Hanover Review Inc. P.O. Box 343 Hanover NH, 03755
Volu m e 3 8 , Is su e 1
Mond ay, Apr i l 9 , 2 0 1 8
DARTMOUTH IN THE SPRINGTIME
BAKER-BERRY LIBRARY on a beautiful evening
Image courtesy of Granite Grok
Inaccuracies and Guns
The Board Speaks: No Expansion Here Daniel M. Bring
Managing Editor The end of winter term was not a propitious time for President Phil Hanlon and his acolytes in the administration. The widely-feared and hated expansion plan touted by President Hanlon’s office collapsed under its own enormous projected cost. The sudden and seemingly complete failure of expansion planning has been a critical blow to Moving Dartmouth Forward and President Hanlon’s inner circle. President Hanlon announced his much anticipated Moving Dartmouth Forward plan in January 2015. This radically changed the undergraduate student experience by fundamentally transforming residential life at the
College. The plan randomly assigned every student to a “House Community” in order to promote inclusion. Beginning from their sophomore year, undergraduates were forced to live in their House Community’s residence hall cluster. In addition, the College banned the consumption of hard alcohol on campus and imposed other restrictions on the Greek houses, including eliminating pledging. The Dean of the College was tasked with drafting these new expectations for both student organizations and every individual student. If the Greek communities failed to meet Hanlon’s arguably unreasonable standards, he threatened to eliminate all Greek life at Dartmouth. In effect, Moving Dartmouth For-
ward replaced the communities students’ chose to belong to with ones the administration chose for them, in true authoritarian fashion. Hanlon’s new plan also placed an uncomfortable emphasis on diversity. Given his administration’s contempt for opposing points of view, one can only assume he means racial diversity. He promised to create a more diverse environment on and off campus by admitting a more representative student body because “it [was] right”, claiming that he knew this would increase intellectual growth and innovation. One would think that admitting more qualified students would be what stimulates innovation, but Hanlon apparently believes that racial
diversity is all that matters. The Provost and Vice Provost were tasked with making faculty more “diverse”, which might explain why otherwise unqualified candidates were promoted to those prominent positions. In August 2017, Hanlon created the Task Force for Enrollment Expansion to determine how best to implement an entirely hypothetical increase of 10 to 25 percent in the size of the student body. The administration argued that since Yale had announced an annual increase of 200 students over the next four years and Princeton had committed to an increase of 500 students over the same period, Dartmouth should follow their example.
> FEATURES PAGE 6
Will Jelsma Contributor
Since the tragic murder of 17 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, debate over the Second Amendment has spread across America. On one side is the gun control movement, which is still led by familiar faces such as Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) but has been galvanized by a new generation of anti-gun activists in the wake of the shooting. On the other side are most gun owners, who believe that the downsides of proposed gun control policies outweigh any positives and who feel that they are being punished for the crimes of a single depraved individual.
Both sides agree that stopping future mass shootings is a priority. The primary difference between the anti-gun and pro-gun mentality is that gun rights advocates care not only about preserving the lives of the innocent, but also about preserving the rights of the innocent. Second Amendment supporters are just as dedicated to finding a solution to mass shootings, but they also believe that the right to own a gun responsibly is worth protecting. The left focuses on the perceived immediate positives of limiting the Second Amendment and are dismissive of the right’s concerns about long-term ramifications.
> FEATURES PAGE 7
MARCHING WITH MLK
A NIGHT OF SOLIDARITY
IS PONG A DATE?
Editor-in-Chief B. Webb Harrington discusses the fight for freedom
The Review looks at the newly proclaimed Night of Solidarity at the College
The Review enters the realm of dating advice by answering frequent questions from readers
> EDITORIAL PAGE 3
> FEATURES PAGE 8
> FEATURES PAGE 11
2 Monday – April 9, 2018
The Dartmouth Review
TABLE OF CONTENTS
STUDENTS
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WORK
For thirty-five years, The Dartmouth Review has been the College’s only independent newspaper and the only student opinion journal that matters. It is the oldest and most renowned campus commentary publication in the nation and spawned a national movement at the likes of Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, and countless others. Our staff members and alumni have won many awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, and have been published in the Boston Globe, New York Times, National Review, American Spectator, Wall Street Journal, Weekly Standard, Village Voice, New Criterion, and many others. The Review aims to provide a voice for any student who enjoys challenging brittle and orthodox thinking. We stand for free speech, student rights, and the liberating arts. Whatever your political leanings, we invite you to come steep yourself in campus culture and politics, Dartmouth lore, keen witticisms, and the fun that comes with writing for an audience of thousands. We’re looking for writers, photographers, cartoonists, aspiring business managers, graphic designers, web maestros, and anyone else who wants to learn from Dartmouth’s unofficial school of journalism.
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SAFE space
“Because every student deserves a safe space”
– Inge-Lise Ameer, Former Vice Provost for Student Affairs
Meetings held Mondays at 6:30 PM at our offices at 32 S. Main Street (next to Lou’s in the lower level office space)
INSIDE THE ISSUE No College Expansion...........................................................Page 1
PERHAPS YOU SHOULD COME TO ONE OF OUR MEETINGS BEFORE MAKING LUDICROUS ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT US.
Inaccuracies and Gun Control............................................Page 1 Editorial: Marching With MLK..........................................Page 3 A Night in Solidarity.............................................................Page 8 A Night In Solidarity: What’s That Email?.......................Page 8 Is Pong a Date?.......................................................................Page 9 Never Again and Authentic Activism..............................Page 10 Patriarchy: Wheelock House.............................................Page 11
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CHURCHILL READS THE REVIEW.
