The Dartmouth 04/14/16

VOL. CLXXIII NO.60

SUNNY

THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2016

HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE

Litwin announced as new Tucker dean

THE BOX IS BACK IN TOWN

HIGH 56 LOW 27

By MEGAN CLYNE

The Dartmouth Staff

KATE HERRINGTON/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

ARTS

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: IHIONU ’17 PAGE 12

The Box Foodtruck returns to campus as spring weather approaches.

Frankel to give Osher lecture B y RAUL RODRIGUEZ The Dartmouth

OPINION

PEREZ: NO THANKS, MOM AND DAD PAGE 6

CHIN: DO BETTER , YIK YAK PAGE 6

READ US ON

DARTBEAT FLOWCHART: WHERE SHOULD YOU EAT? ‘SPACE JAM’: A MUSICAL MASTERPIECE FOLLOW US ON

TWITTER @thedartmouth COPYRIGHT © 2016 THE DARTMOUTH, INC.

South African-born author Neville Frankel ’71 will be speaking at the College today, discussing his experience living under apartheid. His talk will contextualize South Africa’s current political turmoil

under President Jacob Zuma.

The lecture is hosted by the Osher Lifelong Lear ning Institute at Dartmouth, a non-profit organization stationed in the Upper Valley that offers a spectrum of courses for area residents.

Frankel said that his

Small courses face cancellation

By CARTER BRACE

The Dartmouth Staff

Last May, the five faculty members on the ad-hoc committee on grading practices and grade inflation proposed eliminating the Registrar’s minimum fivestudent enrollment for courses in order to counteract the College’s swelling course medians. The consequences of having a course cancelled and being forced to teach in a later term, they argued,

motivated faculty to lower rigor to make sure enrollments are sufficient.

Yet the administration has upheld the policy, reserving the right to cancel courses that fail to meet the five-student minimum. Several professors interviewed expressed concerns about keeping this policy in place, citing the value of small seminar classes and the issues caused by the policy, such as grade inflation SEE ENROLLMENT PAGE 10

passion for writing can be traced back to his undergraduate years at Dartmouth. He said that he always had a passion for writing and literature, but that it was his Dartmouth e x p e r i e n c e, w r i t i n g requirements included, SEE FRANKEL PAGE 8

Rabbi Daveen Litwin has been named the inaugural dean and chaplain of the William Jewett Tucker Center for Spiritual Life vice provost for student affairs Inge-Lise Ameer announced on Tuesday.

In 2014 the College’s Board of Trustees opted to split the former Tucker Foundation into the William Jewett Tucker Center for Spiritual Life, which emphasizes religion and spirituality, and the Dartmouth Center for Service, which focuses on volunteering and outreach. Previously, the Tucker Foundation’s work had encompassed both spirituality and service.

Currently, Theresa Ellis ’97 serves as the director of the Dartmouth Center for Service, and Nancy Vogele ’85 is the interim director of religious and spiritual life.

Litwin is set to take up her post this coming August. She is currently in the process of preparing to leave her current position as chaplain for the Claremont University

Consortium and was not available for a phone interview.

In her new role, Litwin will work with more than 20 faith-based organizations on campus in addition to the United Campus ministers.

Ameer appointed a sevenmember search committee composed of alumni, faculty, staff and students to select the inaugural dean and chaplain of the Tucker Center. The selection process took approximately seven months, she said, during that time Vogele served as interim dean.

Ameer expressed gratitude for Vogele’s work, adding that her contributions to the Tucker Center were phenomenal.

For mer Tucker Center assistant Eliza Rockefeller ’17 has known Vogele since her freshmen year of College.

Vogele is very committed to social justice and is an admirable figure in the campus community, Rockefeller said.

“Nancy is a very caring and compassionate person who has an ability to relate to SEE LITWIN PAGE 9

McMahon wins Guggenheim

By TIANHANG DONG The Dartmouth

Last week, history professor Darrin McMahon was awarded a 2016 Guggenheim Fellowship Award. A Guggenheim Fellowship is an award for scholars in the middle of their careers who have demonstrated exceptional capability in their field. This year, McMahon was selected from a pool of over 3,000 candidates to be one of 178 fellows. After receiving his doctorate at Yale University, he became a professor at Florida State University and joined Dartmouth in 2014.

A scholar of the French Revolu-

tion and European Enlightenment, he is the author and editor of the award-winning book “Happiness: A History” (2006), which has been translated into 12 languages and honored as one the “Best Books of the Year 2006” by The New York Times. In 2013, he also finished a book on the history of genius notions, titled “Divine Fury: A History of Genius.” His writings are frequently praised by many publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Literary Review and The Wall Street Journal. The Dartmouth sat down with professor McMahon

after the announcement of the awards to discuss this prize, his current projects and his advice for students.

What motivated you to apply for the Guggenheim Awards in the first place?

What application material did you submit to compete with other also really outstanding fellows in your area?

DM: I have applied once before, and I didn’t get it. We all know it’s an extraordinarily prestigious SEE Q&A PAGE 3

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

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DAILY DEBRIEFING Computer science professor Wojciech Jarosz and his research team have proposed a computerized spray painting technique that can reproduce photographs and larger murals, Science Daily reported. The computer-aided system uses an “smart” spray paint can system and recognizes the desired image and can reproduce it in paint form. Jarosz said that the technique allows computer vision methods and graphics to be brought into the physical world and still maintain the tangible look and feel of paint. The project included researchers from Dartmouth, Columbia University, Disney Research Zurich and ETH Zurich.

