mold-ridden Andres and Zimmerman Halls and Brace Commons this summer. The plan is not perfect. However, with proper planning by the College, its drawbacks can largely be overcome. The housing crisis demands immediate, creative action, and if this is the best the College can do immediately, we’ll take it. Let’s start with the critiques. Students, professors and some members of the Dartmouth community have understandably taken issue with the dorm’s planned location 1.5 miles from the center of campus — a 30 minute trip on foot. This strikes us as sound: Having one’s living space so far removed from the social and academic hubs of campus could isolate and alienate students. In our view, however, these concerns can largely be remedied. By offering reliable and free 24/7 transportation between Garipay Field and the heart of campus, for example, the College can ensure students have full autonomy over their schedules. Additionally, a dining location near the dorms is essential, lest the College create a virtual food desert for several hundred students. Finally, given the deeply unequal nature of this housing, no student should be forced to live in the apartments without their consent. These living spaces should be opt-in and separate from the residential communities — much like the apartments near Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center that are being offered to undergraduates this spring. If the College must incentivize students to live there with discounts on rent and dining or cold hard cash, so be it. Assuming these conditions are met, the distance of the housing is defensible. Town residents residing near the planned dormitory, meanwhile, have levied an entire debate team’s worth of arguments, some stronger than others. Members of the Garipay Neighborhood Association have focused their ire on the development’s proximity to their homes, opposing the project on “community disruption” grounds — including worries about increased traffic and potential impacts on property values. Additional concerns have been raised about alleged environmental impacts of the dormitory, which would be located near a wildlife corridor, and the displacement of Garipay Field’s Nordic ski track. Disruption of local wildlife and the loss of a beloved recreational space are both valid concerns, and the College should be sure to
take these into account during construction. However, we are skeptical of claims of community disruption. Specifically, increased traffic is unlikely, given that many students do not have cars and the College does not appear to be offering parking near the building. Moreover, pedestrians can be protected by ensuring that there are sufficient sidewalks to account for the increased population, and even then, most students will be riding shuttles to and from the dorms anyway. Much of the concern about “property values” and “noise” feels like a veil disguising many community members’ true motivations: Despite living in a college town, despite taking advantage of all the amenities a world-class university offers, they do not want to live near students. One resident put this surprisingly candidly in the Valley News: “Now they’re going to build on the east side [of Lyme Road]? Closer to where people live?” In a shocking turn of events, students are people, too, and we are not going away. If residents do not want students living near them, Hanover is not the town for them. But just because these concerns are not valid does not mean the College is off the hook once these dorms are built. The Lyme Road project is a stopgap measure, a seemingly desperate attempt to address a critical housing crisis that has mired the College for fifty years. Even as the College moves forward with this project, it should simultaneously restart planning for new housing for other locations closer to campus. The plot where House Center A, commonly referred to as the Onion, currently lies, is a good start. Additional housing on the golf course north of campus would be welcome. Even the current President’s House location should be considered — why not move the next College President to a new abode on Lyme Road, further from Webster Avenue, then build dorms in the current spot? Finally, as the College renovates dorms and expands its supply, Hanover must, as the Summer Editorial Board wrote this July, loosen its zoning laws and embrace development. Lebanon has recognized the follies of anti-growth ideology; Hanover can do the same. Dartmouth and Hanover have both ignored their housing crises for far too long. Though the Lyme Road project is decidedly imperfect, it is also a recognition that pretending there isn’t a problem will not solve it. Assuming that adequate transportation and other amenities are provided, that students are not required to live there and that environmental and recreational areas are adequately protected, we say: Build it. The editorial board consists of opinion staff columnists, the opinion editors, the executive editors and the editor-in-chief.
G QUEALY ’25: MY FOCO TAKEOUT
The intrinsic value of wilderness is increasingly essential to humankind in a developed world.
