The Dartmouth Homecoming Issue 2017

10.06.17

the lines that resonate TIFFANY ZHAI/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

THE DARTMOUTH HOMECOMING ISSUE

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EDITORS’ NOTE

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2017

Table of Contents Young alumni reflect on their experiences after graduation

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Legacy students pave their own paths at Dartmouth

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Students share perceptions of the new Good Samaritan policy

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The Invisible Injury: How Concussions Affect Student Lives

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Student artists raise the visibility of art on campus

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‘For the College on the Hill’

CALLUM ZEHNER/THE DARTMOUTH

Our “Alma Mater” proclaims a campus of loyal sons and daughters of an idyllic “College on the Hill.” While the “Alma Mater” is sung on First-Year Trips by the incoming class and is played daily on the bells of Baker Library, it’s easy to forget why we recite these time-honored words. What is the “spell” that remains on Dartmouth students and the alumni they become?

Why does this “granite of New Hampshire” become a part of our identities during and after our time in Hanover?

This year’s Homecoming Issue seeks to explore how the lyrics of this Dartmouth classic still resonate with students, if at all. The inspiration for each article comes from a line of the “Alma Mater,” which you can find bolded in the header above each page. There is no one correct way of interpreting the “Alma Mater” — as our writers show, the song’s many meanings are as unique as the students who sing it.

Whether you’re a ’21 or an ’18, it’s perfectly fine if you don’t yet know what the “Alma Mater” means to you. To us, the anthem reminds us of the warmth and kindness that Dartmouth students show toward each other. This characteristic of our Dartmouth family, more so than any tradition, is what we believe best defines us.

Wishing you a happy, safe and, might we say, “lit” Homecoming.

Warmly, Cris and Julia

10-11

Survey examines student opinions of the College

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Brown: On the Old

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Li: Growing Pains

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Chun: Risk and the Undergraduate

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Verbum Ultimum: The Homecoming We Want

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Through the Looking Glass: Becoming a Lone Pine

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Dear Old Dartmouth (“Alma Mater”) Dear old Dartmouth, give a rouse

Dear old Dartmouth, set a watch

For the College on the hill!

Lest the old traditions fail!

For the Lone Pine above her,

Stand as sister stands by brother!

And the loyal ones who love her,

Dare a deed for the old Mother!

Give a rouse, give a rouse, with a will!

Greet the world, from the hills, with a hail!

For the sons of old Dartmouth,

For the sons of old Dartmouth,

For the daughters of Dartmouth.

For the daughters of Dartmouth.

Though ‘round the girdled Earth they roam,

Around the world they keep for her

Her spell on them remains;

Their old undying faith;

They have the still North in their hearts,

They have the still North in their soul,

The hill winds in their veins,

The hill winds in their breath,

And the granite of New Hampshire

And the granite of New Hampshire

In their muscles and their brains.

Is made part of them ‘til death.

And the granite of New Hampshire

And the granite of New Hampshire

In their muscles and their brains.

Is made part of them ‘til death.

6175 ROBINSON HALL, HANOVER N.H. 03755 • (603) 646-2600

CRISTIAN CANO, Issue Editor JULIA HUEBNER, Issue Editor TYLER MALBREAUX, Issue Opinion Editor RAY LU, Editor-in-Chief KOURTNEY KAWANO, Executive Editor CAROLINE BERENS, Managing Editor PRODUCTION EDITORS PARKER RICHARDS & ZIQIN YUAN, Opinion Editors LAUREN BUDD, ANNETTE DENEKAS & MAY MANSOUR Mirror Editors EVAN MORGAN & CHRIS SHIM, Sports Editors HALEY GORDON & MADELINE KILLEN, Arts Editors MELANIE KOS & LUCY TANTUM, Dartbeat Editors JESSICA CAMPANILE, Multimedia Editor SAMANTHA BURACK & TANYA SHAH, Design Editors ALEXANDER AGADJANIAN, Survey Editor

PHILIP RASANSKY, Publisher ERIN LEE, Executive Editor NOAH GOLDSTEIN, Managing Editor BUSINESS DIRECTORS ALFREDO GURMENDI, Finance & Strategy Director ROSHNI CHANDWANI, Finance & Strategy Director SHINAR JAIN, Advertising Director KELLY CHEN, Product Development Director ELYSE KUO, Product Development Director EMMA MARSANO, Marketing & Communications Director YEONJAE PARK, Technology Director PHOTOGRAPHY EDITORS ELIZA MCDONOUGH HOLLYE SWINEHART TIFFANY ZHAI

*Bolded lyrics inspire articles in this issue.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2017

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Dare a deed for the old Mother! Greet the world, from the hills, with a hail! For the sons of old Dartmouth,

Young alumni reflect on their experiences after graduation the only new additions to the lives of recent graduates. Meyer and The Dartmouth Staff Hughes also described having to It’s odd that we prepare our adopt an entirely new, careeryoung adults for the “real world” specific skillset. By definition, by sending them to schools like Dartmouth, as a liberal arts school, Dartmouth — schools that, does not allow students to major in arguably, have little in common pre-professional areas but rather with the real world. At no other seeks to foster critical thinking skills point in our lives will we, as that can be applied to a variety of Dartmouth students, run in a circle fields. around a burning pile of wood, Meyer, a classics and history wake up at noon and work until two double major, doesn’t directly use in the morning, sprint through a what he studied at his job with semester’s worth of information in a media consulting company in 10 short weeks or live a 15 minute Washington, D.C., but he feels his coursework broadened his walk from our best friends.

T he Dartmouth spoke to understanding of the world. recently-minted alumni Julietta “It’s not like I use every day what I learned in Gervase ’16, the classroom, like Te re n c e H u g h e s facts and figures,” ’17 and C h r i s “There’s a very h e s a i d . “ I t ’s Meyer ’17 about weird niche at more how I think their transition from Dartmouth to Dartmouth that’s through problems and think about post-graduate life. super crazy myself in the For Hughes and adventurous world.”

Meyer, the most According difficult aspect of that doesn’t Hughes, this the transition was exist to the same to lack of careerthe adjustment to the rigid structure magnitude in the specific training is not problematic. of the workweek. real world.”

Though his In college, students neuroscience have full freedom and medical to design their days, -TERENCE HUGHES anthropology taking breaks or classes did not w o r k i n g l o n g e r ’17 directly prepare hours if they so him for his choose. In the current work with workplace, young professionals have little agency in a healthcare consulting fir m, choosing how they spend their time. Dartmouth helped him to develop a “I definitely get to moments in set of research and critical thinking the week where I say, ‘I need to skills that he now uses every day. go home, I need to go for a run, I “[The consulting firm where need to clear my head, I need to I work] hires people knowing go talk to someone,’” Hughes said. that they don’t necessarily have “But I’m at work — I have to be [field-specific knowledge] and just gives us a crash course,” Hughes working on something.”

After work, Hughes’ and Meyer’s said. “They rely on us being fast evenings are unscheduled. While learners.” that freedom seems worry-free, it Both Hughes and Meyer enjoy can be daunting after four years of their jobs but feel that they’re not currently passionate about their having no time to yourself. “[My] evenings are free, [but] work. not like at Dartmouth, where you “I think it’s the rare recent grad finish your work and then go to who’s already there,” Meyer said. “I meetings or hang with friends or think that’s something that comes are constantly thinking about future later in life.” assignments,” Meyer said. “When He also said that people, [you] come home, you’re really particularly in a high-pressure kind of shut off until you have to environment like D.C., place too much emphasis on job titles. He be in [the office] the next day.”

To fill that time, Meyer explores divides his time among a spectrum interests which he never had time of activities, and he considers each for at Dartmouth, like picking up one to play a part in forming his hobbies and trying new foods. identity.

For example, Meyer has begun “I want to be a sum of all of “experimenting” with different those parts,” Meyer said. “I think vegetarian foods. He especially there’s more to me and hopefully enjoys making different kinds of more to lots of other people than veggie burgers to see which ones just what you do from nine to five.”

As a graduate of the Class of taste the best.

Regimented work days are not 2016, Gervase is more settled into

By ELIZA JANE SCHAEFFER

her post-Dartmouth life. She has right now.” taken advantage of Dartmouth’s Both Hughes and Meyer cited alumni network to maintain the the sense of community as the sense of community that she felt benefit that they most miss about as a student.

Dartmouth. In cities like D.C. “The thing that you miss [after and Boston, seeing friends is no g raduating] is longer — as Hughes the people,” she put it — “a seamless s a i d . “ T h e r e “Living as close process of a simple a r e a l l t h e s e as you do to so text and meeting up.” structures in Meyer expressed a place to allow you many people similar sentiment. to sustain those is something “Living as close as relationships.” you do to so many Gervase is a that I knew and people is something class officer for appreciated at that I knew and the Class of 2016 appreciated at school, school, but it’s and is active in but it’s something her local alumni something that that you can’t totally club. T hese understand until you can’t totally clubs organize you don’t have it a n u m b e r o f understand until anymore,” Meyer events, including you don’t have it said. local and class Hughes also wide reunions. misses Dartmouth anymore.”