The Dartmouth Review
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MASTHEAD & EDITORIAL EST. 1980
“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win great triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to takerank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.” —Theodore Roosevelt
EDITORIAL BOARD
EDITORIAL
Editor-in-Chief
Marching with MLK
B. Webb Harrington
Editor-in-Chief Emeritus Jack F. Mourouzis
Executive Editors Joshua D. Kotran Josh Kauderer
Managing Editors Daniel Bring
Associate Editors Rachel T. Gambee John Stahel Alexander Rauda
BUSINESS STAFF President Emeritus Robert Y. Sayegh
President Noah J. Sofio
ADVISORY Founders
Greg Fossedal, Gordon Haff, Benjamin Hart, Keeney Jones
Legal Counsel
Mean-Spirited, Cruel, and Ugly
Board of Trustees
Martin Anderson, Patrick Buchanan, Theodore Cooperstein, Dinesh D’Souza, Michael Ellis, Robert Flanigan, John Fund, Kevin Robbins, Gordon Haff, Jeffrey Hart, Laura Ingraham, Mildred Fay Jefferson, William Lind, Steven Menashi, James Panero, Hugo Restall, Roland Reynolds, William Rusher, Weston Sager, Emily Esfahani-Smith, R. Emmett Tyrrell, Sidney Zion
NOTES Special thanks to William F. Buckley, Jr. “Keystone is really a...great beer!” The Editors of The Dartmouth Review welcome correspondence from readers concerning any subject, but prefer to publish letters that comment directly on material published previously in The Review. We reserve the right to edit all letters for clarity and length. Please submit letters to the editor by mail or email: editor@dartreview.com Or by mail at:
The Dartmouth Review P.O. Box 343 Hanover, NH 03755 (603) 643-4370
Please direct all complaints to: editor@thedartmouth.com
In every life-time lived there has been the grand arc of history bends towards a great moral struggle: fought between an justice, then the Dartmouth Review is ideology of absolute evil and an alliance on the side of history. I believe that one of good men and women who celebrated day this current war will be remembered. freedom. When the alliance of good suc- And perhaps long after it was fought, its ceeded in their cause, the world rejoiced participants will be remembered. Just as and many of their names are still honored those few who stood by Dr. King when to this day. We all have the names of abo- Truth, Freedom, and Justice seemed to be litionists like Frederick Douglas, or cham- hidden in a cloud of hate can say that they pions of women’s rights like Susan B. An- marched with MLK, I will be able to say thony inscribed into our minds and the that I stood for Truth and the marvelous piece of our souls that yearns for justice. thing called Western Civilization. I think Rightfully so. These few individuals who the question that every person of every have fought for human freedom are he- age, race, and either sex should ask themroes that ought to be admired. One of the selves, is how they want to be rememmost celebrated figures of modern times bered. Do you want to be one of the prois Dr. Martin Luther King, whose 50th an- testors, or one of the ones who point fire niversary of his assashoses at them? Do you sination occurred on want to be one of the April 4, less than a week Black-shirted thugs ago. Despite some peror will you be a Dietsonal flaws, he helped rich Bonhoeffer? Do to foster a non-violent you want to be one of movement dedicated the ones who marched to equal rights, racial with MLK or one of cooperation, and forthose who is immegiveness for past sins. diately forgotten afToday, even those who ter tyranny has finally were less well known been cast down? at the time, whose facThe Review has es did not appear on made its decision. In Americans’ televisions, this great fight beare still remembered tween good and evil, and are still celebrated The Review will fight B. Webb Harrington for marching with MLK. to preserve all that has Today, another war between good and allowed the West to reach heights of prosevil is raging. It is raging on college cam- perity, freedom, and human kindness not puses where students fight students in the thought possible by any other civilization battle for ideas. It is raging in the media or even many of those who helped us as television personalities, Youtube icons, get here. More than just fighting to keep and Hollywood deviants fight in the battle what we already have in terms of living for the nation’s stories. The war is being standards and civilization, The Review fought in the minds of every person in the also fights for the rest of the world to be West in the battle for what we remember. able to join the West in its success. The The war rages so fiercely because this war world needs a “shining city on a hill” as between good and evil is about the same John Winthrop once described Boston, a thing that every other such war has been new city in the fledgling Puritan colony about: morality. We fought the Civil War that would one day become America. In because part of America believed the the last century and half, over a dozen state of involuntary servitude of one man countries from Japan to Chile, from Costa to another was deeply evil, and the oth- Rica to South Korea have seen the shiner believed it was good and right. Today, ing example of America as a way forward one side believes that Reason is the path and we cannot allow that example to be to Truth, while the other believes that deprived the world. Truth does not exist. One side believes This is not to say that The Dartmouth that Virtue should be admired, while the Review can make the difference between other believes that victimhood should be victory and defeat in the War for the worshipped. One side believes that the in- West. In the end we are a college newspadividual reigns supreme in the world, the per. However, having an impact is reason other sees only groups that should think enough to make the moral choice to fight and speak alike. In the end, the core dis- for truth. If it took a million men to end agreement comes from that first source of legal segregation and racial discriminatension: Truth against a language of deceit tion in America, it cannot help but to take created to hide the Truth. another to win a war that is fought over The Dartmouth Review is on the side ideas, stories, and memories. The Dartof Truth, and if Dr. King was right that mouth Review will be part of that million.
4 Monday – April 9, 2018
The Dartmouth Review
WEEK IN REVIEW DARTMOUTH OFFERS CREDIT TO SEXPERTS-INTRAINING
HANOVER HIGH STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN GUN PROTESTS
Dartmouth College is currently experimenting with a new concept of physical exercise: Sexpert Training. ‘Sexpert’ a portmanteau of sex and expert, for the unwary reader, “serve as campus educational peer educators.” The ambiguity of this definition surrounds “issues of healthy relationships, reproductive health, healthy sexuality, sexual identity, body image, sexual orientation, sexual decision making, abstinence, sexual pleasure, contraception, STI prevention, consent, and communication.” If that sounds like something that interests students, then they too can become a ‘Sexpert.’ How exactly does one become a ‘Sexpert?’ For only “20 hours of weekend training” after which “all students are required to complete 8 hours of service learning hours,” one can become a master of “knowledge on medically accurate, pleasure orientated, evidence-based, sex-positive sexuality education and information on healthy relationships, consent and communication for yourself and others!” Furthermore, students that complete said training receive 1 PE credit, which these days are apparently hard to attain. The explicit emphasis on sex creates some dilemmas that the Sexperts are trying to solve. By putting sexuality on a pedestal and ignoring the foundation of society, monogamous relationships, the Sexperts are creating an atmosphere in which these relationships are ignored. No doubt the intentions of the Sexperts are good at heart, but in practice, they will hurt the campus scene even more. According to the National Institute of Justice, having “numerous sexual partners” increases sexual harassment rates. Furthermore, the “Sexperts provide safer sex supplies for free at the Safer Sex Bar,” which includes but is not limited to: “Glow-in-the-dark condoms,” “dental dams,” and “water-based lubricant” of a “tingling” variation. As to whether or not anyone uses these items seriously, remains to be seen. The College promotes organizations that help create some awareness on issues of consent that are prevalent on many campuses. However, the administration and, to an extent, the student body must also place importance on what it means to have a relationship beyond the limitations of sexuality. Only then will the issues that stem from ‘hook-up’ culture that has sadly seem to have become the norm across America be resolved.
Students at Hanover High School (HHS) participated in the nationwide “March for Our Lives” protest against gun violence. On Friday, March 9th, roughly 250 students, composing about a third of Hanover High School, walked out of class and into town. Before the march, state representatives Polly Campion, Mary Jane Mulligan, and state senator Martha Hennessy spoke to students, promising stricter gun control at a state level. Reactions to the march were positive. Town administrators applauded students as they passed the corner of Lebanon and South Main streets, chanting for universal background checks and limiting firearms purchases to those of 21 years or older. Despite this strong display in favor of gun control, not all Hanover students shared the protesters’ opinions. Dakota Hanchett, a junior at (HHS), published an opinion piece in the New York Times titled, “Why I Didn’t Join My School’s Walkout,” in which he shared his experience as a gun owner and hunter. While Hanchett agreed with his classmates with regards to background checks, he advocated for incorporating gun safety into the high school curriculum, as education pertaining to substance abuse and sexual health have been. We at The Review applaud students from all sides of the political spectrum for entering into this salient issue and are proud that Hanover’s youngest are exercising their First Amendment rights, even if to protest their Second Amendment ones.
SEXUAL ASSAULT PROTESTS TAKE PLACE ON CAMPUS
This past Friday, April 6th, the Dartmouth student body organized for a night of solidarity for survivors of sexual assault. Since April is now recognized as the Sexual Assault Awareness Month, this past week was proposed to be a Week of Action to get conversations started on the issue of sexual assault, and it’s relevance
on college campuses. On Sunday, April 1st, before the week had begun, an informal “coalition” of students sent out a campus-wide email proposing a “Take Back the Night” march on Friday night, and requested that all fraternities and sororities close their social spaces temporarily. Throughout the week, almost every fraternity and sorority complied with the request, announcing in an email to the school that they would be closed on Friday night. Various student groups also sent out emails standing in solidarity with victims, and many also hosted events to raise awareness of sexual assault to give students strategies to combat it. To bring the issue to life, Kappa Delta Epsilon and Bones Gate offered a documentary screening open to the Dartmouth campus for It Happened Here, which details five victims of sexual assault and the struggles that they faced dealing with it on college campuses. On Friday afternoon, a large group of students with signs and posters could be heard marching through campus, chanting various statistics and calls for action about sexual assault, holding signs related to their message. After the students marched down frat row and through various other parts of campus, the group of marchers assembled in a circle on the Green for closing remarks. After the march was over, students were encouraged to attend dinner discussions, movie screenings, and organized talks about campus sexual assault, since the traditional social spaces that Dartmouth usually has to offer were closed for the night. The Dartmouth student body united for this cause in an inspiring way for this issue, and most considered the night to be a success.