For most people, the term wilderness evokes images of vast, untamed tracts of land rife with danger and mystery, such as the Wild West or the Amazon rainforest. To the more scientifically inclined, it is a natural, often terrestrial environment that is relatively undisturbed by humans. But wilderness represents so much more to those who have experienced it. Wilderness is the myriad stars flickering above like embers from an ancient fire. It is a herd of bison on the prairie, the sound of their hooves rolling like distant thunder. Wilderness is beautiful and sacred, capricious and beguiling. The aesthetic value of wilderness cannot be quantified by any human construct, and thus is often disregarded. We fail to recognize that wilderness is just as essential to our well-being as land that is harvested for fish, timber, minerals and other resources. Not only does the wilderness provide a refuge for humans in an increasingly developed world where solitude and solace are luxuries, but it has pragmatic benefits as well, such as mitigating the effects of climate change and preserving habitat for threatened wildlife. Without wilderness, a thread of our identity is unraveled, and the fabric of humankind becomes more frayed. As much as we may consider ourselves superior to other life forms, we too share an inviolable bond with the Earth that defines us. Wilderness was our first home, and now it is our sanctum. Yet we continue to encroach on what wilderness remains, erecting barriers (both physical and conceptual) between ourselves and the natural world. Physical barriers abound: roads, fences, cities, all meant to keep wilderness out and humanity in. Conceptual barriers are more subtle, like the eurocentric fallacy that nature is inimical to the advancement of humankind, something we must conquer rather than coexist with. This misconception fails to recognize that wilderness will only become more vital to us as urbanization exacerbates the disconnect between humans and nature. In wilderness is the last bastion of our kinship with the Earth. Wilderness tends to the soul in a way that a city park cannot. That is because the nature in a city park is boxed in by concrete edifices, the din of traffic, and incessant human interaction. It is a tamed environment. Wilderness is the opposite, requiring that you be alone with your thoughts and channel your inner fortitude. We ultimately need places to escape the chatter of civilized life and lose ourselves in nature’s grandeur. Places of solitude and solace. Places to heal, to learn. We need places where we can feel human again. Additionally, wilderness is a defining aspect of the American identity. It helped shape our nation’s character, instilling us with fundamental values of ruggedness, independence and freedom that continue to permeate our lives. Historicists propounding the frontier thesis argue that these values are a product of the settlers who pushed west in the 19th century into wilderness sparsely occupied by indigenous people. However, wilderness has sculpted Americans for many centuries prior. It began when the first bands of nomads traversed Beringia, the land bridge between Siberia and Alaska, and fanned out across a continent of sabertooth cats and short-faced bears, one where the very term “wilderness” lacked meaning because there was
no civilization against which to compare it. As long as America has been populated, its wilderness has fostered the innate desire for adventure that lies dormant in every one of us. The West continues to enchant Americans for this very reason. We need raw, unbridled wilderness to keep our trailblazing spirit alive, not dammed rivers, denuded forests or mountaintops turned to rubble. The pungent scent of sage and the falcon’s cry mean nothing if one is not also surrounded by an unbroken prairie spilling out into the soft blue haze. Wilderness does not just nurture the human spirit; it has instrumental value as well. For example, it provides a refuge for biodiversity that is increasingly jeopardized by habitat loss and climate change. Endangered species need strongholds where they stand a fighting chance. Take the California condor, the Florida panther, the spotted owl — these “charismatic megafauna” attract public attention, but 20-30% of all flora and fauna will be at an increased risk of extinction should global temperatures rise by more than 2.7 to 4.5 ℉. Wilderness also provides valuable ecosystem services such as flood mitigation, carbon sequestration, and a source of fresh water. And finally, it offers a venue for us to understand the functioning of ecological systems so we can better conserve species and their habitats in the face of a changing climate. An important clarification to make is that no “true” wilderness remains that has entirely escaped the pernicious hand of our industrialization. Yes, the jungles of the Congo or the Arctic tundra still harbor vast stretches of land that are superficially pristine, but this is an arbitrary and futile categorization: No place is truly untouched. Penguins in Antarctica, for example, have the insecticide DDT in their fat, and crustaceans at the bottom of the Mariana Trench have microplastics in their gut. However, the value of wilderness is not derived from its virginal state, but from its preservation of a particular type of relationship between humans and nature: an ancestral kinship with the Earth, the place from which we were born and to which we must ultimately return. This relationship is now tenuous because we no longer consistently interact with nature, making wilderness even more imperative as a place to escape to and experience nature on a visceral level. At its core, wilderness reminds us of our vestigial connection to the natural world that once defined us. Gone are the days when we could marvel at herds of bison that spill out over the horizon or flocks of passenger pigeons that darken the sky for days, but we have the ability and the obligation to protect what remains. From the polar bear striding nobly across the Arctic sea ice to the millions of warblers migrating north in spring, we must offer them a refuge to escape our avarice, and in turn, provide a refuge for ourselves. This not only involves augmenting the National Wilderness Preservation System, but becoming more cognizant of our tacit contract with the Earth: That so long as she sustains us, we will be faithful stewards of her bounty. The ensuing years will decide what type of planet our children inherit, so we must tread carefully with the conviction that wilderness should be the birthright of posterity, not a memory of the past.