Tom Morrison, a doctoral student at the College in ecology and evolutionary biology, has employed a unique wildlife identification technology to study the migration patterns of African wildebeest. Morrison’s findings, published in the journal Biological Conservation, used the “Wild-ID” algorithmic photo-identification system, developed by Dartmouth scientists, to show that the number of migration routes and the population size of wildebeest have declined in the Tanzanian ecosystem. The tool is a cheaper, more effective and more efficient method of tracking and studying large migratory animals.

Geisel School of Medicine professor Steve Woloshin co-authored a research letter published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showing that over half of nearly 700 physicians incorrectly believed that strong evidence is required for a new drug to be designated as a “breakthrough,” even though only preliminary evidence is required per FDA regulations, Stat News reported. The study consisted of 692 questionnaires and showed that doctors and patients may make decisions about drug use based on this language, revealing a potentially limited knowledge of FDA designations.

- COMPILED BY PRIYA RAMAIAH

CORRECTIONS We welcome corrections. If you believe there is a factual error in a story, please email editor@thedartmouth.com.

The April 11 article, “Rhymefest visits campus to discuss ‘In My Father’s House’,” stated that Smith participated in a “lunch and learn” hosted by the Tucker Center. This event was, in fact, hosted by the Center for Service.

THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2016

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2016

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McMahon discusses current and future research FROM Q&A PAGE 1

award and, to people in humanities, it is something aspire to. The award is based on your past works and what you are thinking about in the future. I submitted my major books to date and the project I submitted for going forward is a history of lighting practices, the illumination in the age of Enlightenment. I am interested in the connection between public lighting, which happened for the first time in the 18th century, and the Enlightenment as a broader cultural and intellectual movement. That is the main project. I am also working on the history of the idea of equality. These are what I submitted as my application.

How do you find the literal lighting technology connected to the Enlightenment movement?

DM: It’s a complicated idea, but one important thing is that lighting practices alert people to the presence of light and there is a metaphor of light reflected by the change in lighting practices. There is also a great scientific interest in light itself as an object of inquiry, but also in light as a practical problem. Scientists of

the Enlightenment get interested in how to light cities. This also permits things like sociability: people can come out at night like never before, which really changed the nature of Western civilization. People used to go to bed when the sun goes down, but they are staying up later and later in the 18th century.

What do you think this research would reveal?

DM: I was trained as an 18th century scholar, especially the history of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment always interested me — in fact, my first book was on opposition of the Enlightenment, my second book was on history of happiness and my third book was on the history of genius, and happiness and genius are all key Enlightenment notions that come to flourish in the 18th century. There’s a lot debate about what the Enlightenment was, how long has it extended.

The Enlightenment almost becomes synonymous to the 18th century culture as a whole. And I think we have gone too far in that direction. I want to bring in some ways Enlightenment back to basics. It stuck me that in some level

KATE HERRINGTON/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Professor Darrin McMahon is one of the recepients of the 2016 Guggenhiem Fellowship Award.

the Enlightenment was fundamentally concerned with lights, and there was not too much work about lighting in the 18th century. It is really revolutionary because this is the first time in human history that people can light up their cities. It changed ways in which people live, socialize, work, sleep.

Do you feel Dartmouth is sup-

portive of your work?

DM: Very much so. I mean, hugely.

My colleague and the administration have been supportive in any possible way. One of the wonderful things about Dartmouth is that faculties have “R” term, in which we are in residence but not actually teaching. That provides a block of time, which was just wonderful.

Students are also fantastic — they always keep me on my toes and motivate me to do some researches that I will bring to the class and share with them.

You mean the questions of students also inspired you?

DM: Sure, students always inspire me with their questions. I am teaching a firstyear seminar on the Enlightenment. It’s wonderful to be able to take current work into the classrooms because you are not teaching things you have worked on for a long time, but things you are actively working on. It allows you to learn and teach at the same time. To me, it is one of the best teaching experiences when I have engaged myself in the process.

If you were asked to recommend one of your books to all Dartmouth students, which one would you choose?

DM: It would be my happiness book, which is a book I am using now in a class I teach. It serves students particularly well because students are in the process of trying to figure out what are they going to do in life, whom are they going to do it with, where are they going to live and so on. These are major choices that will have an impact on students’ happiness, and it helps to have some exposure to what great minds have thought about happiness over the years. This book provides a history of changing notions of happiness and allows student to put their own thoughts and concerns in the context of how other people thought about it over time.

Do you have any plans on how to utilize the grant funds that come with the Guggenheim Award?

DM: I probably would take the year after next year off and work intensely on the light project and also on the history of equalities. I would spend the entire year researching, writing and making progress.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS

THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2016

DARTMOUTHEVENTS TODAY

4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

“An Investigator’s Perspective on Food & Animal Public Policy,” by Sonia Faruqi ’07, Room 003, Rockefeller Center

5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

“From Israel to Iraq: Combining Memoir and Journalism in Comics,” Kemeny Hall Room 008

7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

“The Hangman,” Martin McDonagh’s black comedy play, Loew Auditorium, Black Family Visual Arts Center

TOMORROW All Day

“Daoist Ritual and Practice,” curated by professor Gil Raz, Berry Main Street, Baker-Berry Library

10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

“Out of the Archive: Photography, Patrimony, and Performance in Latin America,” Class of 1930 Room, Rockefeller Center

7:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.