“The New students’ sense of York City class adventure. captain hosted a -CHRIS MEYER ’17 “People in the free museum tour, real world don’t say, but sometimes ‘Let’s hike 50 miles [the events are] for fun!’” Hughes just an [alumni] happy hour” said. “There’s a very weird niche Gervase said. “We’re planning a at Dartmouth that’s super crazy pong tournament against the ’17s adventurous that doesn’t exist to

the same magnitude in the real world.”

That being said, he has found a large support network of Dartmouth graduates living in Boston. Familiar faces made the transition far easier; although that closeness can make one feel like he or she is still in the Dartmouth bubble “for better, and probably for worse,” Hughes said.

Dartmouth’s sense of community is strong, but it can also be overly insular. Meyer cautioned that the Dartmouth bubble “is something that people can easily fall into post-grad[uation].”

“Just because you’re living in Washington, D.C. or New York or Los Angeles doesn’t necessarily mean you will automatically be an informed citizen of the world,” Meyer said.

Despite all of these challenges, all three alumni said that so far, life after Dartmouth has been an enjoyable experience.

“Being at school always felt like I was preparing for something,” Gervase said. “Having a job — having decisions being made on a day-to-day basis that affect a lot of people besides myself — is really rewarding.”

COURTESY OF TERENCE HUGHES

Terence Hughes ’17 (second from left) graduated from Dartmouth this June and is currently working in Boston.

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2017

For the sons of old Dartmouth, For the daughters of Dartmouth. Around the world they keep for her

Legacy students pave their own paths at Dartmouth

By REBECCA FLOWERS The Dartmouth Staff

Nine percent of students accepted to the Class of 2021 are children of Dartmouth undergraduate alumni.

This is an increase from the almost 8 percent and 8.1 percent reported of the Classes of 2019 and 2020, respectively, but a decrease from the 13 percent of accepted students who were legacies in 2018.

The experiences of these students are unique in that they face different factors when deciding to come to Dartmouth: They may arrive at Dartmouth with already-established connections, and they also may experience some negative reactions to their parents’ connections to the school.

The parents of Ellie Mitchell ’20 both attended Dartmouth: her mother is a member of the Class of 1992, and her father is a member of the Class of 1993. Dartmouth was the last college she visited during her college search process, and she decided to attend after staying overnight with a relative.

During her search, Mitchell often felt like many schools she visited felt like smaller versions of her hometown of Greenwich, Connecticut. She had hoped to find a college with amazing people unlike anyone from Greenwich, and she said that she found that at Dartmouth.

“I met this girl … who had never

been off the reservation before she got a scholarship to come to Dartmouth.”

Mitchell said. “She was just so inspiring and interesting like no one I had ever met before. I really wanted to be influenced and surrounded by people with different experiences than me.”

Mitchell explained that she has received a variety of reactions when they learn that her parents attended Dartmouth.

“Some people think [being a legacy student is] really awesome, and then I think other people fight me because of it — because it seems that my accomplishment of getting into Dartmouth was lessened because of my parents,” Mitchell said.

She remembers an alumni brunch her freshman year that she attended with her friends, and she met someone who had known her father. After that, she noticed her friends acting differently towards her.

However, she does feel that she benefits from knowing people in the area when she has health issues.

Lela Gannon ’18 has grown up hearing about Dartmouth because her parents would come to reunions for each of their classes. The Moosilauke Ravine Lodge became a very special place for her, and she even had her seventh birthday at the Lodge.

Her family also lives in the area. Because of this, she feels very comfortable on campus.

However, when it came to deciding

COURTESY OF ELLIE MITCHELL

Both of Ellie Mitchell ’20’s parents attended Dartmouth College.

on a college, she didn’t want to go to Dartmouth because it was so connected with her family. Eventually, when attending the High Mountain Institute in high school, one of her teachers, William Corbett ’10, suggested she attend Dartmouth.

“It kind of changed how I thought about the school,” Gannon said.

“Before, I had just thought of it as a part of my family’s history and a part of my history but not necessarily something that spoke to me personally.

But then, when I actually got around to junior year … Dartmouth had a lot of the qualities that I was looking for.”

Gannon says her status as a legacy student has mostly had positive effects, providing her resources she might not have had otherwise. She has also participated in similar traditions to her parents. For example, when she led the First-Year Trip climb and hike for the third time this past year, her father was helping with the renovations of Nunnemacher Cabin, where her trip was headed.

“He knew we were going to be there and actually raided my trip with a watermelon,” Gannon said.

“It was so funny and so cute, and he talked to all my trippees. That was a trip raid 30 years in the making.”

Conner Ueberroth ’19 is the son of Keri Ueberroth ’89. He said that his mother loved Dartmouth, and he was initially attracted to the school because of its beauty and strong finance program. However, one of the major reasons he did not want to come to Dartmouth was because he is estranged from his father, Jeff Thomas ’89, who is also an alumnus.

Since he made his decision, though, he thinks he has had a mostly positive experience.

“I think the Dartmouth experience has changed a lot in the last, say, 30 years — more than [in an] average 30-year interval.” Ueberroth said.

He believes that his experience has been very dissimilar from his parents’ experiences. Ueberroth said that, for example, Dartmouth used to be a much more conservative school, and his parents had a conservative tilt. He feels that the College is much more politically liberal today.

Alice Bennett ’20 is the daughter of Martha Bennett ’89 and the granddaughter of Ron Boss ’61.

Because of her family legacy, Bennett wanted to attend as a child but changed her mind in high school because both her older sister and cousin were students at Dartmouth.

She ultimately decided on Dartmouth after making a pros and cons list between Dartmouth and another college.

Bennett feels like a legacy student sometimes when her high school friends or family friends make

COURTESY OF LELA GANNON

Lela Gannon ’18’s parents graduated from Dartmouth in the late 1980s.

comments about it, though the comments may not be ill-intentioned.

However, her experience as a legacy student at Dartmouth has mostly been positive.

“I don’t feel like a legacy most of the time,” Bennett said. “Most of my friends here probably don’t even know.”

One advantage of having a family

connection to Dartmouth? She can appreciate the presence of her sister on campus.

“I’ve gone to school with my older sister my whole life, and it’s nice to still do that and have someone to get a meal with if I need help with something,” Bennett said. “And it’s nice to be able to come home and tell stories that my mom can relate to.”

COURTESY OF LELA GANNON

Lela Gannon ’18’s (center) brother Nick Gannon ’15 (right) graduated in 2015.

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In their muscles and their brains. Dear old Dartmouth, set a watch Lest the old traditions fail!

Students share perceptions of College’s Good Samaritan policy

By EMMA DEMERS

The Dartmouth Staff

This academic year, changes to the Good Samaritan policy include expanding the policy to include drug-related incidents and allowing undergraduate advisors to make Good Sam calls rather than having to file formal reports with the College.

According to the Office of Student Affairs’ website, the Good Sam policy provides emergency services to students who have been impaired by drugs or alcohol.

Any student that calls Safety and Security regarding the alcoholic impairment of another student will not be subject to disciplinary action by the College unless he or she violates another part of the drug policy.

Working in conjunction with Judicial Affairs, students’ feedback and other partners, the Office of Student Affairs made these changes to the Good Sam policy to promote students’ safety, according to senior associate dean of student affairs Elizabeth Agosto.

“The Good Samaritan policy was designed and created to make sure that students were getting the help that they needed and that we were reducing as many barriers as we could to getting that help to students,” Agosto said.

“We’re going to be watching pretty closely to see what this does in terms of impact on student calls, information that we’re gathering on what drug use looks like on our

campus and how we’re getting assistance to our students.”

According to director of Judicial Affairs Katharine Strong, changes were made after the annual policy review. Both Strong and Agosto cited student concer n about barriers to calling for help as the reason for the inclusion of druguse in the policy.

“I hope that any student who sees a friend in need would call regardless,” Strong said. “But I’m hoping that we’ve helped students feel confident in making that call.”

Strong also stated there is no differentiation in the Good Sam policy between how drug use is treated versus how alcohol use is treated.

Changes to the policy went into effect at the beginning of fall term.

According to Agosto, reactions to the policy changes have been very positive.

“Overall, the change makes sense and is a reflection of our commitment to safety,” she said.

Prior to last month, when this year’s policy change was implemented, underg raduate advisors’ calls were not considered to be under the umbrella of Good Sam calls, which had an impact on how UGAs could handle a situation involving alcohol. Agosto hopes that these changes will encourage UGAs to feel more comfortable making calls.

According to a survey conducted

by The Dartmouth from Sept. 24 to Sept. 28, 48 percent of the 677

ALEXANDER AGADJANIAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

The majority of respondents said they believed the College’s Good Samaritan policy is “very effective” or “moderately effective.”

students surveyed believe that the Good Sam policy is moderately effective, while 16 percent of students surveyed believe that the policy is very effective.