DARTMOUTH ACCEPTS MOST SELECTIVE CLASS IN COLLEGE’S HISTORY Recently, the office of admissions released offers of admission in the regular decision round for the Class of 2022. Admission was only offered to 8.7% of the 22,033-student applicants, making it the 4th largest applicant class in history and the most selective class ever. Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, Lee Coffin, believes the yield rate will be high once again this year, and the admissions committee has responded accordingly. “It has been clear from their applications and alumni interviews that the Dartmouth story resonates with them,” remarked Coffin, “and that the College is a strong academic and personal match for these talent-
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Erik R. Jones Eashwar N. Sivarajan Alexander Rauda Atticus Weyman ed, curious students and so we adjusted our acceptance rate to reflect that forecast.” However, it is important to look these figures in context to completely understand what the newest members of the Dartmouth community can tell us about where the College is moving. In fact, all of the 8 Ivy League schools were more competitive this year, most notably Harvard University and Princeton University which are approaching the 4% mark. While this can be partially explained by the higher likelihood of unqualified applicants to apply to Harvard as a far reach school, the fact remains that we are 4.7% down from the all-time peak in applications 6 years ago. This month brings one of the most crucial points of the year for the office of admissions. There are two different “Dimensions” programs scheduled for April as Lee Coffin and his team work to secure the final members of next year’s class. Final statistics about the Class of 2022 are expected to be released shortly after May 1st.
DARTMOUTH LIBRARY RESEARCH GUIDE EXPLORES “FEMINIST GEOGRAPHY” Recently, the Dartmouth Library added a Research Guide to “Feminist Geography,” which it defines as “the application of feminist theory and methodologies to understanding human geography.” Feminist geography, they explain, developed in the early 1970s, building on Betty Friedan’s second wave feminist movement that sought to eliminate all gender disparities between men and women. It is still unclear why feminists don’t call out Friedan for being bigoted against the infinitely many other genders and push for complete equality. The guide explains men and women experience material inequalities that produce different spatial relations in space and time, inequalities that are reinforced by “patriarchy”. From this, it seems that the patriarchy is a mystical thing that pervades the universe, influencing every event—think the ‘The Force’ from Star Wars. In the past, feminist geographers have highlighted the interrelations between patriarchy, identity, spatial subjectivities and how, together, they produce emotional geographies. It might seem like these are harmless buzzwords to placate the hordes of progressives at the College, but feminist geography is the next step in the pursuit of liberal’s ultimate goal of destroying the notion of truth. If even something as neutral as geography can be viewed through the lens of feminism, why can’t math, biology or computer science? We at The Review should be glad that liberals are finally being honest about what they hope to achieve. We see from the Library’s guide to feminist geography that they seek to dismantle the “masculinist formulation of science as objective, neutral, and value-free.” They take pride in being neither objective nor impartial and trying to transform every field they study. This admission exemplifies the cultural shift at the College, where dogmatic “groupthink” is rapidly replacing critical thinking and ideological bigots are aplenty.
CARTOON
“Oh I LOVE the snow!”
CARTOON
“But that CAN’T be the new logo!!”
CARTOON
“Sometimes I wonder if this college can get ANYTHING right...”
6 Monday – April 9, 2018
The Dartmouth Review
FEATURES
No Expansion Here
PRESIDENT PHIL HANLON
Daniel M. Bring
Managing Editor
> CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Aside from the appearance that the President and his administration believes we should emulate the other Ivies instead of competing with them, they clearly view Dartmouth’s small size as an impediment and not an advantage, as many Dartmouth students and faculty believe. They also argued that while the faculty at the College had grown by 22% since 2001, student enrollment had only increased by 5%. The fact that Hanlon thought it was a good idea to tell the undergraduate student that it planned to increase the number of students by five times as much as the last 16 years combined perfectly illustrates his disconnect with students who have to deal with oversubscribed classes and falling-apart dorms that are too few in number. Mr. Bring is a freshman at the College and a managing editor of The Dartmouth Review.
Image courtesy of Wikpedia Many Dartmouth students, alumni, and faculty members breathed a collective sigh of relief after President Hanlon announced during the winter’s termly faculty meeting that a 750-bed dormitory complex would not be constructed in College Park. Referring to the
beautiful landmarks, including the Robert Frost statue, Bartlett Tower, the Shattuck Observatory, and the site of the Lone Pine. College Park had been studied as a site for dorm construction since September 2017 and the very idea of it being leveled for new housing quickly became a cause célèbre at Dartmouth.
Force on Enrollment Expansion had been established to determine exactly how enrollment should be expanded, not whether it should be. The decision to maintain the current undergraduate population means that the Task Force on Enrollment Expansion failed entirely in its intended objective. Another victory for Old Dartmouth quickly followed suit. On March 14th, it was announced that Dean of the College Rebecca Biron would be returning to teaching and research at the end of the academic year. Dean Biron had been coevidently ill-fated Task Force on Enrollment Expansion. She had been originally appointed in June 2015 to a four-year term as Dean of the College and is leaving the post in June 2018, a full year earlier than was originally planned. Coincidence, it seems not. Biron was well-known for her inflammatory rhetoric and misguided self-righteousness. Biron once wrote an article in the 2014 in response to Parker Gilbert, a 19-year old, being acquitted of rape. Biron claimed that men had a “gendered tendency” toward rashness which made them more likely to take risks and that it made them “[assume] a right to their certainty”. She argued that it was this that made Oscar Pistorius accidentally kill his girlfriend and Parker Gilbert have drunken sex with his alleged victim, the point being that men have an inherent tendency to rape and kill, which they must continually fight. Her vitriolic hatred towards men isn’t surprising given Hanlon’s track record, but Phil’s decision to promote her destroyed lives. In 2018,
proposed College Park dorms, Hanlon stated tersely at the February 26th assembly, “We just can’t afford it.” He also gave an equivocal update on the Task Force on Enrollment Expansion, saying that it was yet to yield a decision about increasing undergraduate enrollment at the College. The College Park plan, condemned by both The Review and The Dartmouth, had occasioned great concern as a crucial part of the administration’s plan to increase undergraduate enrollment. It also threatened the destruction of many of the campus’ most
The ambiguity at the faculty meeting surrounding the Task Force on Enrollment Expansion would not take long to be resolved. A college-wide email sent on March 4th revealed after the consideration of the Task Force’s report, the Board of Trustees approved a recommendation by President Hanlon that the undergraduate student body should remain at its current size. The surprising announcement was a cause for celebration for all the sons and daughters of Old Dartmouth, the small College on the Hill. It was especially momentous because the Task
a former Dartmouth student who had been expelled for allegedly sexually assaulting a fellow student, sued the College claiming that Biron was biased against him because of his gender. Draw your own conclusions knowing her beliefs in 2014. Dean Biron’s departure from the upper administration is just the latest in a long string of departures for President Hanlon’s closest supporters in Dartmouth’s staff. Inge-Lise Ameer, Vice Provost for Student Affairs for a year and a half, and earlier interim Dean of the College,
It also threatened the destruction of many of the campus’ most beautiful landmarks, including the Robert Frost statue, Bartlett Tower, the Shattuck Observatory, and the site of the Lone Pine
resigned unceremoniously from her post in January 2017. Ameer’s thesis for her Doctor of Education from Harvard was “based on semi-structured interviews with seven African American, seven Latino, seven Asian American and seven white undergraduates.” She insulted the “whole conservative world” while trying to placate Black Lives Matters protestors in 2015. How someone who wrote her thesis based on semi-structured interviews with 28 people was once interim Dean of an Ivy League research university for over a year is beyond comprehension, but the fact that she remained the Dean after her performance in front of the BLM protestors demonstrates that Phil Hanlon could not care less about the competence of his staff. Another administrative shakeup came early this academic year with the announcement that Provost Carolyn Dever had “decided” to return to teaching. This firing in October 2017 was a bit more gracious than Ameer’s, whose dismissal was tantamount to an eviction. Dever served out the rest of the fall term, but since then has become a humble member of Dartmouth’s English faculty. As Provost, Dartmouth’s most senior academic officer, Dever oversaw the integration of scholarly life at the College with student life. She appointed as Dean of the College Rebecca Biron, the first Dartmouth faculty member in recent memory to serve in that role. Dever played a critical role in implementing the controversial house system, an important part of Moving Dartmouth Forward. Dever was long decried by alumni, the commentators of Dartblog, and allegedly some faculty members as unqualified and incompetent. Dever, an English scholar, received one of the highest salaries in the administration, which came in well over half a million dollars, and also divided her time as Provost with teaching Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies courses or sections in the Humanities sequence. Dever had been called a “diversity hire,” for her relatively high rank with little prior administrative experience or success to back it up. All that is known is that she did not leave the College for another job, despite rumors that she had been interviewing elsewhere while serving as Provost.