“Race” (2016), a biopic about track and field legend Jesse Owens, Loew Auditorium, Black Family Visual Arts Center

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THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2016

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

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THE DARTMOUTH OPINION

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THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2016

SENIOR STAFF COLUMNIST SARAH PEREZ ’17

STAFF COLUMNIST CLARA CHIN ’19

No Thanks, Mom and Dad

Do Better, Yik Yak

Career coaching is a disservice to millennials

Last week, The New York Times ran an article titled “Career Coaching for the Playdate Generation.” The piece, written by Laura Pappano of the Wellesley College Center for Women, discussed yet another pitfall of the so-called millennial generation. As a millennial who will soon be entering the workforce full-time, I couldn’t help but read on. For a number of reasons, I found the article a little more than disconcerting.

In her piece, Pappano describes an emerging cottage industry of career coaching services for soon-to-be college graduates. According to her, these services are the next logical step for a generation that has received inordinate levels of handholding since childhood — from one-onone athletic trainers to individual college mentors and standardized test tutors. Pappano then recounts the story of Jonathan Harsh, a senior majoring in political science at Beloit College in Wisconsin. Like many other 20-somethings, Harsh was unsure of where his career would take him. He considered trying his hand at becoming a chemist, biologist, writer, politician and, at one point, an astronaut.

Cue Harsh’s parents. Deeply concerned by their son’s indecisiveness, they immediately stepped in to offer some additional “guidance.”

Mr. and Mrs. Harsh contacted Jody Michael Associates, a Chicago- and Atlanta-based firm dedicated to providing “targeted professional and personal guidance.” To the tune of $4,995, a Jody Michael Associate would walk their son through an elaborate “career discovery process.” According to Pappano, the associate helped Harsh “understand his values,” “unearth his interests” and “uncover his talents and tendencies.” On the whole, the Harsh family was satisfied with the service they received from Jody Michael Associates — and they are not alone.

The rise of firms like Jody Michael Associates is worrisome in and of itself. When parents of legal adults clamor to fork over $5,000 for a “career discovery process,” it’s safe to say that something just isn’t right. Although such a level of handholding might be appropriate on a Little League baseball diamond, it has absolutely no place in a work environment. Hiring a coach to

master a layup in basketball is entirely different than hiring a “job nanny” to revise a resume. By simply throwing money at a perceived problem and contracting yet another coach, families like the Harshes’ are feeding a vicious cycle. Until this approach changes, millennials will continue to be seen as a generation failing to launch while free riding on their parents’ dime and crashing on the family couch.

The Harsh family and others who have invested so heavily in “career discovery” need to understand the bottom line — entering the work force for the first time isn’t supposed to be an easy or carefree endeavor. It’s imperfect, non-linear and sometimes even acutely stressful.

While Mr. and Mrs. Harsh might think they are doing their son a great service by sparing him this discomfort, the opposite could not be more true.

Although the younger Harsh might suffer through fewer sleepless nights or sweat-inducing corporate case interviews in the present, a closely guided job search won’t do him any favors later on. Becoming increasingly adverse to all kinds of struggle, he will likely be ill equipped to confront obstacles in other areas of his life. After all, if landing a first job was so easy, who’s to say that the rest of life won’t be the same? To quote my mom and dad, Harsh will continue to suffer from chronic underdevelopment of the “struggle muscle.”

Here at Dartmouth, we are given a once in a lifetime opportunity not only to discover what we are passionate about, but also how to turn it into a career. Unfortunately, the answers to these questions aren’t for sale, as firms like Jody Michael Associates would lead us to believe.

They certainly can’t be bought or sold. Instead, it seems to me that they are products of a much more organic process. It is on us to maximize the opportunities we’ve been given in order to find our calling. While this might require quite a bit of legwork, the result will undoubtedly be more gratifying than if we had let someone else do it. So for the “playdate generation,” when it comes to career handholding it’s best to say, “Thanks, but no thanks, Mom and Dad.”

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SUBMISSIONS: We welcome letters and guest columns. All submissions must include the author’s name and affiliation with Dartmouth College, and should not exceed 250 words for letters or 700 words for columns. The Dartmouth reserves the right to edit all material before publication. All material submitted becomes property of The Dartmouth. Please email submissions to editor@thedartmouth.com.

Yik Yak comments, though trivial, are indicators of real racial tension Less than a week ago, Dartmouth’s chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People launched the #DoBetterDartmouth campaign, calling for increased inclusivity and diversity education.

Since then, critics of the movement have been quick to assert that the racist online comments that the movement decries should not be taken so seriously. Granted, many people who post racist comments online may be so-called internet trolls, and the issue of rude online comments may not be as salient or as potentially dangerous as other social or political problems concerning race. But who’s to say that all the issues — the big and the small — are not interconnected? Though some might view the comments as simply rude but innocuous, this behavior seems to parallel what some call “colorblindness” — or the dismissal of harmful microaggressions and the failure to recognize the importance of race in social problems in America.

If you have been outside of your room in the last week, then odds are that you are already aware of the #DoBetterDartmouth movement. Posters and flyers line the walls in the Collis center, the Class of 1953 Commons, Novack Café, and a number of academic buildings on campus calling for Dartmouth to, as implied in the movement’s name, do better.

The problem of racial bullying is marginalized compared to other forms of bullying onscreen, and many of these posters bring attention to this issue by highlighting the racist comments that pervade social media websites, specifically on the anonymous posting app known as Yik Yak. Both general cyberbullying and in-person bullying are usually taken seriously. I remember my elementary school class had to attend a mandatory session focused on the issue, so bullying and mean jokes are clearly treated with harsh reprimands. So why shouldn’t racist remarks online be treated the same way?