From the same survey, 65 percent of students surveyed believe that adding drug use to the existing policy will make students more likely to take advantage of the Good Sam policy.

According to Agosto, the

ALEXANDER AGADJANIAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Two percent of respondents said students who need the Good Sam policy “always” take advantage of it.

College has seen an increase in Good Sam calls in the past few years, with this past year having

the highest number of calls yet.

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2017

And the granite of New Hampshire In their muscles and their brains. Dear Old Dartmouth, set a watch

The Invisible Injury: How Concussions Affect Student Lives

By SAMANTHA HUSSEY The Dartmouth Staff

With Homecoming reuniting students and alumni in celebration of the Big Green, it is easy to get caught up in the traditional sports events, overlooking sidelined athletes. Injuries — of the “muscles and the brain,” as the “Alma Mater” puts it — are inevitable. Awareness and prevention of concussions in high-impact sports have received much attention in recent years.

Despite this fact, concussions that student-athletes in any sport suffer are still overlooked or mistreated.

These “invisible injuries,” with lengthy recovery times and impacts on one’s social life and academics, are still downplayed at Dartmouth.

While the College provides re s o u rc e s fo r s t u d e n t s wh o experience concussions and similar catastrophic injuries, many find that their injuries still somewhat negatively impact their academics, athletics and social lives. Stephanie Everett ’19, a former women’s varsity soccer goalie, sustained one concussion during her senior year in high school and two concussions during training in her first year at Dartmouth.

“I am probably worse today than I was the day [my latest concussion] happened — it’s been 13 months,” Everett said. “[The healing process] is different for everyone, and obviously because

it’s my third [concussion] in two years that’s definitely not helpful.

It’s not like a broken leg where it’s six weeks [recovery] and you’re fine. You just have to wait and see.”

In terms of academics, Everett found that while she could maintain her grades while concussed, it was almost impossible to raise them.

“At first, it would take me a while to read anything because I could only read for 20 minutes at a time, and now I try to power through it,” she said. “It’s harder for me to concentrate, so I’ll sit and look at my computer, and unless I feel a looming deadline, I can’t get myself to do anything.”

Everett recalled times during class when she could not remember what she wanted to say or when she had difficulties forming sentences.

Jennifer West ’20, a member of the figure skating team, also had problems focusing after sustaining two non-sports related concussions.

“I do think having a concussion does make it harder to go about my academic life at Dartmouth,” West said. “Specifically, concussions really have an impact on my ability to focus. I found that readings that would usually take me a half an hour would take me two hours after my concussion.”

West’s two concussions occurred within the past year: She suffered one during First-Year Trips and the other, which she is currently recovering from, in a serious biking

COURTESY OF AMANDA SWINHART

The Dartmouth football team uses robotic practice dummies to help reduce injuries and missed tackles.

accident this past summer. Now, West requires frequent breaks while studying to recenter herself because she finds it very easy to lose attention while doing normal

tasks.

Despite this, West has found her professors to be understanding of her situation and are more than willing to provide her with

COURTESY OF AMANDA SWINHART

So far, since deciding to hold no-contact practices in 2010, Dartmouth’s football team has reduced injuries by using robot practice dummies.

additional assistance if she asks for it.

“That being said, sometimes it’s hard because I think the things that really affect me the most are things such as [an] inability to focus, inability to complete work … things, for example, a note-taker can’t help with,” she said.

Everett, too, has found that, even with accommodations, it can be hard to keep up with the College’s fast-paced 10-week terms.

“It’s tough because everything moves so fast here,” Everett said.

“For the fall term, I had extra time on midterms, which was really helpful for writing essays, but besides that I haven’t really gotten any special treatment: I just have to deal with it. It’s an invisible injury, and I don’t complain about it so everyone forgets about it.”

Jonathan Lichtenstein, director of pediatric neuropsychological services at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and a Dartmouth team physician, said that the “push through it” mentality that so many Dartmouth students have can be detrimental to an individual’s recovery.

“While the brain is recovering, it’s losing a lot of its resources,” he said. “If you don’t allow the brain to spontaneously heal and instead you spend four hours reading or writing that paper or doing that SEE INJURIES PAGE 14

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2017

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And the loyal ones who love her, Give a rouse, give a rouse, with a will! For the sons of old Dartmouth,

Student artists raise the visibility of art on campus

why student artwork sometimes never comes out of storage. Students in The Dartmouth Staff introductory art classes are only The five monochromatic panels beginning to learn skilled techniques, behind the Hopkins Center for the so they may not believe that their Arts that face the Black Family Visual artwork is of a caliber deserving of Arts Center are celebratory in nature. being displayed. However, she said The large-scale “Dartmouth Panels,” that work from Drawing I can still be as they are officially known, proudly high-quality and should also receive “give a rouse,” as the “Alma Mater” a chance to be shown.

Later in her studio art class career, puts it, to public art; they are a colorful tribute affirming the presence of art Champ was informed by studio art at Dartmouth. They may also be professor Viktor Witkowski, who interpreted as social commentary taught her in Studio Art 17.18, “Art because their style, simplicity and and Activism,” that students can schedule a time to have art displayed grace reflect a pride flag.

The “Dartmouth Panels” were in the BVAC. Student display helpers created by the late American know how to organize logistics for artist Ellsworth Kelly. Despite the classes in the studio art department and are trained to panels’ wellhelp students find known creator “[The project is] the resources they and towering need to display height, many supposed to open their work. students have up a dialogue so never even seen [prospective students] a Cb lhea mt op twa ka es them before. advantage of one T u c k e d can see this is what b e h i n d t h e students are doing. Art such opportunity by curating an Courtyard Cafe and across isn’t necessarily always exhibit of final projects from “Art from the Hood the thing we focus on and Activism,” Museum of [at this] campus...” complete with Art, it’s difficult an opening night for students show. to view these -MAYA MOTEN ’18 “I’ve never done bright panels. that in any other This is only one class,” Champ example of the said. “One room invisibility of had a lot of art on campus.

According to art history major natural light, and the other one was Olivia Champ ’19, student art a little darker; we had video art in is mainly displayed through one room and all the sculptures and student initiative and institutional paintings in the other room. It was resources provided by the studio art a really cool exhibit.”

However, Champ said that while department. However, depending on opportunities to display art exist, one’s familiarity with the department, students are not always aware that they are seldom obvious or well the department encourages students communicated. Most exhibitions — even those in introductory classes at the Hopkins Center Garage are temporary, and Champ said that her — to display their artwork.

In Studio Art 15, “Drawing I,” class’ exhibit was only displayed for a an introductory class that serves as few days at the end of the summer.

Aspiring studio art major Réna a prerequisite for other studio art classes, many students do not get an King ’20 took opportunity to display opportunity to display their work for her art elsewhere: first at the 2016 public viewing outside of the BVAC. Homecoming gallery in Kemeny The professors of “Drawing I” often Hall and second at gender-inclusive have students display their work near fraternity Tabard’s art competition the studio, but such a display is a far during the spring 2017 term.

King said that she found out about cry from having work displayed in more central areas of campus for the both opportunities through email, majority of students to enjoy, Champ and she worked hard to figure out logistics and earn her artwork a spot said.

“We spend so much time in the to be shown. However, she said the studio — hours working on the experience was “underwhelming” projects,” Champ said. “Then we put because a majority of the student them up for class critique discussions. population did not know about the But after that, I take down my work exhibits and did not talk about them.

She believes that the studio art and it’s in my portfolio which is still underneath my bed, which has been department at Dartmouth remains there since freshman winter. Now I’m relatively invisible mainly because a junior and I haven’t really done the BVAC is located on the edge of campus, behind the Hop and anything with it.”

Champ said that she understands blocked by construction on the Hood

By BETTY KIM

Museum. Marketing and promotion are also lacking.

“There’s no publicity for the arts on campus, and usually what happens is when students do their work, it’s only really showcased in BVAC, which no one really goes to,” King said.

Both Champ and King suggested that high-traffic spaces around campus be used as public exhibition spaces. As a teaching assistant for Engineering Sciences 12, “Design Thinking,” Champ has discussed how to utilize and beautify blank spaces around the campus. For example, she thinks that the blank wall near Collis Café could be decorated with student art or other temporary exhibits.

“It’s a really cool idea of preserving the architectural significance of Dartmouth but also figuring out how to be really creative with the blank spaces and [utilize them] for students to really leave their mark,” Champ said.

King acknowledged that there are only 10 weeks per term to make art, arrange for it to be displayed and have it in the public eye. To solve this, she suggested that students with older pieces from past terms display their art or enter pieces in art competitions. She also suggested that art be displayed in public spaces like Robinson Hall or Dartmouth Hall.