The Dartmouth Review
Monday – April 9, 2018
7
FEATURES
Inaccuracies in the Gun Control Debate
DIANNE FEINSTEIN Giving Speech on Gun Control
Will Jelsma
Contributer
> CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
The conservative viewpoint acknowledges that mass shootings demand strong legislative responses, but believes that the right to own a gun, and therefore to control your own self-defense, is an inalienable part of our individual liberties, as important as freedom of speech, religion, or the right to remain silent. Although their goals are surprisingly similar, the temperaments of the two sides could not be more different. Gun control is an emotional movement which flashes up in enthusiastic fits and starts after a tragedy and then goes dormant for a while. Gun supporters have been a far more steady force: for example, the NRA has been in existence since 1897. Because of its lack of long-term vision and emotionally charged nature, the post-Parkland gun control wave has handicapped Mr. Jelsma is a junior at the College and contributer to The Dartmouth Review.
itself with a lack of knowledge about guns, relied on partial truths, and undermined itself with hypocritical stances. In other debates, such as immigration and health care, participants are expected to be knowledgeable about the subject at hand. But because gun control advocates equate guns and the Devil, no knowledge or experience with responsible gun ownership is necessary to argue a position on guns, and there is a general unwillingness to learn about responsible gun ownership. Even high-level lawmakers who support gun control have frequently demonstrated their lack of knowledge, making claims that are completely false. Past laws such as the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban reflect the gun control movement’s tendency to make emotionally motivated choices rather than properly informed ones. The 1994 AWB’s main purpose was to ban guns that looked scary: it focused on banning cosmetic features more than anything else. It’s like somebody who has never driven a car attempting
Image Courtesy of Mercury News to reduce car accidents by banning the Dodge Ram pickup truck because it looks more aggressive than a Honda Accord. The gun control movement’s pervasive ignorance of guns’ actual capabilities has continued with the latest resurgence of the movement. Emma Gonzalez, one of the most prominent Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students supporting gun control, made several uneducated statements in a single speech on February 18. Near the beginning of her speech, she claimed it was “harder to make plans with friends on weekends than to buy an automatic or semi-automatic weapon.” Ignoring the fact that most guns used in crimes are stolen, not bought, this statement is false in several ways. Automatic weapons, which fire multiple times with a single pull of the trigger, are extremely rare and generally cost upwards of ten thousand dollars. Their manufacture for non-military sale is banned in the US. Finally, buying one requires a background check that takes several weeks.
Semi-automatic weapons, which fire one round per trigger pull, are available for purchase, but there is still a background check which disqualifies serious criminals, domestic abusers, subjects of restraining orders, addicts, the mentally ill, and others. Clearly, there are flaws in the background check system, but it is difficult or impossible for someone who is not a law-abiding citizen to legally buy any gun. Gonzalez’s language implies that the law treats automatic and semi-automatic weapons similarly, and that the restrictions for buying either are very light, but this could not be further from the truth. Next, Gonzalez moved on to the topic of concealed carry permits, saying, “You do not need a permit to carry a concealed rifle or shotgun.” In terms of the law, she is technically correct, but she reveals her ignorance about firearms by thinking that a person could conceal carry a rifle or a shotgun. Concealed carry permits focus on handguns because concealed carry of a full length rifle or shotgun is simply not feasible. Even a short-barreled rifle is impractical to carry, and possession of one of those without the ATF’s permission is a Class III Felony with significant jail time. Gonzalez’s statements demonstrate a lack of knowledge about the laws about and capabilities of firearms. However, she is only a high school student and was involved in a horrific mass shooting, so her anger and uninformed rhetoric are understandable. What is less understandable is the willful ignorance of gun-grabbing legislators. These are people who actually make firearms laws, who by all accounts should have a deep understanding of what they are regulating. Instead, anti-gun politicians at both the state and federal levels have shown astounding levels of ignorance persisting over many years and continuing into the present. Karen Mallard, a Democrat currently running for a House of Representatives seat in Virginia, posted a video of herself cutting part of the barrel off of her husband’s rifle with a chop saw. She said she was “taking a stand for gun safety.” Far from being “safe,” she had just created an unregistered and fully functional short-barreled rifle, which is a felony. Despite running for a position as an anti-gun lawmaker, she was apparently so ignorant about existing gun laws that she committed a felony without knowing it. She later took down the video, claimed that the rifle had been properly disposed of afterwards, and told a local radio station, “I knew exactly what I was doing.” Mallard is currently under investigation by the ATF. Gun control has defined the career of Dianne Feinstein, a senator from California. Unfortunately, she has been a poster child for the left’s ignorance and hyperbole about gun control. Since the 1990s she has been a perennial crusader to ban guns, yet in 25 years of experience she appears to have learned
nothing about them. Feinstein, the author of the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban, is not just for gun control; in her own words, she wants an “outright ban.” In 2013, she claimed, “it’s legal to hunt humans with 15-round, 30-round, even 150-round magazines,” which is so outrageous it should need no explanation. In the wake of the Parkland shooting, she has continued in her tradition of falsehoods and hyperbole. Searching for a reason to support the banning of the AR15, she said, “A handgun wound is simply a stabbing with a bullet. It goes in like a nail.” But with the AR-15’s 5.56mm rounds, she posited that “it’s as if you shot somebody with a Coke can.” While the AR-15’s rounds are more powerful than those of an average handgun, both cause gunshot wounds regardless of the kind of gun that did the shooting, and Feinstein’s claim is clearly nonsensical. Rather than to convey facts or a reasoned rationale, Feinstein’s words are designed to incite fear and emotion in those who read them, regardless of being objectively false. As a leader of the gun control movement, Feinstein’s willful ignorance sets the tone for others and contributes to the polarity of the gun control issue. Lack of knowledge about the issues is pervasive through the anti-gun ranks, from ground-level activists who are simply uninformed, to high level legislators who are inexcusably not willing to educate themselves. Both pro- and anti-gun advocates will need to become educated about the capabilities of and terminology surrounding guns in order to have an effective response to gun violence. But if gun control supporters refuse to become properly informed about guns – and if gun control advocates believe they don’t need to become informed about guns in order to make decisions about them – then the country will never respond to mass shootings in effective ways.” In addition to gun control’s problems with ignorance about firearms, anti-gun activists have dealt in halftruths and hypocrisy. MSD High School students at the forefront of the anti-gun protests have offered numerous examples of hypocrisy as new policies against mass shootings have begun to affect them. Students such as David Hogg clamored for restrictions on guns owned by innocent Americans in the name of their dead classmates. Yet when MSD High School revealed plans to increase police presence, require clear backpacks, and check student ID’s, Hogg and his classmates were up in arms. Restrictions to gun owners were not a problem, but any inconvenience to themselves was. Hogg had attacked gun owners before in a profanity-laden rant about their disregard for children’s lives: “What sick ******* out there want to continue to sell more guns, murder more children … they could have blood from children splattered all over their faces and they wouldn’t take action.”