DOMINIQUE MOBLEY ’22: 22WHY I KNOW I’M A SENIOR
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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2022
THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
Alum Spotlight: Matthew Heineman ‘05 discusses his new film ‘The First Wave’ BY VERONICA WINHAM The Dartmouth Staff
This article was originally published on February 3, 2022. Matthew Heineman ’05 has filmed in conflict zones around the world and received glowing praise in the most elite circles of film. Most recently, he shot at a hospital in Queens, New York at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Heineman entered the field after graduation and is now a renowned filmmaker. “At Dartmouth, I studied history, and really had no idea what I wanted to do with my life,” Heineman said. “My senior year, I applied for Teach For America and got rejected and decided to go on this sort of cross-country journey with three of my best friends to understand what our generation was about.” Heineman bought a video camera on the trip and taught himself how to film. He refers to this experience as his “film school.” “Through that sort of kaleidoscopic journey, I fell in love with filmmaking,” Heineman said. “[I] knew very clearly that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.” Heineman is now an Emmywinning, Academy Award-nominated director. His 2015 film “Cartel Land” — which explores vigilantes taking on Mexican drug cartels — won three Primetime Emmy Awards. Other films by Heineman include “A Private War,” “City of Ghosts” and “The Third Man.” “I’ve spent most of my career trying to take big, amorphous subjects that are sort of ripped from the headlines and hard to understand and try to humanize them, from the drug wars in Mexico to ISIS and Syria,” Heineman said. Many of Heineman’s films use the “cinéma vérité” style, which aims to find the truth behind its subjects through observation instead of narration. Heineman’s newest film, “The First Wave,” follows this style, spotlighting healthcare workers at the epicenter of
the COVID-19 pandemic. Starting in March 2020, Heineman filmed doctors, nurses and patients at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens. “[‘The First Wave’] was by the far the hardest film that I’ve ever made. It’s also the film I’m most proud of,” Heineman said. “Having filmed in war zones, in conflict zones, all around the world, you can kind of come home and turn off your brain, whereas with ‘The First Wave,’ it was a terrifying experience because we were kind of living the same thing we were documenting and it was a really full-on experience, 24/7, for months.” Heineman said he decided to create “The First Wave” because he felt as though people were being inundated with headlines and misinformation during a time of confusion and horror. “We weren’t truly viscerally experiencing what it was like to be inside of a hospital, so I wanted to try to humanize the experience of doctors and patients and nurses,” Heineman said. In “The First Wave,” Heineman follows three main perspectives: Doctor Nathalie Dougé, New York police officer Ahmed Eliis and nurse and new mother Brussels Jabon. This character-driven narrative is important to Heineman, as it allows viewers to connect with the subjects they see on the screen. “In the films that I make, I try to focus on a few individual stories in depth, intimately, personally by following their trajectories, their arcs over a period of time,” Heineman said. The students in anthropology professor Sergei Kan’s class ANTH 14, “Anthropology of Death and Dying” attended a screening of the film at the Hopkins Center for the Arts this past weekend. Zahni Khin ’23, a student in the class, appreciated the focus on these three main stories. “I thought it was super phenomenal how [Heineman] basically examined the story of two or three individuals and followed their journey through dealing with the trauma, the violence, and the struggle of the virus,” Khin said. “The First Wave” incorporates other social and political events of the
PHOTO COURTESY OF MATTHEW HEINEMAN
last two years. Charles Ciporin ’23, who interned as a production assistant for Heineman’s company Our Time Projects from March to June 2021, said he especially appreciated one scene that depicts Dougé attending a Black Lives Matter protest. “There’s this one scene [that] I think is maybe the most powerful scene in any documentary I’ve ever seen, where she is at a Black Lives Matter protest… you could just see the pain she had in terms of the racial injustice, in terms of COVID and the racial injustice of police brutality,” Ciporin said. According to Khin, the film tied into many of the class’s themes of mourning and grief. “[Heineman] would mix in things from a bigger, larger perspective that examine the city as a whole and then he would transition that back into the stories of these individuals to give more context,” Khin said.” [‘The First Wave’]
definitely gave us a modern perspective on death and how people interact with that balance and transition between life and death.” These deeply politicized and oftdiscussed topics interest Heineman. He said that while we can read about and discuss these topics, we don’t truly know what it’s like to live in the shoes of those people. “ That’s what I try to do in my films, put people in that place and make them viscerally, emotionally feel,” Heineman said. “In this case, inside of a hospital.” When he started filming, Heineman said, he had no idea what the result would be — he thought it could be one to two weeks and the pandemic could be over. However, the scope of the pandemic ended up being so much larger than he could have realized. Consequently, the film reflected the intensity of the pandemic in its tone. “This movie is really heavy, it’s really
dark. And you kind of have to be aware of that going into it,” Ciporin said. “Because you’re watching people die and seeing how hopeless this situation [is].” During his internship at Our Time Projects, Ciporin created the memorial sequence, which is featured at the end of the film. This memorial lists the names of over 2,000 New Yorkers who died due to COVID-19. “It’s really easy to just hear ‘Oh, this many people are dying, this many people are going to the hospital, this many people are on ventilators, we don’t have enough ventilators’ … and it just seems so abstract when you’re listening to it,” Ciporin said. “But then watching it actually happen in this documentary is a look you don’t get anywhere else. I just thought that was extremely impactful.” Charles Ciporin is a former member of The Dartmouth staff.