Champ expressed a similar sentiment, suggesting that studio art professors reach out to their students on a termly basis to inform them of shows, allowing students to hear positive feedback from friends, professors and strangers.

“There’s so much creativity

around here, and I think the goal of Dartmouth should be having people inspire each other and create new ideas,” Champ said.

Jennie Harlan ’20, who took Drawing I last winter, feels similarly, saying that it would be ideal to have more art displayed on campus, especially because people often do not even visit the BVAC except for a class. She brought up the possibility of having student art in the Office of Admissions, Baker-Berry Library and even the Class of 1953 Commons.

King also suggested the creation of more public student art, like the enigmatic, colorful outdoor sculpture in the shape of a doorway which was featured in front of BakerBerry Library in the spring of 2017.

Students could be seen trying to figure out what the piece was, walking under it and talking pictures with it — an interactive experience. King believes that the majority of Dartmouth students did not know that it was made by a senior studio art major.

“I think [the purpose of the piece] was to disrupt our day-to-day [life] … it definitely worked,” King said.

Other students have been working to make art more visible to prospective students and their families. Maya Moten ’18 is currently working on a project to create an exhibit of student art in McNutt Hall so visitors on campus tours can observe both the talent and seriousness of Dartmouth’s studio art department without having to find the BVAC. The exhibition will be completed in mid-October. “[The project is] supposed to open up a dialogue so [prospective

Students add art installations in the Black Family Visual Arts Center.

students] can see this is what students are doing,” Moten said. “Art isn’t necessarily always the thing we focus on [at this] campus, especially … the visual arts,” Moten said.

Champ expressed her support for Moten’s project and its potential to promote student art.

“Sometimes I think Dartmouth is so known for their other academic [programs] that the [studio] art department can be underutilized or not highlighted for how amazing it is,” Champ said. “I think [Moten’s project] is going to be a super amazing way of doing that.”

Champ suggested that people show their art in fraternities and sororities, whether they are affiliated or not. For example, Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority hosted an art showcase featuring pieces that advocate for current social issues.

She also pointed at the creativity displayed in murals on interior walls at Panarchy.

“I think [the murals at Panarchy] are super cool traditions because they are adding onto the layers of artwork before you,” Champ said.

Harlan said that she wants to display public art that advocates for social justice, but she hesitates to do so because of lack of support from administration. She also worries about her project being tampered with by people with different beliefs. Harlan believes that College administration could be pressured by alumni not to allow such art exhibits on campus.

“I personally don’t feel like [the] administration would really support something that I do if it’s in conflict with the College,” Harlan said.

BETTY KIM/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

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Six percent of respondents said the College should increase in size, while 76 percent said it should stay the same.

If asked about Dartmouth’s reputation as a small college, many students and alumni will coyly repeat Daniel Webster’s famous 1819 quote: “It is, Sir, as I have said, a small college. And yet there are those who love it.”

It’s a moving quote, no doubt, spoken before the U.S. Supreme Court by one of Dartmouth’s most esteemed alumni. As counsel for the College in the case of Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward, Webster was said to have brought the courtroom to tears with his speech. The case was won, and students back in Hanover celebrated, appropriately, by shooting off a cannon.

Of course, the case itself, which focused on whether the New Hampshire government had the power to effectively make the College a public institution, had little to do with the fact that Dartmouth was a small college. In

fact, historians consider the case a landmark decision that spurred the growth of the free-enterprise economic system in the United States.

Not bad for a small college, you might say. Then again, Webster’s oft-quoted phrase was a sentimental appeal; the case was really won on the legal issues at stake. Yet Webster said it anyway, and his quote reverberates through time as Dartmouth maintains its status as the smallest college in the Ivy League.

But as important as traditions and history are to an institution like Dartmouth, so is keeping up with the times. With peer institutions like Princeton, Stanford and Yale Universities increasing their class sizes in recent years, Dartmouth has taken a possible step in that direction by forming a task force to consider the pros and cons of raising the College’s student body

by 10 to 25 percent.

This new task force may find itself dealing with a number of fundamental questions about the College’s identity: Should Dartmouth maintain its status as a small college with an undergraduate focus? Should Dartmouth be considered a university, not a college, if roughly a third of its population is composed of graduate students? For our “College on the Hill,” is there actually enough room on this hill for more college?

Dean of the College and task force co-chair Rebecca Biron said she believes the task force will give relevant stakeholders a forum to answer these questions.

“One of the tasks of the task force is to organize ways for students, faculty, staff and the broader community to provide their perspectives … on what it would take for Dartmouth to grow its undergraduate student population

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and maintain the special, distinctive quality of the education it offers,” Biron said.

Rick Mills, the College’s executive vice president, said that the College has not been as intentional regarding class sizes as it should be, and that the task force represents an opportunity to more thoughtfully make that decision.

“There should be moments when we reflect on: Are we the size we are because it’s what we chose, or are we the size we are because we simply aren’t paying attention?” Mills said.

Mills added that the task force will have to consider a number of circumstances that would accompany a hypothetical class size increase, including dorm space, classrooms, dining facilities and health services.

He said that the task force has been charged with making sure any plans break even financially, although the current cost of educating a Dartmouth student is double the sticker-price tuition.

“If you could just add new students without any new incremental costs then clearly… it helps the numbers,” Mills said. “But nobody thinks that’s the case.”

Mills said that considerations of two issues in particular — housing and classroom space — are being debated by the College regardless of the decisions made by the task force. He said that the College’s decision to consider building new undergraduate housing in College Park predates creation of the task force, and that classroom changes are essential either way.

“Whether we grow or we don’t grow, I think we all know that we need to refresh our classroom space,” Mills said.

Mark McPeek, a biology professor and a member of the task force, also said that Dartmouth’s current stock of classrooms needs improvement.

“The classrooms we’ve got — a lot of them are, frankly, horrible,” McPeek said.

He added that a student body increase would require both an

expansion of classroom space and of faculty size to maintain low class sizes.

“If you maintain the number of classes that are given and increase the number of people taking classes, class sizes go up,” McPeek said. “So increasing the number of faculty teaching undergraduate classes is just a necessity if you’re going to maintain class sizes.”

McPeek noted that while hiring more faculty may be needed to accompany a growth in students, this should not detract from Dartmouth’s focus on undergraduate education or research opportunities.

“Faculty [at Dartmouth] are held to the highest standards on both teaching and research,” McPeek said. “And there’s literally no other place in the world that does that.”

This dual expectation of teaching and research that McPeek mentions speaks to a larger, more fundamental question — should Dartmouth be considered a college or a university?

While it calls itself a college and in many ways resembles a liberal arts institution, Dartmouth also has graduate programs and research opportunities as well — more in line with a research university.

Bev Taylor, founder of the college admissions consulting firm Ivy Coach, said that Dartmouth is undoubtedly a university, but it calls itself a college because of tradition.

“If people don’t get that Dartmouth College is a university, well so be it,” Taylor said.

She added that students looking for a really small college setting would probably not choose Dartmouth one way or the other.

Mills called the college versus university debate “an existential question for Dartmouth,” but one that may be more semantical than meaningful.

“If we can get past that name question, what we really should be talking about is, ‘How do we want to educate students, what’s the environment we provide, what

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is it that makes Dartmouth distinct and unique?’” Mills said.

Biron said that Dartmouth’s small size and undergraduate focus are significant aspects of its identity.

“Dartmouth is justifiably very proud of its undergraduate education,” Biron said. “We are highly ranked in that area externally; but also internally, that’s what the teacher-scholar model is based on. Students come to Dartmouth because it’s a distinctive size.”

Biron noted, however, that a population increase does not by definition have to portend major changes to the school.

“I don’t think we have to assume that growing would necessarily harm the distinctiveness that we have,” Biron said. “It could, in which case, we have to be very, very careful in providing complete information to the Board of Trustees.”

In a recent poll of students conducted by The Dartmouth from Sept. 24 to Sept. 28, 58 percent of the 677 respondents identified Dartmouth as a liberal arts college, while another 40 percent described it as both a liberal arts college and a research university.

Eighty-eight percent of respondents said they considered Dartmouth to be either “very unique” or “somewhat unique” relative to other Ivy League schools.

Matthew Goldstein ’18, president of the 2018 Class Council , said that while Dartmouth is by definition a university, there are benefits of calling itself and functioning as a college, such as helping students build stronger interpersonal relationships.

“This experience that we have — small class sizes, being a college in the classical sense — is what we should continue to do for as long as we can,” Goldstein said.

G o l d s t e i n a g r e e d t h a t Dartmouth’s smaller student population is an important

By ALEX FREDMAN The Dartmouth Staff

part of its identity, and he noted that using the word “college” connotes things like a smaller size and liberal arts focus. He also commented that the current state of facilities on campus should cause the College to take pause before considering adding students.

“We have dining facilities that are consistently overcrowded and consistently complained about,” Goldstein said. “And I would look to fixing that before you try to push students in here, the bulk of [whom] will inevitably be disappointed in the same ways that the students now are disappointed by those things.”