Regardless of how it is carried out, any form of bullying offends the group or person in question. By doing nothing to address bullying, a message is sent to online aggressors that their behavior is acceptable, thereby perpetuating these harmful behaviors. Just because the statements are online or supposedly said in jest should not change the gravity of the matter.

Unsurprisingly, the posters around campus highlighting how hurtful these racist Yik Yak posts are have been met with mixed reviews.

While some students appreciate their peers’ pointing out incidences of racism, others question the effectiveness or purpose of the movement. Most frequently, I hear critics dismiss the online perpetrators as mere internet trolls trying to create a stir while accusing those who take offense as being too sensitive. After all, there are bigger issues to worry about — racial profiling, police brutality and the broken criminal justice system, just to name a few.

While it is true that there are more serious issues, the dismissive nature of such criticism is all too familiar. Not only is it an excuse for continued online racism here at Dartmouth and beyond, the critics’ argument is also a justification for real-life, verbal microaggressions without the safety of hiding

behind a screen. Microaggressions are brief, everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages to certain individuals because of their group membership. Subtle insults, the use of derogatory racial terms and insensitive jokes are just some forms of microaggression.

In everyday conversations, I have noticed that a common response to microaggressions is to tell the victims not to take the insults seriously. These verbal insults are of the same nature as those frequenting the internet and, unfortunately, those offended by such insults are often disregarded. The tendency to find such comments inconsequential legitimizes them while ignoring the real problems faced by people of color. Dismissing microagressions of any kind, whether offline or online, takes the focus away from racial discrimination and mistakenly places it on an apparent failure on the part of the victims. In reality, these seemingly meaningless comments are intertwined with the “bigger issues.” By tolerating racist comments online, we create an environment hostile to social change and permissive of racism — big and small.

Perhaps one racist comment alone may be insignificant, but online racial discrimination has become a common occurrence. It sheds light on the broader political and social climate.

Although they are certainly not as harmful as such issues as police brutality or racial discrimination in the job market, anonymous racial comments certainly contribute to an environment in which racism is tolerated, and thereby perpetuate the prevalence of larger issues.

The internet reflects, and perhaps even magnifies, many aspects of society — Spotify trends indicate what music is popular, Tumblr reveals the political preferences of young adults and, unfortunately, Yik Yak highlights the ever-present racism that dilutes daily conversations. Though most people will not say anything as racist and hurtful as what is posted on Yik Yak, perhaps these comments illustrate not random instances of racism, as some people suggest, but, rather, illuminate what people truly think and refrain from saying.

Perhaps nothing can really be done at this point to stop racist posts. If anything, Yik Yak is an indicator of the racial tension that still exists in America. The disregard of online racism is reminiscent of phrases I often hear used to disregard everyday racism — phrases like, “I don’t see color,” “I’m colorblind,” or “I don’t pay attention to race.” These dismissive comments are go-to statements meant to dismiss those who point out that racism still exists. While stopping racist Yik Yak comments should not be the first priority as far as racial issues go, and while it is not even feasible, the trend of these comments should be taken seriously — both in isolation and in the context of the charged racial environment today. Instead of dismissing those who respond to Yik Yak comments and racism offline as overly sensitive, their voices should be heard as a reiteration that race is still a prominent and important issue and should be treated as such.

THE DARTMOUTH OPINION

THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2016

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GUEST COLUMNIST NICK HARRINGTON ’17

STAFF COLUMNIST ZIQIN YUAN ’18

How We Can Fix Dartmouth

The Benefits of ISA

I seek to restore Student Assembly as a vehicle for progress

Within dysfunction there is opportunity for transformation. While I believe that Dartmouth’s climate is teeming with issues, I also believe that those issues can be solved. Still, having served as the chief of staff of Dartmouth’s Student Assembly, I am keenly aware that in its current form, Student Assembly is unequipped to tackle the problems plaguing our campus today.

But I also believe that my candidacy offers the most reliable and authentic opportunity to revive our student government — to fix a broken model and transform it into an institution that can effect real change.

A year after the launch of the “Moving Dartmouth Forward” policy initiative, student life has been tested by administrative policies that seek to define our experiences for us. The administration is more focused on implementing a 30-year Moving Dartmouth Forward plan than fostering a prosperous community now. Parkhurst has traded in the Dartmouth of today for the Dartmouth of tomorrow. Our vision of Dartmouth has been strained by policies that change where we live, how we work and how we enjoy time with our friends. Some of these policies have had a positive impact on our community and will ensure a better future for the College — but some have left the student body feeling cynical, confused and voiceless.

In addition to the harmful effects of administrative policy changes, we as Dartmouth students have sometimes allowed our differences to divide rather than unite us. Our student body is less a community and more a collection of peer groups. This system of factions only encourages isolation and a habit of “othering” those who do not walk the same path as we do. We have allowed a poor understanding of each other’s experiences to dictate our interactions with one another. And we have avoided having the important, candid discussions that ultimately improve our understanding of each other.

There are also campus issues that affect students on a more individual level. More work needs to be done to support and expand sexual assault awareness, training and prevention. This campus is just beginning to acknowledge and confront its stigmas around mental health. Students have also failed to take agency over the potential for more inclusive and accessible social spaces.

The new residential system offers a chance for students to influence the design of new spaces, yet we’ve allowed uncertainty about the housing communities to develop into complacency.