Review: “To Paradise” Took Me to Three Different Americas, Left Me Begging for More BY Armita Mirkarimi The Dartmouth
This article was originally published on February 1, 2022. Like many other book lovers, I found myself trapped in the confines of “BookTok,” the community of TikTok users who share and discuss book recommendations, at the height of quarantine. The BookTok canon is both particular and chaotic, filled with young adult novels like “The Song of Achilles” and messy romance books like “Red, White, & Royal Blue.” Hanya Yanagihara’s 2015 book “A Little Life,” though not in the same genre, is still adored by those in the BookTok community. “A Little Life,” which attracted a strong fanbase but received mixed reviews from critics, operated on extremes and had a profound emotional impact on readers. My reaction to it was ambivalent. The novel operated on such insane highs and desperate lows that I was frankly left trying to recover emotionally. Yanagihara’s newest novel, “To Paradise,” elicited a similar response. The book is the zeitgeist of the pandemic novel, a series of stories centered around the upending nature of viruses. I was very hesitant to pick it up because I didn’t know if I had the capacity to process a storyline surrounding a similar COVID-19 experience to our own, but the concept of alternative history that the book is advertised under intrigued me. “To Paradise” is ultimately three separate shortened and fragmented books making one weighty novel of over 700 pages. The three separate sections, all based in New York, are defined by their time period in reimagined American history: 1893, 1993 and 2093. Yanagihara’s creativity shines through in her narrative structure. She gives readers timestamps that we have some familiarity
with, yet changes details in order to grapple with our national identity. In Yanagihara’s 1893, homosexuality is legal, but racism and classism still perpetuate in the daily lives of Americans. The 1993 section is centered around the AIDS epidemic in New York, featuring a character that is Hawaiian royalty, but from a Hawaii that was able to gain independence from the United States. 2093 is perhaps the most terrifying; situated in a world that is constantly in a pandemic and totalitarian rule has upturned the tatters of our democracy. The most confusing aspect of this lengthy reading experience is that the characters are different people but share a name throughout the three time periods. The transitions from part one to part two and so on become almost like a catchup game. All the characters are named Charles, David and Peter. As I navigated history and time changes, I had to erase my emotional connections with the characters from the last part. Peter even comments in part three, “There are far too many Davids.” The recycling of names is an exciting concept that Yanagihara spoke about in an interview with The Observer: “We’re often renaming things in the United States,” Yanagihara remarked. “There’s this idea that naming something changes the fundamental nature of it, but does naming who we are make us more real to others?” Her philosophy regarding the recycling of names is profound and a great story tool to play with, but I didn’t feel that it genuinely landed in “To Paradise.” It served more as a burden to the reader trying to dissect what’s happening when and where than a fascinating moral question. The characters have the same names, but little beyond New York connects them together. The lack of linkage between the three parts made the novel feel fractured. Despite this, I really admired the cyclical
CHARLIE RUDGE/THE DARTMOUTH
story structure. Every part finished with an image of the characters reaching into the future with a naive hopefulness and murmuring, “To Paradise.” This is the most compelling part of the novel. Repeating the obsession with finding paradise throughout disillusioned the very concept of what paradise is. The various Davids, Peters and Charleses wanted a better future. However, over the course of three centuries, that future was muddled with more disease and instability. The novel, more or less, works because of its alternative history concept. Yanagihara riddles the question of “What if ?” What if homosexuality wasn’t illegal in 1893? What if Hawaii did gain independence when it tried to? What if we
responded differently to the pandemic? These are all critical questions that we must ask ourselves in order to reckon with America’s past, present and future. However, the novel had no satisfying end. Yanagihara’s point was not to draw a pretty picture with all loose ends tied. Instead, it did more to question than provide answers. My reluctance to read this pandemic novel in the first place is a great example of what we should not be doing: running away from our history and not accepting responsibility to help mold our future. “To Paradise” exhibits a micro and macrocosm of personal cause and effect; Yanagihara asks if the little actions we take in our daily lives impact the course of history. Her novel explores the idea of