Brandon Yu ’20, a 2020 Class Council executive, said that if the College expands class sizes, it should do so gradually to avoid problems like overcrowding. In his opinion, however, he said that increasing class sizes may be a misguided decision.

“I want us to keep the size that we have right now … it’s been like this for quite some time now,” Yu said.

“And I think there’s a reason why Dartmouth holds a special place in students’ hearts.”

Yu said that he believes Dartmouth intentionally markets itself as a small, liberal arts college with an intimate community, and that, for better or for worse, it would not be the same if a student body expansion occurred.

Goldstein and Yu are not alone among Dartmouth students in their skepticism of expanding class sizes. The poll conducted by The Dartmouth found that 76 percent of students believe Dartmouth should stay the same size, while 16 percent believe Dartmouth should decrease and only 6 percent believe it should increase in size.

Yu also expressed disappointment that no students sit in on the task force considering the matter.

“To me, it would make sense that there would be a student member to provide input on whether their experience would be positively or negatively affected by an increase in student body,” Yu said.

Goldstein said he finds it

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ALEXANDER AGADJANIAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Eighty-eight percent of respondents said the College is “very” or “somewhat unique” compared to other Ivy League schools.

upsetting, but not surprising, that no students are on the task force, and he questioned the purpose of considering a class size increase at this time.

“I think the administration has a bad habit of trying to create these short-term fixes that ostensibly plug holes, but only serve to exacerbate problems or create different problems that will end up coming up in the future,” Goldstein said. “And I think this is another example of that.”

Mills, on the other hand, said that the potential for larger class sizes may represent an effort by the College to improve its effect on the world.

“Dartmouth has this tax-exempt status from the government, and the reason we have a tax-exempt status is that it is viewed we are doing a public good, that we’re delivering a public good,” Mills said. “And I think the public good is pretty clearly the teaching and research we do. And

I think in that regard, we have an obligation to say, ‘Is there some way to deliver more public good?’”

Taylor said that Dartmouth’s choice to consider increasing class sizes is a matter of keeping up with the times, as peer institutions like Princeton, Stanford and Yale have recently done so, and that it offers an opportunity for the College to accept a better group of students.

“Accepting a larger class, accepting more students, will add to the diversity of the College,” Taylor said. “And I believe that this is a primary goal for all of these colleges that are considering this move.”

She added that highly selective schools like Dartmouth often claim after admissions seasons that they regret not being able to accept more talented students.

Biron said that the task force will be interviewing people from peer

institutions to gain perspective on their class size increase efforts.

“We’re asking them a series of very pointed questions: ‘Why did you want to [increase size], what were your goals, what obstacles did you come across, where did you stumble and how did you go about it?’” Biron said.

Mills said that while it is clear the College’s trustees are considering whether to expand the student population in light of the recent changes at peer institutions, the question remains one that the College on the Hill has always faced.

“If Dartmouth had stayed the size of the school that Eleazar Wheelock had established, we wouldn’t be what we are,” Mills said.

Goldstein is a member of T he Dartmouth staff.

ALANA BERNYS AND HANA WARMFLASH/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

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Good Samaritan policy Student-athletes, coaches and doctors sees expansion weigh in on the effects of concussions Sam policy and did not know what exactly it entailed.

Simon Ellis ’20 said that an Ellis hopes that people will increase in Good Sam calls is continue to take advantage of the indicative of the success of the policy.

“I’ve honestly never had a program.

Last fall term, Ellis made a Good negative experience with the Sam call for an intoxicated friend policy,” he said. “I think it’s a lot better than after bringing letting Safety and her to her dorm “I’ve honestly Security handle and realizing things alone. When that her UGA never had yo u c a l l G o o d could not make a negative Sam, ever yone a Good Sam call. is very receptive “We assessed experience with it’s really nonthe situation and the policy. I think and judgmental.” believed it was A n o t h e r the right course it’s a lot better of action,” he than letting Safety s t u d e n t , w h o asked to remain said, adding anonymous for that it was not a and Security privacy concerns, difficult process handle things also hopes that to go through. more students Ellis believes alone. When you feel comfortable t h a t a l l o w i n g call Good Sam, enough to use UGAs to make Good Sam. Last Good Sam calls everyone is very fall, this student w i l l b e v e r y receptive and was picked up by helpful, and that Safety and Security these changes it’s really nonwhile intoxicated will hopefully judgmental.” and had to go r e m ov e m o r e through a Judicial barriers around Affairs hearing. making a Good -SIMON ELLIS ’20 “I’ve never seen Sam call.

[Good Sam] in a Last year, Ellis negative light — was also involved I definitely wish in an incident where he felt he had needed to it was something that had been make a Good Sam call for himself, used on me [in that situation],” the but his friends were too of the student said. “People don’t want to repercussions of making the call, [make a Good Sam call for] their which he attributed to the stigma friends — but the other option is so much worse … I feel better about surrounding Good Sam calls.

“If you don’t have a direct [the policy] as a whole knowing interaction with the program, that it is offering more protection you’re scared of it and too afraid,” [than before].” he said, adding that freshmen do not have experience with the Good Ellis is a member of The Dartmouth.

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ALEXANDER AGADJANIAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Sixty-five percent of polled students said they would be more likely to advantage of Dartmouth’s recently expanded Good Samaritan policy.

more concussions than men,” said and prevention extends beyond the William Storo ’88, a pediatrician at football field. science lab … the brain doesn’t heal, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Concord and “A lot of my guys are engineers, and it actually takes you longer to get concussion specialist. doctors, venture capital people, better.”

“Some people entrepreneurs — very, very successful West said that while “I had to quit feel women are individuals,” he said. “I tell my players she didn’t feel any much more willing that they use their minds way longer external pressure to soccer because to report [their than they use their body, so let’s protect get better or heal any I realized I concussion] and your mind.” faster, she did face a be honest with In 2010, Dartmouth football made lot of internal pressure was going on their symptoms,” a radical move by announcing it because she wasn’t nine months Storo said. would hold no-contact practices and healing as quickly as Lichtenstein felt team up with the Thayer School of she had hoped to, [of recovery similarly, saying, Engineering at Dartmouth to create a especially taking on time] and never that female athletes mobile virtual player to practice with new commitments this tend to take longer instead. In 2015, a prototype robot was wanted to risk fall. to recover than created. Since the implementation of “I think that it’s hard this happening a males. He said these policies and the use of the robotic because at Dartmouth, that this difference practice dummy, the football team has a lot of us put these fourth time.” could possibly be seen a decrease in injuries and missed burdens on ourselves, due to biological tackles. and we feel as if we have -STEPHANIE EVERETT differences, but a “The push has been to reduce the to overload ourselves,” more likely answer opportunities for contact in practice ’19 West said. is that women without depriving our guys from the Unease with “taking are more willing opportunity to improve their skill sets it easy” can also affect to report their in the game,” Teevens said. students’ social lives. West said that symptoms and men underreport.

While Dartmouth is making her concussions have contributed Both Everett and West find it strides in concussion prevention for to feelings of isolation on campus fairly common that student-athletes football, a sport known for its resulting from both the larger Dartmouth will either not report their suspected concussions, feelings are mixed on community and her smaller groups concussion or will return to play before whether the College is doing enough of friends, noting the major role that they are completely healed. for all its student-athletes.

Greek organizations play on campus. “Two of my teammates have gotten Lichtenstein said that there is “Not being able to go out and being concussed and didn’t tell anyone, but conflicting research about whether sensitive to noise and light makes it I knew about it so it was frustrating to there are long term effects of sustaining really hard,” she said. “It also can be see them get better in like two weeks a concussion. frustrating because a lot of people while still playing,” Everett said.

“The long-term effects are one don’t realize that concussions change There could also be pressure of those things [that scientists] are your mood, so it’s been hard to talk to play before fully really trying to wrap to people and go about my daily life recovering from “The push has our heads around,” when I think they can tell I’m not the a concussion or a Lichtenstein said. same person I was a couple months majory injury, which been to reduce “I think we have ago.” increases the chances the opportunities a less complete Similarly, Everett found that of suffering another understanding and for contact in because of her concussion, she injury that could have definition of that struggled to meet the demands of her dire consequences. practice without than we do of the social life and responsibilities.

“T here’s a short-term [effects].” depriving our “I was president of my sorority hypothesis that if West said that [this past summer], so I had to go to somebody has a guys from the the school is doing 85 percent of events as part of my concussion and then the best it can, but opportunity to job,” Everett said. they return to play in she believes that With sorority events six times a the next day or two improve their overall, there are week, Everett found fulfilling her when their brain skill sets in the certain things that job difficult because she often had is in this very, very the school can’t headaches throughout the night. vulnerable state and game.” provide a solution for.