8 Monday – April 9, 2018
The Dartmouth Review
FEATURES
A Night of Solidarity
Josh Kauderer
Executive Editor
On April 1st, 2018, an email was sent out to the entire campus by a group of four students that has managed to break the Dartmouth tradition of enjoying time with friends on Friday nights. The students, Paulina Calcaterra, Lex Kang, Olivia Audsley, and Maggie Flaherty, emailed campus via Undergraduate Listserv. Their email focused on sexual assault as a serious problem on campus and outlined their plan to help address it. As part of the source of this problem it pointed to the social spaces on campus. Citing the 2017 Sexual Misconduct Survey conducted at Dartmouth that found 34% of students that identified as being sexually assaulted said they met the perpetrator at a party. The students concluded that social spaces were places where substantial amounts of sexual assault occur. Thus, the four students asked that all social spaces, including fraternities and sororities, close on Friday, April 6 for the Night of Solidarity — a part of the larger Week of Action. As of this writing, all fraternities and sororities have agreed to close for the night in protest of sexual assault and many have Mr. Kauderer is a junior at the College and an executive editor at The Dartmouth Review.
further agreed to the email’s requests that the night instead be treated as an opportunity to discuss sexual assault. According to several to heads of social spaces on campus, they and others received an email four days prior to the all-campus email being sent out. The email was much the same in content, warning the leaders of campus social spaces that another email would be sent out to the whole campus, and asking them to close for Friday, April 6th. The full text of the all-campus email is included in this issue. On April 3, Sigma Nu sent an email to all students — the first from a Greek organization regarding the proposed Night of Solidarity — and announced that it would be closing on April 6 in solidarity with the Week of Action. The next day, several Greek organizations also announced that they would be closing on April 6. This group included all Interfraternity Council organizations, as well as several sororities and coed organizations. It is unknown whether every organization that stood in solidarity with the Week of Action held discussions to assess whether members of their communities agreed with such action. Several organizations took the initiative to host alternative educational events
related to the Week of Action. Chi Gamma Epsilon and Kappa Delta hosted a private joint discussion regarding sexual assault on campus. Some organizations opted for events that were open to campus: Kappa Delta Epsilon and Bones Gate co-sponsored the screening of “It Happened Here,” a film that interviews survivors of sexual violence on college campuses across the United States. There were also more creative events held. For example, the Tabard hosted a “Self Care Night,” with the explicit goal of “tak[ing] the time to take care of our mental health and look[ing] out for one another.” The Tabard’s event featured an ice cream sundae bar, dogs, and coloring books — nostalgic reminders for all attendees of their childhoods. Collis After Dark also announced that it stood in solidarity with the Week of Action, however, it chose to remain open as a constructive social space for students: “We encourage students to attend the Take Back the Night March and emphasize that our programming will not interfere with this important event. Additionally, we will be providing a space in Collis 101 for students to create artwork that allows them to heal and reflect on this Night of Solidarity.” Pulse, an Ivy-wide survey organization founded by Ter-
ren Klein, conducted a survey on whether students supported the proposal to close all social spaces on Friday. Of the 639 students who responded as of writing, 69.7% of students supported the proposal. Only 24.7% opposed it. Many students offered explanations for why they believe what they do. One post stated that the proposal “creates a divide and resentment for an otherwise powerful initiative.” This post received 13 likes, making it the third most supported post. On the other hand this response received 8 likes, and is supportive of the Night of Solidarity: “This is a great way to bring attention to violence. Sometimes, we need just stop and think about things. Everything moves very fast here at college, and with phones. To just stop for a night is powerful, and to cite the source of the pause as recalling victims of sexual assault brings weight to the issue, and buy-in from Greek organizations legitimizes it. Great thing happening here at Dartmouth. And by the way, I’m a white guy saying all this.” Perhaps the most thorough post made, and the second most popular, argued against the proposal. “It is fair to propose to close social spaces for a night of reflection. However, implicit in the request is that those who chose not to do so are not do-
ing enough to support victims of violence. While this is possible, it is also possible that something else was originally planned for that night that people worked hard to plan/ organize. Moreover, there are many other ways to deal with violence other than closing social spaces. It is important to address sexual violence in the Dartmouth community, but no organization should have this level of moral authority. If they say that people who don’t participate are doing less for campus culture than those who do participate, they diminish all of the hard work that individuals have put in outside of these social spaces to end violence.” In the end, it seems that all of the Greeks have decided to take part, though some have noted that none of the so called “alternative social spaces,” frequently touted by the administration as alternatives to the Greek system, sent out emails about their participation. As of writing, the Review is unaware of any cancellations of social events by the housing system or outdoors oriented social groups such as Ledyard or the DOC. It is worth that some school-funded social spaces, such as Collis After Dark, did notify campus of actions related to supporting the Night of Solidarity.
in spaces where high risk drinking behavior, toxic gender norms, and harmful power dynamics exist. For instance, the 2017 Sexual Misconduct Survey found that at Dartmouth 34% of individuals who experienced a sexual assault met their perpetrator at a party.[1] Furthermore, approximately half of all sexual assaults involve alcohol consumption by the perpetrator, victim, or both. Alcohol consumption facilitates violence in a variety of ways, including incapacitating potential victims.[2] Many campus social spaces are places in which these factors are present, and, as a result, we know that social spaces (including Greek spaces, off-campus houses, etc.) have been sites of frequent sexual violence at Dartmouth. As a result, we are proposing a Night of Solidarity: we ask that the entire student body close their social spaces on the night of April 6, This includes Greek houses, off-campus houses, non-Greek social and living communities, etc. For one night, we ask our community to think about survivors of violence, reflect on the harm that has been done, and consider potential ways to improve the safety of our social spaces on campus. Participating in this Night of Solidarity signifies that you
• Stand in solidarity with survivors of violence and • Acknowledge the history of violence and harm in many Dartmouth social spaces Organizations and/or groups may want to consider closing as a social space and instead hosting some kind of prevention-oriented or awareness-raising event. In this way, you can contribute in a more substantive way to prevention efforts, and have something for other students to participate in on this Friday night. Some ideas include: -having an internal group discussion about sexual violence prevention and making your space as safe as possible and as supportive of survivors as possible -if you had an event with another group planned, having an inter-group discussion instead about sexual violence prevention -Hosting a self-care night for your group members -screening a documentary or film (titles include, The Invisible War, Audrie and Daisy, “I am Evidence,” episodes from Jessica Jones) -Hosting a space for the members of your group who identify as survivors to share their stories and experiences if they are comfortable with that (if considering this, it will be important to issue a trigger warning and provide resources for your
group members that you can find here: http://www.dartmouth.edu/ sexualrespect/ ). This kind of event should be planned and carried out thoughtfully, and you may want to seek the support of more experienced facilitators to help make this as safe as possible for everyone involved. Contact us if you would like to know about resources available for this. Although the Night of Solidarity is certainly not a comprehensive way to prevent violence, participating in this event along with supporting other prevention / education events and programs is part of being a organization and/or group that is invested in ending violence at Dartmouth. Along with your participation should be a commitment to introspection and reflection on how you as part of the Dartmouth community can best support prevention efforts and create spaces that are safe and supportive of survivors.
interrogating how safe they are and how they might contribute to the problem.
A Night of Solidarity: The Email
Editor’s Note: This is a text copy of an email sent to the entire Dartmouth campus on April 1. As such it does not necessarily represent the views of The Dartmouth Review or its staff. Context to the email is explained in the article above *This email is from an informal coalition of students and the message is unaffiliated with any Dartmouth organization. The week of April 2nd is the Week of Action at Dartmouth as part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, which takes place nationally in April. During this week, the Dartmouth community works toward taking actionable steps to prevent sexual violence in our community. On Friday, there will be a Take Back the Night march in order to protest sexual violence, stand in solidarity with survivors of violence, and demand visibility and safety on campus and beyond for all individuals, but especially for populations that have historically experienced incredibly high rates of violence such as womxn, womxn of color, transgender and gender nonconforming / non-binary folks. We know that statistically, significant amounts of this violence occur This email to the Dartmouth community was not written by The Dartmouth Review.