individual agency in relation to a larger historical trajectory. This was a painful reading experience, but rewarding. Any novel that leaves me hoping for more is a successful one, and “To Paradise” does just that. I wish that the connections between the different parts of the book were more apparent, and the characters were more clear cut. Yet, Yanagihara pushes the idea that that is not life. “To Paradise” forces the reader to confront both the shameful and encouraging aspects of America’s history that continue to impact the nation today. In an incomplete novel, she gives the reader agency to decide what paradise is and how we will achieve it, if ever. Rating:
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2022
PAGE 5
THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS
SPORTS
Men’s and women’s squash flattened by Yale and Trinity
CAROLINE KRAMER/The Dartmouth Staff
BY WILL MALLORY and Vikram STRANDER The Dartmouth Staff
The Dartmouth men’s and women’s squash teams are still in search of their first Ivy League wins this season after both teams lost to Yale University 9-0 on Friday in New Haven. Both teams also were defeated by Trinity College 9-0 on Sunday. In a back-and-forth season with wins against Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Franklin and Marshall College and Williams College, the men’s
team, which is 3-8 overall and 0-6 in conference play, has struggled to find its footing as of late, losing six straight matches in January. With eight of nine individual matches resulting in 3-0 defeats against Yale Friday, Dartmouth was unable to maintain momentum throughout its individual matches. Christian Shah ’25 fell 2-3 in the fifth position, nearly completing a comeback to give the Big Green its first victory of the day. Senior captain Jason Montima ’22 saw the match against Yale as a way for the team to get ready for the next stage.
“Yale was a good team and they showed up to play on Friday evening,” Montima said. “Looking back on it, I think everyone on our team knows that we could’ve left a bit more out there, but we had guys battle and we got to play high quality players, which is only going to better prepare us for nationals in a couple of weeks.” With early wins against Franklin and Marshall College, Georgetown University and Williams College, the women’s team has also been unable to find success in Ivy League competition. Sunday’s loss brings the squad to a 3-8
overall record and a 0-6 league record. Several Big Green players pushed their individual matches to four games, ultimately falling short of victory. Emma Supattapone ’24 and Jesse Brownell ’23 lost in four games in the first and second positions, respectively. Emily Schuster ’24, Emma Mactaggart ’22 and Caroline Mollenkopf ’22 also pushed their individual matches to four games, ultimately losing 3-1 as well. In the ninth position, Priya Verma ’24 went to five games but could not secure the victory. “We were very competitive in a few matches,” head coach Vikram Malhotra
From the Bleachers: How Did We Get Here?
BY BAILY DEETER
The Dartmouth Staff
Filling out a perfect bracket in March Madness is practically impossible. It requires picking 65 consecutive games correctly, many of which are toss-ups and many of which end in massive upsets. It has never been done before, and it may never be done. But picking a perfect March Madness bracket this year may be easier than picking a perfect NFL playoffs bracket. If you picked all 12 postseason games correctly, you should read this article about why lying diminishes trust between human beings. Maybe you didn’t pick the last five games incorrectly like I did (that 49ers-Chiefs Super Bowl rematch will have to wait for Trey Lance), but you certainly didn’t see this coming. I went back through old playoff predictions just to make sure I wasn’t the only one. I first turned to The Ringer, where the first playoff bracket I saw picked the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals both losing in the first round. Not even one bracket had the Rams or Bengals winning their respective conference, and none saw the Rams making it past the Divisional Round. We were all collectively terrible at picking playoff winners this season. In fairness to all of us, how could we possibly have seen this coming? How could anyone have seen the Bengals making the Super Bowl? Cincinnati began the season as FiveThirtyEight’s 28th-ranked team. They had a young head coach, a young quarterback coming off a torn ACL and a bad offensive line. Worst of all, they hadn’t won a playoff game since George H.W. Bush’s presidency! And yet the Bengals made the playoffs, and they finally won that elusive playoff game in gritty fashion against the Las Vegas Raiders. They then knocked off the top-seeded Titans in a similarly hard-fought Divisional Round contest. But those games were far more winnable than the AFC Championship Game at Arrowhead Stadium. After last week’s Divisional Round thriller, the Chiefs seemed to have a clear path to a third straight Super Bowl appearance for Patrick