Everett also said that her they take another She does, however, relationship with her teammates and blow that can be very find it frustrating coaches changed when she was forced minor, it may cause a -BUDDY TEEVENS that as a member to prioritize her health. vascular disruption ’79, FOOTBALL HEAD of a club sport, she “I had to quit soccer because I in the brain, major doesn’t have access COACH realized I was going on nine months b l e e d i n g a n d to the same recovery [of recovery time] and never wanted a c a t a s t r o p h i c resources as a varsity to risk this happening a fourth time,” o u t c o m e , ” student-athlete does.

Everett said. “I lost pretty much Lichtenstein said.

Though, as everyone on the team. We will still say While few sports a former varsity ‘hi’ and get a meal sometimes, but I have developed concrete responses athlete, Everett believes the College’s think with sports teams, it’s really hard and policy changes to practice and athletic department could still provide for them to hang out with people who game protocol in response to the more support for those injured. aren’t on their team.” increased trend of concussions “I’ve spent more time concussed When analyzing the effects of in youth, the Dartmouth football at Dartmouth than I have healed,” concussions, it is also important to program has chosen to respond more Everett said. “I don’t know how acknowledge those students who are aggressively. Football head coach [Dartmouth] would [address the more susceptible to these injuries.

Buddy Teevens ’79, explains that his issue], but I think it needs to be a “It does seem that … women have commitment to concussion awareness bigger deal.”

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SAMANTHA BURACK/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

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Dear old Dartmouth, give a rouse For the College on the hill! For the Lone Pine above her,

Survey examines student opinions of the College

From Sunday, Sept. 24 to Thursday, Sept. 28, The Dartmouth fielded an online survey of Dartmouth undergraduates on their opinions of different aspects of the College. The survey was sent out to 4,418 students through their school email addresses. Six hundred seventy-seven responses were recorded, making for a 15.3 percent response rate. Using administrative data from the College’s Office of Institutional Research and other sources, responses were first weighted by Greek affiliation for all eligible students, then weighted by class year, gender, race/ethnicity and international student status for all students. Iterative post-stratification, or raking, was the method used for weighting. Survey results have a margin of error +/- 3.

ALEXANDER AGADJANIAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Forty percent of students polled consider Dartmouth to be both a research university and a liberal arts college.

SAMANTHA BURACK/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

ALEXANDER AGADJANIAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Forty-nine percent of students surveyed strongly oppose the possibility of Dartmouth increasing its undergraduate student body by 10 to 25 percent.

ALEXANDER AGADJANIAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Fifty-four percent of students surveyed think it is “somewhat important” for Dartmouth to rank highly among U.S. colleges.

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Lest the old traditions fail.

And the loyal ones who love her.

STAFF COLUMNIST MATT BROWN ’19

STAFF COLUMNIST LUCY LI ’19

On the Old

Growing Pains

Traditions are timeless; our customs are not.

Dartmouth taught me how to appreciate what was always there.

Most, if not all, of the world’s great legacies the sense of place and community the ritual are steeped in tradition. Our predisposition embodies by connecting the freshmen to the to tradition is what enables constitutions and recent graduates. The ceremony also bonds government, what permits the formation of the freshmen and is a worthwhile tradition scientific paradigms and what directs the as a community building exercise. passing down and flourishing of timeless Homecoming is a time for current stories and art. Tradition also has led to students, parents and decades of alumni great suffering and mindless bureaucracy. At and friends of the College to welcome Dartmouth, we are familiar with the many the freshman class into the Dartmouth benefits and pitfalls of observing tradition. community. It’s a time for the freshmen to During this Homecoming season, it is build lifelong bonds between each other important that we remember why we observe and for older classes to renew and deepen the traditions of Homecoming and what such their connections. The Homecoming bonfire actions and rituals mean in an ever-changing has proven an invaluable focal point for world. our community, one that after criticism still The trouble with tradition arises when maintains its merit. ritual and dogma begin to outweigh meaning A word of caution, however, for our and value. Traditions fail when they are current traditions: Though the wisdom of unmoored from their wisdom or when the a tradition can simply be the joy it brings, wisdom backing them is proven wrong. when tradition becomes unsustainable Because we live in a world of change and or dangerous its utility will inevitably be because our forerunners are as fallible as we revisited. Unless current trends change, the are, it’s important to constantly interrogate the Winter Carnival snow sculpture may become ritual and observance of every tradition we a casualty of climate change and student engage in. We cannot simply rely on posterity apathy. Both Green Key and Homecoming to justify rituals that prove harmful or unjust. are traditions that, due to the rowdiness that Dartmouth is no stranger to these discussions often accompanies these weekends, are under — nearly every tradition at Dartmouth has fire from residents of Hanover and the Upper either been criticized, Valley. Should we forget abolished, protested or the communal purpose changed. It’s no secret that “The trouble with of the “big weekends” many within the College tradition arises when and instead only observe resisted coeducation in their debauchery, I’m 1972; Dartmouth saw ritual and dogma not sure our neighbors intense pushback after begin to outweigh or the College will let us its decision to retire continue. its Native American meaning and value.”

It’s also important to mascot, the Dartmouth recognize that few, if any, Indian, in 1974. That the of our traditions are as Indian head can still be spotted on campus is old as the College. The “Dartmouth Night” a testament to the stubbornness of tradition bonfire only became an official practice in at such a storied institution.

1895, having been practiced sporadically These customs weren’t stopped for the sake after various sports victories before that. of abolition but rather interrogated to see how The Twilight Ceremony dates back even each aligns with the mission and values that earlier. This spring, Programming Board it rests upon. Upon review, many of our past will bring the sixth official Green Key decisions did not hold up to the test of time, concert, a strong addition to Green Key, a and we revised them. The evolution of this festival that has little reason to exist other campus due to internal and external pressures than for our collective revelry. The festival is the reason why Dartmouth remains one of has lost many of its original traditions since the most influential colleges in the country. its inception in the 1940s. Times change; This Homecoming, as thousands descend traditions adapt. This isn’t something to on Hanover to enjoy the community that fear or revile. In fact, we’ve been changing has been established here, it is important to our practices and customs since we began remember why we engage in these rituals. observing them.

Aside from simply for the fun of it, there is I reiterate that tradition is important, little inherently valuable to running around invaluable even, to the success of our a giant pillar of fire. If a random guy Dartmouth community and larger society. constructed the same bonfire in a random The College’s history is what makes it field and ran around it 121 times, his motives distinct, and our traditions are how we honor would likely be questioned. The value of the that. As we celebrate and observe, let’s focus bonfire is not in the ritual itself, but instead, on the reasons behind the traditions. We can in the bonding it helps to facilitate. still revel in fun, but we should learn from Dartmouth excels in these bonding the ceremonies and understand the place activities. The Twilight Ceremony that and power of our rituals and wisdom. If each entering class participates in during we never lose sight of the reason behind Orientation is a perfect example. There is little our traditions, then they will never fail and meaning to the action of lighting candles and future generations will be better because walking across campus, but there is meaning to of it.

A full year after arriving at Dartmouth, I love Dartmouth because she gave me I realized that something I had been used a family of women who taught me how to my entire life had largely went missing to feel empowered. From this family of after making the trek across the country to women, I have learned that building a strong this campus. It was a feeling, an identity, community is something that you must a subconscious way of thinking that I had invest your heart and soul in and that the held onto my skin like a blanket that never community you build is the product of your kept me warm. It was so engrained in my values. We followed in the footsteps of the sense of self that I hadn’t known that it revolutionary women who made our house existed until I realized, a year later, that local, and together we continue to push for the blanket had slid off me like the heavy, our values of diversity and inclusivity by fruitless baggage that it was. make our home a space where women of I filled what I had lost with something all backgrounds feel loved and accepted. We new. Shortly after this realization, I got a have rewritten the words we follow, painted small tattoo of my Chinese name on my on our walls with new spirit and created new left inner forearm. The symbolic meaning traditions to embody the love we have and of my name is “to shower with God’s love the growth we strive for. These women have and grace,” and at that point of my life I given me the strength to value myself as a finally felt connected enough to half of woman of color and to use that strength to myself to accept that name as my own and help other women realize that they are worthy wear it proudly, and literally, on my skin. enough to be appreciated. They have shown This tattoo marked the era that I had me that growth is intentional, and that as entered into: one where I no longer wanted a collective we can build a better world the to overcompensate for not fitting into a same way we have built a better sisterhood. stereotype or being ashamed of looking I love Dartmouth because she taught me different from most people in the room. I that I could identity as a woman of color, and looked back on those times when people doing so has changed my life. I didn’t know called me “Americanized” or told me that that “person of color” was a term until I I “seemed white,” and I no got to Dartmouth, and realizing longer felt proud the way that I could self-identity as one “I love that I used to. I felt sad for finally explained the uniqueness the girl who considered it a Dartmouth of my experiences. It allowed compliment, and I decided because I don’t me to understand a simple fact to help her. of my existence: People will Coming to Dartmouth always like treat you differently for how you was when I stopped trying her.” look, but you have the power to to reconcile my love for be as you are. myself with not wanting

I love Dartmouth because to be myself. I settled on I don’t always like her. I am complete acceptance. I repulsed by values of the old learned that the experiences I had deemed Dartmouth, one where difference was put normal were not, in fact, normal; they down and bullied away, and the vestiges were micro-aggressions — and some were of sexism, racism and exclusivity that we not so micro — designed to make me continue to fight today. I am horrified by the uncomfortable in my own skin. I learned unsafe home Dartmouth has become for so the value that I carry as someone capable many women who have been violated and of transcending two different worlds and treated as less than human on this campus. I the strength of my individuality without am frustrated by policies and systems put in needing to validate its existence. The place that have not listened to the students’ second that I started to expect more from voices, but instead the College’s reputation others and how they treated me, the less I and endowment. However, I understand felt trapped in a skin that half of me had that what is perfect cannot be loved, only always wished I could take off. All of this worshipped. I love Dartmouth not because happened at Dartmouth without me ever I want her to be perfect, but because she realizing that it was happening, and now, has created a community that is constantly two years later, I can tell you why. dreaming up ways to be better.