As chief of staff, I’ve engaged with each of these issues afflicting Dartmouth. I joined Student Assembly because I wanted to devote my undergraduate experience to bettering this community. I’ve dedicated myself to this campus and devoted my time to using Student Assembly as a vehicle for progress. Student Assembly has made some progress — drafting a Bill of Rights, making course evaluations visible to students and

expanding the school’s first-ever mental health campaign — but this is far from enough.

I have come to realize during my time as chief of staff that the institution of Student Assembly as it is today will never succeed.

Under the current constitution, only two members of our student government are actually elected: the president and the vice president. From there, the two leaders have limitless authority to “appoint” as few — or as many — members as they see fit. I believe that this is a fundamentally flawed model for our student government. Such a government does not require real representation and is far from democratic. Instead, it breeds exclusivity and prevents a diversity of ideas and solutions from ever entering the conversation. Student Assembly cannot solve the most pressing issues on campus if we do not first repair the organization itself.

These problems that pervade Dartmouth, however, are not inextricably anchored to the institution of Student Assembly. Rather, I am running for president because I believe that we have the opportunity to re-equip our student government with the infrastructure and tools necessary to address the most critical issues on campus. Next Monday morning, a new president will take office.

Dartmouth cannot afford to waste time bringing an inexperienced leader up to speed — there is simply too much to do.

With over a year of experience as Student Assembly chief of staff, I am confident that I am best suited to serve this community.

I am hyperaware of all that needs to be accomplished, and I will be able to hit the ground running. I know better than any other candidate what needs to be done to increase transparency, productivity and inclusivity, and I have proven my dedication to the organization by putting in hundreds of hours over the past year to better this community. We cannot afford to waste time on introductions or familiarization.

The platform that my running mate, Sally Portman ’17, and I have put together is the most substantive, realistic and detailed of any candidate. Our platform is broken into three parts, each of which address the problems with Dartmouth that I have laid out — first, increasing student input in administrative decisions; second, bridging the gap between student groups; and third, improving the overall quality of student life.

On April 17, we must elect a student body president who will effectively guide us through this crucial period, and I believe I am that president. I would not have announced my candidacy unless I was convinced that my experience, drive and vision make me the leader that Student Assembly needs, including the drive necessary to seek out the difficult and uncomfortable conversations necessary for progress. I am devoted to transparency and want to bring Dartmouth together. If elected, I will ensure that Dartmouth’s problems serve as a catalyst not for resignation and division, but rather, for reevaluation and change.

Why income-share agreement policies benefit students and schools Purdue University recently announced a schools already know that their reputation new program, “Back A Boiler,” that will give is based on their students’ success, but an rising juniors and seniors an alternative way ISA program will quantify that approach to pay back debt. The program’s website and encourage a school’s administration notes that this alternative is potentially to work harder for its student body. less expensive than more traditional loans ISA policies also benefit the students for students who need additional funding because they create a safety net. Students to pay for their education. This option is will repay a fixed percentage of their based on an income-share agreement, also anticipated salary, so they will not have known as an ISA, and gives students an to worry about paying back loans that are award of $5,000 or more to complete their worth much more than their entry-level degree. Students will then repay the debt at income. Equally importantly, students will a fixed rate in the years immediately after know exactly how long they have to make graduation. The repayment rate will be payments for and can plan around this. calculated based on a student’s anticipated These advantages are contingent on salary and will continue for a fixed amount how precise the anticipated salary will of years, up to nine. Worth mentioning here be and which students will be allowed to is that the interest rate is zero percent, and enter the program. This is where potential that students will not problems can arise — if have to pay once the a student’s anticipated payment term is up. salary is much higher The ISA program will “When a school’s profit the actual salary, is driven by its students’ than take effect at Purdue then the student could success, the school starting next month. still be forced to make will work harder to Although time will tell payments they can not support its students. whether this program The school will devote afford. However, this is effective or not, more resources to train issue can be easily fixed.

ISA has the potential the graduates in useful The program can base to be beneficial to skills that will translate the payments off the b o t h t h e s c h o o l into well-paying, actual salary students and the students. successful careers.” earn post-graduation It is an option that — the payment rate Dartmouth should will stay the same, but consider adopting in the amount the student the future. pays will depend on An ISA is not a how much she earns new concept — Yale each year. One may University attempted argue that students will a ver sion of this try to game the system program in the 1970s. However, under by, for example, working at McDonald’s Yale’s program, a cohort of undergraduate for the entire payment term. However, at a students agreed to pay back a percentage college like Dartmouth, where achievement of their earnings until the entire cohort’s is a huge part of campus culture, working debt was paid off. This ended up failing at McDonald’s for nine years will not be because some students were frustrated that appealing for anyone, especially not the they had to pay more than their fair share, students. essentially paying for their classmates. Another issue with an ISA program Purdue’s new program eliminates this issue is that it may only accepts students that by making each loan personal — students it believes will have high-paying jobs will only be responsible for their own debt. post-graduation, thus ensuring that the For a program like this to work, it has to college will make a profit from its earlier be beneficial for the academic institution investment in a select group of students. in question. Luckily, the program could While this may seem unfair to many, it is be beneficial to colleges and universities. also a huge incentive for students to aim An ISA essentially provides a school with for better-paying jobs. a stable income for years after the student An ISA program has the potential graduates. Moreover, because the payment to be hugely beneficial for both the rate is based on the student’s anticipated academic institution and the students. salary after graduation— though Purdue At Dartmouth, there are extremely highdoes offer a six-month grace period — a achieving students; an ISA program can student with a high anticipated salary can provide a loan to students who work hard actually pay more than the funding was and do well. It also provides a safety net worth. In other words, Purdue is banking for students — if they graduate during on its students’ success to make a profit. a recession, for example, and do not get This is helpful for students too. When a salary as high as they otherwise could, a school’s profit is driven by its students’ they will not be burdened by student debt success, the school will work harder to for decades after graduation. In short, an support its students. The school will devote ISA can limit the damage incurred for more resources to train the graduates in the school and the students when the job useful skills that will translate into well- market is tough. It may be a gamble, but paying, successful careers. Of course, it is one well worth taking.