Taking this night off from traditional partying and socializing is a way to say that this issue is grave, and that on this symbolic night of the Take Back the Night March and the end of the Week of Action, considering the violence that has happened and that we are fighting to prevent, it is too grave a time to be operating as usual in our social spaces without
We want to emphasize that this initiative is centered around supporting and validating survivors, rather than chastising or blaming any social spaces or groups for violence. Acknowledging a history of harm is an act in solidarity, and a display of support for sexual violence prevention efforts, rather than an admission of guilt, shame or blame. We also encourage participating groups to send a message to campus notifying that their space will be closed on this date and explaining why your group is participating in this act of solidarity. We also ask that you directly encourage and invite other groups to participate in this Night of Solidarity. We appreciate any and all forms of participation, which would contribute to shifting campus culture to one that is intolerant of sexual violence, and one that wholeheartedly supports survivors. Sincerely, A coalition of students Paulina Calcaterra Lex Kang Olivia Audsley Maggie Flaherty
The Dartmouth Review
Monday – April 9, 2018
9
FEATURES
Inaccuracies in the Gun Control Debate
DAVID HOGG One of the survivors of the Parkland, Florida shooting
Josh Kauderer Executive Editor
> CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6
Yet when Hogg was asked to wear a clear backpack to prevent possible future harm to children, his aggressive rhetoric made a sudden about-face. “It’s unnecessary, it’s embarrassing for a lot of the students, and it makes them feel isolated and separated from the rest of American school culture where they’re having essentially their First Amendment rights infringed upon because they can’t
Mr. Jelsma is a junior at the College and contributer to The Dartmouth Review.
freely wear whatever backpack they want regardless of what it is.” While their effectiveness is debatable, the clear backpacks are a measure obviously targeted at the Parkland shooter, who carried his ammunition in a black bag and had previously brought a handgun to school in a backpack. Hogg, who so virulently attacked law-abiding gun owners for not wanting to limit their own right to self-defense, is not willing to limit his fashion sense to make his own school safer. Obviously, gun control and clear backpacks are vastly different infringements on personal liberties, but the gun con-
Is Pong a Date?
trol movement needs to address its own moral inconsistencies before going after the morality of gun ownership. As their response to the new school regulations show, Parkland students less prominent than Hogg have also been more willing to take away rights from others than to change anything about themselves. Kal Koerber, speaking about the increased police presence at MSD after the shooting, said, “Every day, students lose more and more freedoms at MSD …. It is terrible to see our school lose control over the protection of their students and their families.” These words could equally be applied to gun owners, who the student-activists are happy to divest of their freedom to own firearms and their ability to defend themselves and their loved ones. Isabelle Robinson, another student, described the new measures: “It’s like putting into place all these rules that wouldn’t have changed anything.” Her words exactly mirror the sentiment of many gun owners about the effectiveness of gun control. Anti-gun activists wonder why gun owners are unwilling to accept “common sense” gun control, but when faced with similar types of restrictions themselves, they have been equally intractable. On a national level, anti-Second-Amendment groups have pilloried the NRA as an
evil organization while cultivating a very similar establishment in their own backyard, called Everytown for Gun Safety. Everytown was behind the organization and advertisement of March for Our Lives, and their monetary support was the reason it became a national movement. Everytown and the NRA are analogous organizations with opposite views on the gun issue: both are non-profits with a political focus. The NRA has become a more partisan organization in recent years, but Everytown, which has supported exclusively Democratic candidates, is no better. And while the NRA may have committed missteps, they are not alone in that regard. Everytown was the source of the false quote that Parkland was the “18th school shooting of the year.” They reached this number by counting incidents such as a Massachusetts man’s suicide in the parking lot of a closed school as a “school shooting.” Time Magazine, a more neutral source, estimated the number of school shootings this year at four. Finally, Everytown is influenced by big donors just as much as the NRA. Everytown was founded by a single $50 million donation from Michael Bloomberg. Everytown spent $37 million in 2014, with 100,000 donors, with an average donation working out to $370. The NRA claims that their average donation is
around $35. So either Everytown was supported by donors who were 10 times more willing to part with their money, which is unlikely, or they received some very large individual donations to increase their average. One of the most common criticisms leveled at the NRA is that they allow gun manufacturers to have too much influence via large donations. But according to the numbers, Everytown is actually more susceptible to this type of leverage. Gun control activists do not seem to see the hypocrisy of attacking the NRA while they have their own identical counterpart backing their gun control efforts. The media has made out the gun control movement to have the moral high ground and attacked gun owners as unwilling to make common-sense compromises. But anti-gun activists tend to be uneducated about guns, while their leadership is inexcusably and willfully ignorant about the things they are trying to ban. It is hard to make compromises with people who don’t make well-informed demands. In addition, many grassroots gun control advocates have attacked gun owners as self-centered, but have been reluctant to make any sacrifices towards preventing future shootings that impact their own lives. The anti-gun movement needs to get educated about the issue at hand and take time to under-
Virgins of the Review
want it to turn it into a date. The paramount question before you is this: to play or not to play? Once again this depends on you. You, not merely as a pong player, but truly as a person, fall into one of three categories: fabulous, mediocre, or absolute trash. For the fabulous, pong may very well work in your favor. Use your skills to bolster your partner’s confidence, and to help them relax and enjoy the game. You can afford to be goofy, and spend time flirting, without the constant fear of being silver-treed hanging over your head. However, if the feral competitive attitude that you honed during your days on the squash courts at Andover gets the better of you, then you are in grave trouble. Wednesday night pong in Alpha Chi is not halfcup on half-cup in the Master’s final, so reign it the hell in. No partner — male, female, or otherwise identifying — wants to be screamed at. If you feel that urge about to overtake you, turn your mind to your true mantra for the evening: “I would like to get laid, I would like to get laid, I would like to get laid.” For the mediocre, pong is
really what you make of it. Do not pretend to be fabulous, as it will quickly be obvious to your partner that you are anything but. This will only make them wonder in advance what other activities you might not be so fabulous at, and it is really better for you that they come to that realization at the end of your encounter as opposed to at the beginning. Instead, downplay your abilities at all costs. Let them “teach” you, and show them what a “fast and attentive” learner your little Ivy League self is. Remember that kid who went to boarding school “just outside of Paris” for three years but was still in your French 1 class? Yeah, that’s basically what you are going for here. For the trash, pong will never, ever help you. You are not a fast learner, but at least learn this: even if your partner was hopelessly in love with you going into to the game, the only thing they are going to be at the end is hopelessly wasted. But you enjoy pong you say? You want to be a part of the Dartmouth social scene? That’s great. Enjoy celibacy. It makes great conservatives; trust us.
The Masthead Editor’s Note: This article is intended to be satirical. Is pong a date? Excellent dating advice will tell you that for any question you might have, the answer will depend on the person you are pursuing. This is not excellent dating advice. We are going to tell you that for any question you ask, the answer will depend on you. So let’s talk about you. If you are reading this, it’s reasonably safe to assume that you would like pong to be a date. Sweet, sweet child — pong is not a date. Pong, however, can lead to a date — or, at the very least, the kind of backroom rendezvous that we have tacitly conceded is now considered “a date.” If it is this kind of experience that you are seeking, be it because you have a true and unexplainable infatuation with the object of your desire, or rather just that your sexual frustration has reached such a degree that it is now clinically diagnosable, we — the virgins of the Dartmouth Review — are here to help. So yes, back to you. You are about to play pong, and you
10 Monday – April 9, 2018
The Dartmouth Review
FEATURES
#NeverAgain and Authentic Activism
ROBERT FROST STATUE
Scotch M. Cara
Contributor
Editor’s Note: These are the thoughts, opinions, and arguments of Scotch M. Cara and as such do not necessarily represent those of this paper. Part of the value of modern democracy is the notion that participation in its process is separate from facts about any person’s beliefs. If all voices matter, then all voices ought to be valued. However, with this wonder comes a worry— if all voices are supposed to be valued for the sole reason that they represent people’s respective, separate beliefs, then what happens when people speak but fail to voice their opinions? Even more troublesome, what happens when the people who advocate for policy changes are uninformed? On February 14, 2018, in Parkland, Florida, a gunman killed seventeen students and wounded seventeen more at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. This mass shooting is by no means the first school massacre to take place. It is by no means the deadliest. However, this tragedy sparked unprecedented activism and a series of well-organized protests throughout the United States. Many people attribute the success of the #NeverAgain movement to its eloquent, impassioned organizers— the survivors of the Stoneman Douglas shootings. For the majority of these young activists, their motives are clear, rational, and admirable— they are Ms. Cara is a student at the College and a fan of single malts, though only of either the highest caliber or the lowest.