I love Dartmouth because she has given It is not that I love Dartmouth so me relationships that show me how much loyally and blindly, but that she has given value I have without needing to be more or me individuals, communities, traditions less of anything. My friends have stayed up and a passion for learning that I love late with me to hear my story and shown me wholeheartedly. I love Dartmouth because the value that my story has to offer. They of what I have made out of my experiences have sought to understand the reality that here and because she has taught me how to I live, and they’ve helped me to understand envision a better world and the part that I that my individuality comes from within can play in it. I can now see how my Chinese me and how I express it, not from trying name was omen for the life I’ve lived, and to distract people from the stereotype that I love Dartmouth for clearing out the smog I’m afraid of. I’ve learned from them that that prevented me from seeing what was I am entitled to stand up for myself. always there.

THE DARTMOUTH HOMECOMING ISSUE

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2017

PAGE 19

Dare a deed for the old mother.

Her spell on them remains.

STAFF COLUMNIST STEVEN CHUN ’19

VERBUM ULTIMUM THE DARTMOUTH EDITORIAL BOARD

Risk and the Undergraduate

The Homecoming We Want

Stifling all risk on campus does a disservice to students and the College itself.

The Dartmouth administration would much prefer if fewer deeds were dared. Deeds — and particularly those of the daring kind — on college campuses are common sources of litigation and bad press. Indeed, the line in our “Alma Mater” is anachronistic in our current collegiate atmosphere. It celebrates risk, whereas risk is increasingly vilified in the modern university.

While the administration has a responsibility to dissuade students from engaging in harmful and pointless risks, by discouraging all risk-taking, the College is relegating itself to mediocrity. It’s time that Dartmouth — administration and students alike — learn to love risk.

To be clear, this is not a “good-old-days” argument. Plenty of collegiate behavior was, and is, simultaneously risky, worthless and dangerous.

However, restrictions on student life have crossed from the sensible to the stifling. This isn’t unique to Dartmouth; in fact, Dartmouth may have been one of the last holdouts — having a thousand freshmen run around a bonfire is plenty risky. But therein lies my point: The bonfire is a seminal Dartmouth experience that holds immense symbolic importance in the hearts of all students.

Yet, to any administrative risk officer, the bonfire is a liability nightmare — surely something to axe.

At some point, it becomes virtually impossible to minimize risk without killing that which is essential to any worthwhile deed. Facebook was infamously founded in the aftermath of Mark Zuckerberg’s administrative board hearing concerning hacking school servers at Harvard University. I can’t fathom the number of successful or morally impactful businesses, projects or movements which were based in rule-breaking.

Across the United States, colleges are moving to minimize risk and maximize order, safety and good press. This paternalism often takes the form of dismantling spaces the college finds risky. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has closed its Senior House, an alternative dorm whose annual Steer Roast party reunites its alumni — alumni who have contributed significantly to encryption technology designed to protect dissent. The California Institute of Technology once kicked out the members of its Ricketts House, well known for pyrotechnics and its inverted pentagram mural.

The more rules that are imposed, the more counter-culture seeks to break them. You cannot regulate counter-culture, so instead administrators have elected to kill it and its art, innovation, dissent and willingness to challenge the status quo. Yet the dissolution of risk on campus affects the egghead as much as the hippie.

In the 1930s, Ed Forman, Frank Malina and Jack Parsons accidentally set off a small explosion in their dorm at Caltech while testing a rocket — a technology that, at the time, was ridiculed as impractical. The school initially kicked them off campus, but then welcomed them back with mentorship and a new laboratory.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory was born that day. I’m afraid the tradeoff between safety and innovation is a zero-sum game. You cannot

remove risk without killing originality — which, by definition cannot be “approved.” Original, status-quo altering thought fundamentally runs contrary to the rules and common sense that we would seek to use to minimize risk.

I have no doubt that on a campus that regulates summertime swimming in the Connecticut River, so much as soldering a breadboard in an unapproved space is worthy of expulsion (much less mixing rocket fuel).

But the promotion of this cowering mediocrity is also the students’ fault. Harvard Law School professor Mihir Desai wrote about elite students’ pursuit of “optionality” — a term borrowed from finance which Desai described as “the state of enjoying possibilities without being on the hook to do anything.”

Consulting, finance or an MBA all confer optionality — surely once you have the resources or experience you’ll pursue your novel, startup or NGO. There’s no risk in a well-paying job that can serve as a launching pad for countless other careers, but there’s also the insidious lure of acquiring ever more optionality.

“Dare to be Different” declares Dartmouth’s Center for Professional Development as the Center’s slideshows flash: “Crack the Case Interview” and “Finance Interview Prep 1:1.”

Its employer listings are a feast of optionality.

The irony is somewhat sad. There’s a very low bar for difference at Dartmouth, but don’t worry: That bar has certainly been run by Dartmouth’s legal counsel.

Former College President John Sloan Dickey once wrote, “There is no more vulnerable human combination than an undergraduate.” But rather than advocate for the undergraduate’s protection, Dickey stated the necessity of failure, risk and reward, saying, “An undergraduate who has not yet known these things in his own life can sometimes borrow from the total store of human woe and joy, and by using the tools of the intellect he can begin to lay out a pattern of belief for himself, but it will be a sharper etching after the bite of life’s acid is on it.”

Experiencing risk, tragedy and triumph are not benefits of a Dartmouth education; they are its very purpose. And while rising tuitions, college rankings and an increasingly corporate world will continually pressure colleges to serve the most palatable four years possible, it will come at the cost of the undergraduate.

Colleges used to know this. They trusted their undergraduates, let them fail and helped them back up when necessary. This isn’t about college students being “snowflakes;” in many ways, the students who have vigorously debated, protested and flaunted rules in the name of their beliefs are the risk-takers we aspire to be.

Dickey saw this, saying, “It is no false bravery to say that having watched both his [capacity for good] and his contagion for trouble, I am prepared to take my chances with the kind of world the undergraduate creates when he works at it.” There is no danger in mediocrity, no controversy in the sanitized, but there is little life in what’s left.

Students will give to the College if it gives back.

This Saturday, Yale University’s football team will arrive in Hanover to compete against the Big Green in our annual Homecoming football game. For students, it is a time for camaraderie and excitement. For alumni, it’s a time for nostalgia and tradition. It is also a moment of reflection. Long after the game ends, we must remember what makes Dartmouth exceptional. Football is great. Tradition is great.

But Dartmouth, hundreds of years from now, will not be remembered for how many touchdowns it scored or how many bonfires it hosted. As an institution, its claim to exceptionalism is marked by the value it adds to the world. Being a small liberal arts college, Dartmouth is not solely the breadth of research published each year. Our measuring stick is, and should be, the number of societal stewards and leaders we send forth after Commencement.

We must acknowledge, though, that when our future leaders enter the classroom halls of Dartmouth for the first time, they are not all on equal footing. Those who are first-generation college students or from low-income families, for instance, may face challenges navigating an extremely affluent landscape. Similarly, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Latinx, Native Americans, LGBTQ and other minorities may feel isolated in lecture halls dominated by traditional students. This is why Dartmouth has initiatives like the First-Year Student Enrichment Program and the Office of Pluralism and Leadership. These systems of support provide resources and communities for those who, because of their backgrounds, may feel unprepared for the intensity of college.

While it is important that Dartmouth continue these programs, it must also try to implement others. Inclusivity must be prioritized if Dartmouth is to attract and cultivate talent across all spectra. One way it can start to do so is by retaining faculty of color. A report by Dartmouth’s Ad Hoc Committee on Diversity and Inclusion last year found the attrition rate for faculty of color to be 85 percent between 2007 and 2012.