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THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2016

Frankel’s talk to focus on life under apartheid and oppression predict the future.

“In order to write historical fiction that helped him to consolidate that that adheres to true history, you have love. to know about that respective period Frankel also said that Dartmouth of history,” Frankel said. “Otherwise had a direct and outspoken political you’re writing fantasy.” community in the 1960s, which has By connecting personal narratives had a lasting influence on his writing. to his writing, Frankel is able to “I’m really create a visual interested in “I hope to give the of the realities writing about of daily life basic political audience a sense of under political m o v e m e n t s personal, political and o p p r e s s i o n . that people get In addition to caught up in and historical context for writing about that destroy their apartheid.” apartheid in lives,” Frankel South Africa, said. his has written This interest -NEVILLE FRANKEL ’71 books about stemmed from a Russia and the fascination with United States in the ways in which people survive similar styles. under governments that are in conflict “I hope to give the audience a sense with their interests, he said. The of personal, political and historical people of South Africa thus make context for apartheid,” Frankel for an ideal case studies in his work said.“It’s very clear that the kind of given the political upheaval that the inequities that apartheid represented country has faced for the past quarter is going to take a long time to work century after apartheid. itself out in the system.”

Frankel said his stories contain Frankel added that he began to three dimensions: personal narrative, explore self-expression through a historical context and current variety of different mediums which context. The depth and breadth of his include painting and writing. writing is akin to that of a historian, “In my writing, I find that I didn’t since he uses historic recurrences to really get to see it until I learned to FROM FRANKEL PAGE 1

paint,” Frankel said. “On the other end, people have said that my writing seems to be a lot more visual than it was in my early years [before learning to paint].”

OSHER@Dartmouth leadership council member Thomas Blinkhorn said that Frankel’s first-hand experience living in the region during apartheid makes him a singular candidate for this month’s Osher lecture.

Blinkhorn, who worked for the World Bank in Africa and lived in the region for 30 years, said that he feels that it is important for the Dartmouth community to learn about developing countries like South Africa. He added that it could expand student’s global perspectives and perhaps introduce new perspectives to the “Dartmouth bubble.”

Keeping with this goal, OSHER@ Dartmouth will be holding more lectures in the future on developing countries. Martin Barahona, Bishop of the Anglican/Episcopal Church of El Salvador, will be speaking about the United State’s migrant crisis on April 26. Blinkhorn added that the goal of these lectures is to shed light on specific areas of interests in developing countries.

“I hope that all these lectures will inspire a wider interest of the

developing world,” Blinkhorn said.

OSHER@Dartmouth marketing and communications coordinator Sarah Chamberlin said that the organization creates programs contingent upon the requests of its 1,500 members. Frankel’s lecture will thus be the catalyst for a series of insightful lectures, which could have

further implications for residents of the Upper Valley, she said.

Frankel’s lecture, “Survival in South Africa Under Apartheid,” will take place today at 2 p.m. in Haldeman 041. Tickets are free for Dartmouth students, staff and faculty with identification and $10 for the general public.

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2016

Litwin to assume new role in August FROM LITWIN PAGE 1

students from a wide perspective of religions or no religion while still holding her faith,” Rockefeller said.

“I am looking forward to partnering with campus colleagues in the ongoing process of building an inclusive campus community t h at s u p p o r t s t h e whole person through the cultivation and enrichment of the mind, body, and spirit.”

-RABBI DAVEEN LITWIN Ellis and computer science professor Prasad Jayanti co-chaired the search committee, which met for the first time last September.

The committee evaluated an applicant pool consisting of over

80 individuals, Ellis said, then narrowed it down to provide a list of prospective candidates to Ameer.

Five candidates including Litwin were invited to campus for an interview, Ellis said.

Litwin wrote in an email that she arrived to campus for her interview in the middle of a snowstorm. The questions her interviewers asked her were well-constructed and gave her the opportunity to reflect on her past and her personality while helping her gain a deeper understanding of what drives the Dartmouth community.

A m e e r s a i d t h at L i t w i n’s experience working with students helped her stand out in the application process. She also said that Litwin stood out among a pool of excellent candidates, but declined to comment further on the selection process. Vogele also declined to comment.

The faith organizations on campus are eager for Litwin’s arrival.

President of Dartmouth College Hillel David Mannes ’17 said he felt positively about having another rabbi on campus.

Although Litwin is a rabbi and Hillel is part of the Tucker Center,

Mannes said he does not see the relationship between Hillel and Tucker changing in the future.

“She is not here to be a rabbi,” Mannes said. “She’s focused on interfaith and multi-faith at the College.”

Aquinas House campus minister Megan Costantini wrote in an email that though she does not know Rabbi Litwin personally, she is pleased that the Tucker Center has found a candidate who will enrich the spiritual life of the Dartmouth community.

Litwin said she decided to apply for the position because she values the College’s holistic approach to education in which there is a strong interplay between academics and spiritual life.

She said that she believes it to be a privilege to connect with, listen to and learn from others, and that she feels honored to be part of this new chapter of the Tucker Center’s evolution.