Image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons students whose sense of safety in ticipate in a walkout to honor the their place of education has been students who were murdered at taken violently from them and are Stoneman Douglas to show his angry about the lack of action on support for advocating for polibehalf of the politicians who are cy change. His mother asked him supposed to represent them. These about what the walkout was adstudents have spent time learning vocating for. He didn’t have an about the intricacies of gun con- answer. His mother asked him if trol and are seeking to push for he had read up on the recent gun what many consider to be neces- control debate. He just looked sary reasonable policy change. at her with a confused look. His However, there exists a small mother’s response was to tell him subset of students who participate that he was not allowed to particiin rallies, walkouts, and protests pate in the walkout until he under-
it’s something you’re supposed to do because you care about it. When activism becomes trendy, it loses its purpose. Activism isn’t activism unless its aim is to create and drive meaningful, lasting change. And as cliché as it is, change comes from within. Social movements do gain some of their power through numbers, but those numbers are meaningless if supporters cannot advocate for their cause. Furthermore, a lack of knowledge about activism disincentivizes the movement to become nuanced and mature.
Here, it may be worth acknowledging that some of the readers of The Review might largely disagree with the policy changes proposed by the #NeverAgain movement. But I strongly believe that all of you loyal readers believe in respect and honor.
who distinguish themselves from their peers not by how exceptional they are, but rather by their flippancy regarding the activism that they affiliate themselves with. This is not a problem unique to these protests. Modern activism—regardless of its goals, political affiliation, or scope—incentivizes and, to a certain extent, depends on people to bandwagon. While of course all movements seek to attract supporters, this form of bandwagoning makes activism merely a trend rather than an authentic movement that people support after being educated on its cause. A short story regarding a walkout in support of Stoneman Douglas and in memory of its seventeen fallen students may illustrate this: A mother posted on Facebook about a dinner conversation that she had with her son. As a student at a high school near Parkland, he was understandably upset about the shooting. He wanted to par-
stood what he was walking out for. It is likely that the large majority of students at this walkout were impassioned and well-educated. But this student was not. For him to join a movement without knowing why he was supporting it— for him to disrespect a movement by joining it just because his friends were involved or he wanted to miss class—is shocking and upsetting. This student is not the only person to ever join a movement for an insufficient reason. Adults check in on Facebook with special location settings, and then promptly forget about the Dakota Access Pipeline. People tweet with specific hashtags, and then have difficulty remembering what they even tweeted. Wearing a Che Guevara shirt that you paid $75 for and not understanding the irony shows your ignorance rather than a yearning for social justice. Advocating for political change isn’t supposed to be something you do because it’s convenient—
When only certain members of a movement understand it, and other members are unaware of the context for the movement, inevitably there will be a lack of critical discussion about how to improve the impact of the movement. Because most activism takes time to be effective, movements without self-criticism and a genuinely invested base can stagnate as individuals become disinterested. If an activist’s cause is simply trendy rather than well-organized and supported by an authentic, well-educated constituency, then it is doomed to the end of all merely trendy movements— obscurity. Another odd harm that can result from bandwagon activists is that these individuals contribute to polarization. Ruled by a fervent support of the single-issue that they affiliate themselves with, these people fuel the problem of political polarization. They vote along their ill-educated lines, and politicians accordingly pander.
Complex social issues both need and deserve nuanced solutions. If there is incentive for anyone to simplify these issues, then these simplifiers perform a disservice to them. Dialogue is undoubtedly important, and movements have an obligation to educate their followers. Democracy is defined by votes and voices. But it should be more than that. The voices we hear should be well-educated and genuine. Because democracy without real representation is a pale excuse for the tyranny of the loudest. The #NeverAgain movement is the first activist movement in a long time that has the ability to alter gun control policy in the United States. It is the first movement in a long time that has shaken the NRA to the point where the NRA has altered its advertising to combat its strength. After rallying in Tallahassee, the Florida Legislature passed a bill titled the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act— Florida’s first piece of gun control legislation in thirty years. #NeverAgain should not be defined by people who don’t understand the intricacies of what the movement is advocating for. Here, it may be worth acknowledging that some of the readers of The Review might largely disagree with the policy changes proposed by the #NeverAgain movement. But I strongly believe that all of you loyal readers believe in respect and honor. You believe in hard work. You believe in grit. That is what this article is about. The seventeen students who were murdered deserve better than to be exploited by students trying to build their college applications or appear “woke” to their friends— they deserve to be honored and mourned. They deserve to be respected. Their injured and grieving peers deserve to be supported by people who believe in their movement on its own merit. Noble causes deserve to be learned about, and activists have an obligation to educate others about their movements. These bandwagoners may serve the purpose of holding signs and showing support. But without learning about the meaning and context of what their signs say, they do not support the movement. They do not respect the fallen. They do not honor the movement or themselves. The organizers and ardent, authentic supporters of #NeverAgain have utilized their Constitutionally protected right to protest, and have worked hard for a cause that they believe in. And that level of strength in the wake of tragedy is deserving of respect regardless of whether you agree with what the movement is about. To my dear bandwagoner— It’s not cool for you to support a movement you don’t understand. It’s not “woke” if you’re not awake and aware of what you’re advocating for. I implore you to do better in the name of decency.
The Dartmouth Review
Monday – April 9, 2018 11
FEATURES
No College Expansion
Josh Kauderer
Executive Editor
> CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 This spate of departures from the highest echelon of the Dartmouth administration leaves us wondering, who’s next? Perhaps the great administrative boot will soon target the other leaders of the failed Task Force on Enrollment Expansion. The co-chair of the Task Force on Enrollment Expansion was Elizabeth Smith, appointed Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences last June, the second choice after N. Bruce Duthu, widely accused of anti-Semitism, for the role. Dean Smith’s novelty most likely gives her some job security and from all noticeable signs, she played second fiddle to Dean Biron in leading the ill-fated Task Force. Dean Mr. Kauderer is a junior at the College and an executive editor at The Dartmouth Review.