A petition from the group #Fight4FacultyofColor said that as of 2016, 36 faculty of color had left the College in the 15 years prior, making them 2.5 times more likely to leave than their white counterparts. Furthermore, a climate survey commissioned by the College reported that 21 percent of tenure-track professors experienced “exclusionary, intimidating, offensive or hostile conduct” during their time at Dartmouth.

Of these professors, 16 percent felt that their experiences were related to their ethnicities. This exclusion must be met with fierce opposition.

Not only is it unfair to scholars of color, but it is equally unfair to students who are robbed of the opportunity to work closely with them. The College must find a way to improve retention among faculty of color if it is to provide adequate support for students identifying as non-white.

Another opportunity to improve support can be found in improving financial aid packages.

Even though Dartmouth guarantees to meet 100 percent of demonstrated need in financial aid, it remains one of the few top tier schools with a loan policy. Brown University, which has

both a larger student population and a smaller endowment than Dartmouth, recently committed $120 million in an effort to drop loans from aid packages. Dartmouth’s endowment can be used to both reduce the financial burden on low- and middle-income families while simultaneously giving these students the freedom to pursue higher education without the concern of repaying debt after graduation.

Besides providing institutional support to different socioeconomic and ethnic groups, Dartmouth must remain true to its liberal arts mission by supporting a wide array of interests.

Currently, Dartmouth presents a disproportionally more robust offering in a select amount of majors.

The Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy provides many opportunities for students to do internships, conduct research and interact with high-profile leaders of government, but other departments may not be as developed. The Ethics Institute, established fairly recently in 1982, is one example of a subject area that is still lacking in resources.

“We really don’t have any institute at Dartmouth that is focused on understanding the law from a liberal arts perspective,” said Sonu Bedi, the institute’s director, in a previous interview with The Dartmouth.

It’s easy to feel that finance and consulting are the mainstream career paths for graduating seniors — because they are. Fifty-two of the 105 companies at a recent career fair hosted by the Center for Professional Development represented the finance and consulting sectors. Forty-seven percent of the Class of 2017 went into finance and consulting after graduation, according to Dartmouth’s 2017 cap and gown survey.

This is not to say these industries are bad.

Indeed, we need Dartmouth students to become leaders in finance and consulting. However, Dartmouth’s reputation is not just its Wall Street or K Street presence. It does not just need hedge fund managers. It needs artists and philosophers.

It needs both the Shonda Rhimes ’91s and the Kyle Hendricks ’12s — the Mindy Kaling ’01s and the Dr. Seuss ’25s.

Dartmouth needs to establish more systems of support for people of disadvantaged backgrounds to reach those heights. A black woman accepted to Dartmouth should be able to imagine herself as a successful litigator. A Latino man should be able to achieve his dreams as an engineer. A lowincome or first-generation college student should be able to graduate debt-free. Dartmouth is for them as much as it is for any other student, and the College should support traditionally disadvantaged students in whatever way possible.

This is the Dartmouth we want. After Homecoming ends, the excitement will draw to a close — and the cleanup will begin. Let us perpetually critique our current system, imagine new systems of support and remain optimistic about the future. Our task is not finished until we can say, in the spirit of Dwight D. Eisenhower, that “this is what a college should look like.”

The editorial board consists of the issue opinion editor, the issue editors, the opinion editors, the executive editors and the editor-in-chief.

THE DARTMOUTH HOMECOMING ISSUE

PAGE 20

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2017

For the College on the hill, For the Lone Pine above her, And the loyal ones who love her.

Through the Looking Glass: Becoming a Lone Pine for a group of people who would be “my people.” My freshman year was spent seeking out my own It’s a crisp fall afternoon. The forest at Dartmouth. leaves crunch beneath my feet, Now it is sophomore year, and and my breath trails behind me I find myself standing on top of a in large puffs. My cheeks are red, table while a group of women shout wind-burnt, and my nose runs my name in praise, screaming uncontrollably. I make the final “Welcome home, Allie!” I am trek to the top of the hill and stop, sporting a new shirt, decorated out of breath. I look out over the with Greek letters, and my heart campus that the bronze eyes of surges. Wow — I am a part of Robert Frost’s statue mulls over, at something awesome. However, Baker-Berry Library, standing tall, as sophomore year progressed, I and I rest my foot on the stump spent many a night talking with that reads “Lone Pine.” It is the one of my best friends who was Saturday before senior fall begins, not welcomed by the women’s rush and a wave of nostalgia washes process. Her confidence and sense over me. of self was shaken by the fact that I reminisce about the many she was not chosen to join one of times I have retreated to this very these communities. spot, to chat with Robert although I began to wonder: What is he won’t answer back. I used to Dartmouth doing wrong? What perch on this very stump and look am I doing wrong? How am I out over Baker-Berry for answers complicit in this process that that it couldn’t give me. I begin to creates such insecurity? What can muse about my time at Dartmouth: I do to change that? how I’ve learned to be a “lone I also realized that rowing was pine,” fiercely individualistic, not my passion but something that but also learned to felt comfortable — a find safety in groups, “It is the point of validation, s e a rc h i n g f o r my Saturday a c o n c r e t e, s t a b l e “forest.” Dartmouth community. During my has somehow given before senior sophomore year, I found me both, teaching fall begins, that some forests are not me to be comfortable as organic as others, and alone and within large and a wave I questioned which ones g ro u p s. Fo r b o t h of nostalgia I would continue to take lessons, I am grateful. washes over part in.

It is freshman fall.

Now it is junior The air is crisp, and me.” ye a r, a n d s u d d e n l y everything is new. I I a m n o l o n g e r at am eager. I slowly Dartmouth, unable to glide forward in my walk to Robert Frost for seat, attempting to a quick chat or to dining keep time with the halls to be greeted by a woman in front of sea of familiar, friendly me as I hear the faces. Suddenly, I am in coxswain shout in a different country, one my ear, “Catchhhh, where everyone speaks SEND.” I was a walk-on member English with musical accents and on the women’s rowing team, the street performers wear kilts. brand-new to the sport. All I Academically, I am challenged wanted was to contribute; to show to understand and present the my coach and new teammates that opinions of ancient philosophical I would put in the work; to prove writers — what are they actually that I could get the hang of it and saying? Do I agree? How does to demonstrate that I could be a my personal bias play a role? contributing member of this team. I find myself discussing these I wanted to belong. writers with my fellow Dartmouth I wanted to confidently shower classmates in coffee shops, in pubs in the locker rooms, chatting and on walks through museums. nonchalantly as the recruits I am forced to take a side on seemed to, and walk into the everything. I’m forced to form Class of 1953 Commons with opinions and defend them. the rowing team, knowing that a I am forced into a new type giant table of familiar faces would of maturity. As I sat on the floor be waiting on the “dark side” of of the Copenhagen airport at 6 the dining hall for us. I wanted a.m., thinking about this whole to have upperclasswomen role “adulthood” thing, I was told by models who would show me the the woman at the EasyJet desk that ropes. I wanted to be a part of a the company I booked my flight community. I signed up for more through had not actually processed clubs that I could count, searching my ticket, and my name was not on

COLUMN

By ALLIE REICHERT

COURTESY OF ALLIE REICHERT

their list. There was nothing they could do to fix the logistical flaw, she told me. My phone wouldn’t place calls in Denmark, and the WiFi didn’t work. I was forced to buy another ticket home, leaving the next day, and figure out logistics that night on my own.

When I was abroad, I learned to be a lone pine.

Now it is now senior year. My time on “Lodj croo” for First-Year Trips has just ended, which means that my voice has finally returned to normal and my brightly dyed hair has faded to a nice shade of blonde. I just spent three weeks welcoming in a class of excited freshmen, reflecting on what it means to call a place “home.” On Trips, we discussed how to develop and sustain positive communities and worked to assure new students that they would definitely find their place — their people — on campus.

But as I stood, foot perched on the stump, I realized that it is not about finding your specific place at this school; it’s about finding

the confidence to be your own beyond Dartmouth, and she lone pine, your own best version was forced into independence. I of yourself, so that you can make realized the value in being alone any community your community. and the value in learning from Fr e s h m a n yourself. year Allie And senior year s o u g h t o u t “... I will forever Allie — well, she communi ti es be grateful to still has a lot to that were learn. c o m f o r t a b l e Dartmouth for the During my and familiar: lone pines — the time here, I have communi ti es d i s c ov e r e d t h a t that I could fiercely individual Dartmouth has t o u c h w i t h friends — I have many a meaningful my hands and forest. But to change e a s i l y l a b e l . gathered along the the communities S o p h o m o r e way.” you care about, you year Allie have to put in time. started to And in addition to question the forests, I will those labels, forever be grateful wonder what to Dartmouth for it means to be the lone pines — the a part of these fiercely individual s t r u c t u r e s a n d i n t e r r o g a t e friends — I have gathered along the meaningfulness of those the way. They have, and, I hope, communities. Junior year Allie will continue to stand with me on experienced a dose of the “real this crazy journey through life’s world,” or at least, the world winding trails.