Mahomes and two weeks full of TikTok content for Jackson Mahomes. Mahomes completed 13 of his first 14 passes for 154 yards and three touchdowns as he gave Kansas City an early 21-3 lead. But if there’s anything we’ve learned about Chiefs football, it’s that big leads are never safe, no matter who has them. Kansas City came back from 10 points or more in all three of their playoff wins during their Super Bowl season in 2020. This time, they got a taste of their own medicine. Samaje Perine’s touchdown before halftime kept the game worth watching into the second half. Cincinnati’s goalline stand as the first half expired kept their hopes of covering a seven-point spread alive. BJ Hill’s interception down eight gave the Bengals a chance to stay alive into the fourth quarter. Then, a few Joe Burrow dimes later, the game was tied up entering the fourth quarter. Two clutch kicks from Money McPherson later, the Bengals clinched
their ticket to Los Angeles. Looking back, it doesn’t seem real. The Chiefs scored on their first three drives and were inches away from scoring on their fourth, then they accumulated less than 100 yards and threw two interceptions in the second half and overtime. Mahomes was a magician in the first half, but he reached too far up his sleeve for tricks in the second. The Bengals stayed alive for as long as they could, and they capitalized in key moments. Believe it or not, the Cincinnati Bengals are Super Bowlbound. Perhaps equally surprising is Los Angeles’ journey to… Los Angeles. The Rams moved their chips to the center of the table in sacrificing many future draft picks to trade for Matthew Stafford, Von Miller and Odell Beckham Jr., perhaps because Sean McVay is getting old and doesn’t have a lot of time left to win a Super Bowl. The gamble paid off, as the Rams sent Kyler Murray to the
couch, Tom Brady to retirement and Jimmy Garoppolo to the trending page on Twitter. They dominated the fourth quarter of the NFC Championship in a 20-17 triumph in front of a crowd full of disappointed 49ers fans. At times, it looked like the 49ers were a team of destiny. That was the only explanation for their ugly win in the snow in Green Bay, which they won without scoring an offensive touchdown. They inspired this photo of my reaction to Robbie Gould’s gamewinning field goal, which fortunately didn’t expose my multiple hoodie stains. They also inspired my fraternity pickup football team, quarterbacked by yours truly, by showing us that we don’t need to score an offensive touchdown to win our upcoming game this weekend. Special teams win championships, or at least Divisional Round matchups. But even with the 49ers leading by 10 at the start of the fourth quarter, the Rams never wavered. Matthew Stafford
said. “We are as competitive as those top teams, but right now I would say that we are one level below. We just need to convert those winning games, because Yale comes in and converts those games. I feel yesterday, a lot of our players lacked belief — they are winning and they are surprised, even though we put in the work.” Emily Schuster ’24 also said she believes her team will do better once their mental game is stronger. “Once we overcome the mental hurdle required to close, the team as a whole I think will have a much better shot at winning for our school,” Schuster said. “We’re going to now start playing some more beatable teams, which is exciting after all the tough competition we’ve had for the past few weeks and will allow us to build confidence before nationals and practice our mental toughness.” Malhotra remains confident about his teams moving forward with the remainder of the season. “Everyone is motivated with nothing to lose,” Malhotra said. “So just making sure to go out there and compete and be fearless will only make us stronger, and that’s the goal.” Montima echoed his coach’s statements. “The goal for the rest of the season is to win out,” Montima said. “We have three regular season matches left and then head into nationals with one goal in mind and that is to win the Hoehn Cup, both of which are very much attainable with the talent that we have in our locker room.” The Trinity match on Sunday also held special importance for Malhotra, a former Trinity player and coach. “Trinity is where I learned a lot about squash, and now, coaching against them is definitely weird,” Malhotra said. “But our main importance is going out there and competing.” Sunday’s loss marked the sixth consecutive Ivy League defeat for both the men’s and the women’s teams. Both hope to break their losing streaks at Brown University on Feb. 12.
remained poised all game, even as his stellar play didn’t translate to points. It finally came together for the Rams thanks to some clutch completions to Cooper Kupp and a flustered San Francisco offense. Unfortunately for the good guys up in Northern California, Los Angeles continued to get the better of the Bay in the postseason. Now, all the 49ers faithful can hope for is that the Rams suffer the same fate as the Dodgers did after beating the Giants and the Lakers did after beating the Warriors. Luckily, we have a weekend off from playoff football, giving me plenty of time to recover and think about how I want to structure next week’s column. We’ll cover the upcoming Super Bowl, the Brady retirement and the Brian Flores lawsuit. Then, we’ll drag our football coverage on as long as we can for the next few weeks so that we don’t have to spend late February writing about the XFL again.