Smith’s academic background is in molecular biology, a field generally not prone to political controversy, so it is unlikely that she has any thesis writings that will come back to haunt her. Only time will tell if she will emerge as an eager accomplice of President Hanlon’s plot against Dartmouth. The other members of the Task Force on Enrollment Expansion were the following: economics professor James Feyrer, biology professor Mark McPeek, religion professor Reiko Ohnuma, mathematics professor Scott Pauls, comparative literature, French professor Andrea Tarnowski, and Trustee Dave Hodgson ’78. It’s difficult to imagine that the failure of the Task Force would be a career-ending event for a professor, so they hardly having anything to fear, at least because of this failure. Finally, President Hanlon himself is seen by many on
campus as the center of what seems like a conspiracy to destroy Dartmouth’s uniqueness. There is a growing perception among students and faculty that Hanlon himself may not be staying in his job much longer. Whether this perception represents reality is difficult know, but no one doubts that Hanlon has been set back considerably. The past few months have undoubtedly seen decisive defeats for President Hanlon’s vision of Dartmouth. This vision of larger, unhappier, stricter college contrasts with the fond memories of alumni and the hopes of current undergraduates. The expansion plan, including the College Park proposal, was the most obviously egregious and existential threat to the College in recent memory, and so we must take heart in its defeat. However, we must also remain vigilant to those small, less visible damages to the College
that are being incurred each and every day by a misguided if not malicious administration. The steps taken in recent months have eroded the very institutions and attributes that have allowed Dartmouth attain worldwide prominence in higher education The recent resignation of Professor Stephen Brooks from his position as chair of the Committee on the Faculty in protest of actions by President Hanlon serves to highlight these small yet compounding abuses by the administration. Professor Brooks specifically conflicted with the growing restrictions on faculty governance and independence by the Hanlon administration. As we’ve seen with Provost Dever and Dean Biron, there is an increasing drive in the administration to monopolize authority over all aspects of life at the College. The independence afforded to the College’s faculty have en-
abled Dartmouth to establish itself as a national leader in undergraduate teaching. Little sense appears in changing a philosophy which has not only educated so many so well but also enhanced Dartmouth’s national reputation. Then again, little sense appears in many of the executive decisions and policy changes advocated by the present regime. Dartmouth College must turn back from the course it is on or risk nay guarantee the destruction of its uniqueness, personality, and legacy. It is about time for the sons (and daughters) of Old Dartmouth to reclaim their college and the current students to demand a new path for the College. If action is not taken and soon, New Dartmouth will be unrecognizable, both culturally and physically. Even as Phil Hanlon schemes, this paper hopes that such an occurrence never comes to pass.
Patriarchy: The Wheelock House
THE OLD WHEELOCK HOUSE A true Dartmouth landmark
Rachel Gambee
Associate Editor Editor’s Note: This article is part of a new series on buildings throughout campus and the men for whom they are named. The series is named ironically for the patriarchical society that created those who donated the buildings. Situated on West Wheelock Ms. Gambee is a freshman and associate editor at The Dartmouth Review.
Street, directly across from the Collis Center, the Wheelock House is the oldest standing building in Hanover. As the name would suggest, this stately white mansion was built for the College’s founder Eleazar Wheelock in 1773. Despite its size, the Wheelock house is not as grand as the presidential mansions on other college campuses, or even the mansion currently occupied by President Hanlon. In 1808,
Image courtesy of Dartblog one medical student, William Tully, aptly described the mansion as “neat, but not elegant.” Nevertheless, the Wheelock House was the first building in Hanover to be constructed with any sensibility of or focus on architectural style. It was certainly a substantial improvement upon the cabin that Wheelock had been housed in originally, which he personally described as “a hut of logs.” Upon the completion of the
mansion, this cabin was converted into servant quarters for the slaves that worked in Wheelock’s home. It was Wheelock’s wish to preserve this cabin as a historical landmark, but the cabin only lasted a dozen years after his death in 1779. The Wheelock House was originally constructed just off the Southeastern corner of the Green, where Reed Hall stands today. It was used as a presidential mansion through 1830 serving as a home to Presidents John Wheelock (‘71), William Allen, Bennett Tyler, and Nathan Lord. When the College wished to expand its academic buildings in 1838, it purchased the Wheelock House and then sold it with the caveat that the new owner would remove the house from its present location. Thus as Reed Hall was constructed in the Southeast corner of campus, the Wheelock House was dragged, fully intact, several hundred yards to its current location on West Wheelock Street. Hanover philanthropist, Emily Howe, lived in the house for the lion’s share of the second-half of the 19th century. In 1899, she donated the house to the town of Hanover as a library following the urging of her good friend Hiram Hitchcock. Emily hired a College architect to remodel the house, now the Howe Library from top to bottom. The external remodel incorporated styles from both Colonial and Victorian architecture, copying various elements that were common across New England at the time. On the interior,
the main floor which had become a duplex was integrated once again to allow for the more effective distribution of books. Following Emily’s death in 1912, the library was the beneficiary of her remaining fortune which was put towards adding a two-story brick annex to the back of the building. Eventually the town of Hanover moved the library from the Wheelock House to another location on East South Street, and the house was sold for commercial use. Through various commercial endeavors, most recently as a florist shop, the mansion was finally purchased by the Eleazar Wheelock Society in 2015. The Eleazar Wheelock Society, or EWS, is largely composed of Dartmouth alumni and aims to “create environments among students, faculty, and alumni that elevate reason, promote development of robust ethical value systems, stimulate constructive discussion among faiths, and share Christian perspectives” here at the College. Following their acquisition of the mansion, they funded a substantial renovation of the Wheelock house to make it a functional gathering space for students. Today, the Wheelock house is primarily used by various Christian groups on campus, especially the Dartmouth Christian Union and the Apologia, Dartmouth’s Journal of Christian thought. Thus now, almost 250 years after its construction, The Wheelock house as reemerged a vibrant space on campus that is used and loved by Dartmouth students.
12 Monday – April 9, 2017
The Dartmouth Review
THE LAST WORD GORDON HAFF’S
COMPILED BY ATTICUS WEYLAND
“Don’t give up the ship.”
-Juan Carlos
“Nothing can bring a real sense of security into the home except true love.” -Billy Graham “Being part of a fraternity has given me the foundation for everything I do in my career from the loyalty to the determination; it laid the foundation for everything I’ve been able to enjoy. I’m heavily involved with Omega Psi Phi.” -Terrence J “People decided that I was the frat guy, even though I’ve never been inside a fraternity, or the guy who beat them up at school, even though that wasn’t me at all.” -Ben Affleck “The home is the chief school of human virtues.” -William Ellery Channing “He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe “When I go home, its an easy way to be grounded. You learn to realize what truly matters.” -Tony Stewart “I saw ‘Animal House’ in the theater the night before I left for college. And for better or worse, it made an impression. Within a week, I was in a fraternity myself.” -Neil Flynn
“How good and pleasant it is for brothers & sisters to sit together.” –Psalm 113 “Where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.” -Oliver Wendell Holmes “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” –Robert Frost “The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home.” -Confucius
“Nostalgia is a file that removes the rough edges from the good old days.” -Doug Larson
“Home is the place we love best and grumble the most.” -Billy Sunday
“For a community to be whole and healthy, it must be based on people’s love and concern for each other.” -Millard Fuller
“Home is where one starts from”
- T. S. Eliot
“A girl phoned me the other day and said... ‘Come on over, there’s nobody home.’ I went over. Nobody was home.” -Rodney Dangerfield “When memories fade, can one ever really return home?” -Floyd Skloot “I think anybody who goes away finds you appreciate home more when you return.” - Yo-Yo Ma
“You can never go home again, but the truth is you can never leave home, so it’s all right.” -Maya Angelou “Every traveler has a home of his own, and he learns to appreciate it the more from his wandering.” -Charles Dickens “In reality he was not returned, but brought” -Julio Cortazar “I’m gonna touch the fire when I’m lit”
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The D-Lite Ingredients
1.5 oz Grey Goose 4.5 oz cranberry cocktail Ice Garnish with lime
It’s a vodka cranberry… Do you really need instructions? *sigh*
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.
“Every parting is a form of death, as every reunion is a type of heaven.” -Tyron Edwards “When it comes to anything that’s social, whether it’s your family, your school, your community, your business or your country, winning is a team sport.” -Bill Clinton
BARRETT’S MIXOLOGY
• • • •
“Homecoming means coming home to what is in your heart.” -Author Unkown
Take a cup. Take some ice. Put the ice in the cup. Take some vodka. Wait? Are you really using Grey Goose for this? Take out a jigger. Measure out EXACTLY 1.5oz of your fancy-ass vodka. Pour vodka into cup with ice in it. Take some cranberry juice. Wait? You’re using cranberry cocktail? Seriously? Okay… I guess. Measure out EXACTLY 4.5oz of your dumb sugar water. Pour cranberry cocktail into cup with ice and vodka in it. Take out a lime wedge Put lime wedge on glass. Take out a straw Put straw in glass Drink your shame.
— Scotch Cara
-Dartmouth ’22