“I am looking forward to partnering with campus colleagues in the ongoing process of building an inclusive campus community that supports the whole person through the cultivation and enrichment of the mind, body, and spirit,” Litwin said.

PAGE 9

A STORY ABOUT LOVE

PATRICK IRADUKUNDA/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

A screening and discussion of the film “Nine to Ninety” was held last night.

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

PAGE 10

THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2016

Enrollment minimums a potential source of grade inflation FROM ENROLLMENT PAGE 1

and uncertainty about faculty teaching loads.

In practice, most courses with enrollments below the minimum receive exemptions that save them from cancellation. The reasons for exemptions vary, ranging from courses that are required for majors and graduate students, to new course offerings and those taught by visiting or new faculty, which students may not take because they are unfamiliar.

This spring, only two of the 33 undergraduate courses with fewer than five students were cancelled, registrar Meredith Braz wrote in an email. The two courses had zero students enrolled, and Braz added that only a few courses are affected by this policy each term.

If a faculty member’s course is cancelled, they are obligated to teach an extra course during a future term, a disruptive flaw of the policy that multiple professors criticized. English professor Ivy Schweitzer, who taught a class of four students this winter, noted that professors who plan to be off certain terms to conduct research may instead have to teach another course under the existing policy.

“If the College really wants us to be active scholars, which they do, then they have to preserve our time for research,”

she said.

Some professors expressed a belief that financial considerations are what have kept the policy in place even after the ad-hoc committee’s recommendation.

Engineering professor Elsa Garmire said lower enrollment minimums are in place to prevent the College from losing too much money on particular courses, in a desire to keep tuition costs down.

“We advertise that our classes are smaller but that means that — in principle — they’re more expensive,” she said.

The policy first appeared in the ORC for the 1999-2000 academic year.

The policy contains no accompanying written explanation. During that period the endowment grew rapidly, especially during the 1999 fiscal year when the endowment grew 15.4 percent, suggesting the policy may not have originally been put in place due to financial considerations.

The ad-hoc committee cited the low course enrollment policy as a cause of grade inflation. The committee’s report noted consistent accounts of faculty offering overly-generous grades to attract students and avoid cancellation. The committee also reported on anecdotal evidence that faculty encourage students to stay in

under-enrolled courses long enough to avoid cancellation.

BiologyprofessorMarkMcPeek,who chaired the ad-hoc committee, said that, along with student evaluations, enrollment pressures more broadly were the main reason professors decreased course rigor. He added that enrollment determines, or is perceived to determine, the resources allocated to different departments.

“If a faculty member has a low enrollment in a class, they get pressure from the chair of the department, and the dean puts pressure on the department and the faculty member,” McPeek said.

Philosophy professor Adina Roskies,who also taught a class of four students this winter, added that the cancellation policy can create hardships for students who planned to take a certain course and are obliged to find another.

Perspectives on the low course enrollment policy differ between departments and divisions. Certain departments need to offer particular classes for majors that typically have low enrollments. The English major requires two classes in early English literature, which have seen low enrollments in past years. Schweitzer’s class on early American literature in the winter and a class on Restoration

SEAMORE ZHU/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Some claim that cutting classes with low enrollment fuels grade inflation.

literature offered this term both have less than five students enrolled.

Departments like astronomy also see few students electing to major in them, astronomy professor Brian Chaboyer said, which makes having classes with low enrollment common.

The need to offer courses to attract graduate students can also lead to low course enrollments, as is the case for Garmire’s course on electromagnetic fields and waves.

The reverse is also true. The lack of a graduate philosophy program results in some philosophy classes for advanced students interested in graduate school having low enrollments, according to Roskies.

However, some professors thought low enrollments might be a reason to reconsider the courses offered at the College. Engineering professor Mark Laser said that several consecutive years of low course enrollments for a particular class may show disinterest in the subject and be a reason to rethink offering that course.

Chaboyer noted that, despite the many exemptions, the uncertainty of whether a course will be cancelled or not is problematic, because it could discourage students from signing up for a class liable to be cancelled.

Certain types of faculty may have particular difficulty getting adequate course enrollments. Roskies noted that junior faculty who do not yet have a reputation may be in danger of having classes cancelled during their first year.

Associate dean of the arts and humanities Barbara Will wrote in an email that the low course enrollment policy aims to ensure equity in the teaching load of faculty members across departments. Faculty who teach low enrollment classes get teaching credit for the course, but those who lead similar sized independent study section do not receive any teaching credit.

Roskies also noted that independent

studies are not run the same way as courses.

“It’s one thing to have a meeting with a student once a week and discuss what they’ve read. It’s another thing to prepare almost four hours of lecture a week.” Roskies said.

Engineering professor Eric Fossum said the equity issue could alternatively be addressed by giving credit to teachers for leading an independent study.

Many professors noted the benefit of small class sizes and maintained that teaching a small class was a similar amount of work to teaching a larger class.

“We had a fantastic time,” Schweitzer said abut her smaller courses. “It was so small I could run it like an apprenticeship model. Students said to me that they felt like we were all doing the scholarship together. It was what I would call a kind of community of inquiry. And that’s hard to do with even twelve people.”

Laser also noted the intimacy of the small class environment.

“The level of interaction and communication with your students is like sitting in your living room,” he said.

Not all professors agreed on the benefits of very small courses though.

“I will say that if you get a group of three to five students, that’s often not enough to be exciting. If you’re talking about a small upper-level course, it’s much more interesting if you have seven to 10 students.” Garmire said.