SOPHIE BAILEY/The Dartmouth Senior Staff
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MIRROR THE DARTMOUTH MIRROR
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2022
Naked and Unafraid: The Art of Figure Modeling STORY
By Adrienne Murr
This article was originally published on February 2, 2022.
15, “Drawing I,” reflected on this aura of professionalism. “Everyone treated it very professionally Envision this, you are perched in the and it wasn’t awkward,” Barnes said. middle of a classroom. Fully nude. Your “People were not laughing or anything like Dartmouth peers are staring at your that.” unimposed body, making observations and The first time Jonathan Cartwright ’24 scribbling sketches. Maybe this sounds like a was booked to model, he recalls feeling nightmare. Maybe it sounds like an ego trip. so nervous he could barely focus on his For a select group of Dartmouth student schoolwork beforehand. However, once figure models, it is merely an on-campus Cartwright started posing the nervousness job. Welcome to the art of figure modeling, subsided. where you get paid twenty dollars an hour “I was really nervous beforehand, but to lend your body as the subject of peer the fact that all I had to do was sit and stare artwork. off at a point on the wall made me forget As far as the logistics of the gig go, Afton that I was even doing it,” Cartwright said. Morton ’24, who began figure modeling “I just got lost in my thoughts and then it this term, described the process as both wasn’t nerve racking anymore.” “clinical” and “professional.” Figure models Studio art professor Gerald Auten enter the visual arts center, change into a ascribes invisibility as the key to success in robe, enter a classroom, and remove the figure modeling. robe to pose. The posing occurs in intervals “You have to somehow be invisible. of twenty to forty With a really great minutes, with breaks model it’s almost like as needed. Models “The actual process is you are drawing a are instructed to do very clinical. People bottle. They don’t one reclined pose and talk to the students one seated, with the really just look at and they don’t move job wrapping up in you as a subject for around and look at just under two hours. everybody. That takes their art. It is very The hiring process real skill,” Auten said. is relatively simple. professional. It is very Although It requires emailing neutral.” there is minimal the art department interaction between and inquiring into the figure model ava i l a b i l i t y, n o - AFTON MORTON ’24 and the artist, the audition necessary. relationship between I n M o r t o n’s the two is vital. experience, the art department goes out Professor Auten said he believes that the of their way to ensure that each model role of the figure model, while often written feels comfortable and safe. off as easy, is as important as the role of the “The actual process is very clinical. artist. People really just look at you as a subject “It’s a collaboration, and you see it when for their art. It is very professional. It is very it happens. It’s kind of magical,” Auten said. neutral,” Morton said. Whether the model chooses to look at Mallory Barnes ’22, a student in SART each artist’s depiction of their body is up to
JANE HUANG/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
them. For Morton and Cartwright, viewing student artwork is their favorite part of the job. The variety and individuality of student artwork fascinates Cartwright. “Sometimes it feels to me like I’m looking in a mirror, which is really surreal. Other times it’s more of an interpretation of what I look like,” Cartwright said. He said his experience as a figure model has given him a heightened appreciation for art. As a result of looking at student art, Morton said she sees her body through a much different, healthier perspective. “A lot of times when we look at our bodies we view them under this extremely harsh, critical lens, especially in pictures or
the mirror,” Morton said. “But when you are looking at somebody’s art you can’t look at it in such a harsh way. The art itself is beautiful, so when the art is your body that appreciation extends.” Morton even went so far to say that modeling has made her “romanticize” her body in a way she hadn’t before. Trey Cormier ’23, on the other hand, chooses not to look at the student artwork. For him, figure modeling is merely a low commitment source of income. Cormier was unfazed by the vulnerability of the job, going as far as to describe the gig as “funny.” For Cartwright, the valiant nature of figure modeling has inspired him to harness
confidence in other areas of his life. “Afterwards I was like ‘oh, I did that.’ It makes me feel like I could do something else that is really nerve racking,” Cartwright said. Similarly, Morton described how the exercise in vulnerability has made her “a lot more comfortable being uncomfortable.” “If I can get up there and strip for complete strangers I can’t really say I’m afraid to participate in class,” Morton said. While some choose to view figure modeling as a practice in self-confidence, others see it as just another campus commitment. “People think it is a lot more erotic than it is. It really just is a job,” Morton said.