Schweitzer and Fossum both said that it is no easier to teach a course with very small number of students than it is to teach a typical-size course.

Will also wrote that courses taught by visiting professors are often smaller than courses taught by regular faculty and that there have been multiple recent instances of cancelling classes taught by visiting faculty.

Dean of the Faculty Michael Mastanduno declined to comment.

THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2016

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

PHOTO ESSAY: LOST PHOTOGRAPHER, FOUND SYMMETRY

By ELIZA MCDONOUGH The Dartmouth Senior Staff

PAGE 11

THE DARTMOUTH ARTS

THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2016

PAGE 12

Student Spotlight: Painter and photographer Amara Ihionu ’17

By WILL TACKETT

The Dartmouth Staff

Amara Ihionu ’17 found her passion for art while trying to fulfill a distributive requirement. After taking “Drawing I” her freshman spring, she realized she wanted to explore more of what the department offers and decided to take “Painting I” and “Photography I” her sophomore year. Now, with more than enough studio art credits to her name and experience that includes multiple mediums within the department, she has embraced her major in studio art.

Of the three mediums she works with, Ihionu named painting as her favorite, despite the finicky nature of the oil paints that initially daunted her.

“You really have to develop a relationship with [painting,]” she said. “If you make a mistake while painting, you have to either let it dry and work over it or work around it.”

Once she became more comfortable exploring ways to work her perceived mistakes into her final piece, Ihionu realized the vast benefits of the medium.

“Painting has been really rewarding,” she said. “It’s taught me patience and creativity.”

But the path to success was not smooth like a thin layer of paint on a canvas. Much like the textures that come from adding thick layers of paint, Ihionu experienced initial fluctuations in her confidence when painting for the first time.

“As a perfectionist, I was really scared,” she said.

However, once she understood mistakes could be hidden or transformed, she embraced the artistic process and the medium more.

When characterizing her current style, Ihionu called it realistic because she enjoys painting what she sees. However, she said she is looking to branch out more by experimenting with abstraction and a more expressionist style.

“I’m getting more and more comfortable with being able to convey what I see on the canvas and not worrying so much as to whether or not it’s a faithful reproduction but rather just that experience and the feeling,” Ihionu said.

Fellow studio art major Dondei Dean ’17, who has worked alongside Ihionu in the painting studio, said she has developed an

attentiveness to the surface she is painting on, whether it be canvas or masonite, a wooden hardboard.

While painting may be her favorite medium, she noted that one of her most memorable projects was an independent study that focused on portrait photography.

The project played with the idea of accessibility to the subject. For many of the portraits, she obscured part of the subject’s face with an opaque cloth or by casting a shadow, establishing a dominant contrast within the image. Ihionu said she made this artistic choice to challenge the viewer’s conception of a normal photograph and to explore ideas of intimacy with the subject.

Beverly Alomepe ’17, another studio art major, said after taking “Drawing I” with Ihionu she began to see a lot of emotion come through in her early photography work, which focuses on portraiture and black-and-white inversion of the subject matter. “[She] takes something that seems to be mundane and makes it seem a lot more abstract than it is,” Alomepe said.

Because photography was completely new to her, Ihionu said she has seen the most artistic development with this medium. She enjoys photographing people, usually her friends or acquaintances and adjusting the lighting and framing to make her subject interesting and to capture their personality. Citing contemporary trends and opinions of what constitutes a good photo on Instagram, Ihionu said she is not interested in making her subjects appear cute or nice. Rather, she wants to focus on conveying emotion and capturing a person’s essence.

“I want it to be powerful,” she said. “[It’s] the difference between art photography and a ‘good photo.’”

Even in her paintings, which are typically still-lifes, Alomepe said she notices a human quality to them that echoes the themes that Ihionu photos evoke.

“A lot of [her art features] draping and the movement of a curtain as it falls and even in that I see elements of her portrait work,” Alomepe said. “I tend to see faces and figures behind the curtains.”

Dean echoed Alomepe’s comments, noting that Ihionu’s still-life painting of a spring conveyed a

TIFFANY ZHAI/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Amara Ihionu ’17 is a studio art major who cites painting as her favorite medium.

portrait-like quality to it.

Having seen both a painting and a photography series of Ihionu’s, fellow Epsilon Kappa Theta sorority member Leslie Fink ’16 said she was struck by the contrast of muted backgrounds and bold subjects used in her paintings. Fink described Ihionu’s photography series as arresting but not necessarily inviting.

“The subjects were compelling but not always clear,” Fink said. “I was captivated by the force of the focus and the gaze of the subjects.”

Regarding post-graduation

plans, Ihionu mentioned a couple options. She said that she is considering pursuing an M.F.A. or something involving psychology, her other major at the College.

Another option she is considering combines her two majors into one field: art therapy, a branch of health care that uses art to help people express their feelings and emotions and improve their wellbeing.

Meanwhile, Ihionu said she hopes to focus more on painting and photography and potentially combine those two media in one piece during her senior year. Per-

haps more meaningfully, she said she is seeking to turn inward with her work.

“I feel most of my work is me looking outward with still-lifes,” she said. “[It would be like] taking my artistic vision and looking back into myself and tying it back to me.”

Quick quotes: Favorite band: My Chemical Romance Favorite snack: sunflower seeds Favorite museum: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Favorite television show: House of Cards

EYEWASH BLENDS AND REMIXES INTO SPRING

SEAMORE ZHU/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Marina Rosenfeld demonstrates her work as a sound artist and composer to students at Tuesday’s EYEWASH.