Big Green’s Little League: Intramural Hockey in Hanover STORY
By Meghan Powers
This article was originally published on February 2, 2022. To say that Dartmouth students have a long and storied history with winter sports would be an understatement. Since 1924, students from the College on the Hill have competed in every winter Olympics, racking up an impressive 28 medals — more than many countries. These medaled athletes representing the Big Green on the world stage are most impressive, but for those of us who can only hope to medal in procrastination or sleep-deprivation, a great way to make the most of the winter is through intramural hockey. I hung up my skates after one prepandemic season of intramural hockey in early 2020, but for those students who’ve kept with the sport or just recently taken it
up, it’s a great source of community, laughter and exercise. Lillian Johnson ’23 has been hoping for a chance to get on the ice for a few years now, up until this winter, fate and injury have kept her from playing. Johnson’s father, a member of the Class of 1985, learned to skate on Occom by playing hockey with local Hanover kids, so Johnson’s connection to the sport extends beyond a quest for glory. “I tore my ACL freshman year, so I couldn’t play, and then COVID happened last winter,” said Johnson. “I finally get to play this year and it’s been my dream for three years now.” Johnson plays on a team with her friends from Dartmouth women’s rugby, who comprise two of the five teams currently registered in the women’s bracket of IM hockey. After a win against Dartmouth
women’s volleyball on the ice last week, Johnson’s team, “Elegant Violence,” is off to a great start. “We have this girl who’s Canadian, so at some point in her life she’s actually played hockey,” Johnson said. “She’s really good at skating and so she would just get the puck and bring it back to the top third [of the rink] and distribute it to one of the three girls up there. We would attempt to score, then she would retrieve the puck and do it again.” Part of what’s so great about Dartmouth students participating in intramural hockey is that, because most people aren’t champion skaters, it’s a way for students to challenge themselves and have fun without being too attached to the outcome. Lily Simon ’22, who has taken advantage of IM sports like hockey, softball and soccer
throughout her time at Dartmouth, is a seasoned veteran who appreciates it mostly as an opportunity to have a good time with friends. “I love recreational sports,” Simon said. “A lot of my friends do too and so we really try to take advantage of IM sports and have a lot of fun with it. We don’t take it too seriously, but it’s a fun thing to do together.” Simon also noted that during the cold winter months IM hockey brings a little happiness and light to the week. Over winter break she made a team over a GroupMe and sent the link to everyone she knew and told them to invite whoever they wanted. Katherine Taylor ’22 is another returning IM player who plays, along with Simon, on Team “We Luv Hockey.” She echoed Simon’s sentiments about hockey being a fun, somewhat haphazard activity
CAROLINE KRAMER/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
to do with friends, citing the traditions their team has built around the time spent on the ice. “A lot of times we’ll go get food at latenight afterwards. We have an assigned ‘pep talk person’ for every game and they’re in charge of giving the pep talk that week, so they really set the tone for the game,” laughed Taylor. “We also have a chant that everyone has memorized. I wish I could share it, but it’s top secret. And we dress in theme.” Team We Luv Hockey has only had one game so far this season, and Taylor said that they attempted a “Kentucky Derby” theme for their first outing on the ice this term, though Simon pointed out that there was an obstacle in their way. “We didn’t get a good [outfit] because we said ‘Let’s wear hats,’” said Simon. “But we can’t do that, because we had to wear helmets.” Luckily, Team We Luv Hockey will have plenty more opportunities to skate in style, as they’ve only played two games so far, the first of which Taylor described as “a smashing success.” “We only lost by one,” she said. The second game was even more of a triumph, according to Taylor. Team We Luv Hockey defeated the “Frozen Chickens” on Tuesday after a last-minute goal sent a 5-5 game into overtime. This time, the team pulled together a “sparkly mermaid” theme. IM hockey is challenging without being competitive, which is certainly part of the appeal. Johnson sees it as an enjoyable, low-pressure environment for spending time with friends. “I like doing casual sports — particularly casual sports — that I’m not the greatest at,” Johnson said. “When I’m actually good at things, I get competitive, so when I’m just fumbling around, it’s easier to have fun.” Games are usually scheduled between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. a few nights a week, so even though intramural hockey is purely for fun, it can still be tough to set aside other commitments and brave the cold — though Johnson attested that it’s always a worthwhile experience. “At the end of the day, I’m not playing IM hockey because I actually love hockey — I’ve never played [non-recreational hockey] before,” Taylor said. “For me, it’s truly just a way to hang out with friends in a really fun way and be active. I definitely always leave it in a better mood than when I came in.”