Week in Review

Wednesday, May 1, 1996

Culture of Boredom

A student panel discussion entitled 'Dartmouth — A Culture of Violence' met last week to discuss date rape on campus. The forum, mediated by John Strayer '96, provided a chance for people who rarely — if ever — enter a fraternity house to advance unsubstantiated accusations of rape and sexual assault. Members of the panel also decried the supposed 'conformity' engendered by the Greek system, which they alleged is responsible for most sexual assaults on campus.

Panelist Jen Herbst '96 claimed that she never enters fraternity basements because 'they scare the sh*t out of me.' Fellow panelist Kristen Doolittle '96, who said she entered a fraternity for the first time last weekend, asserted that the best way to curb the problem of sexual assault would be to eliminate the Greek system altogether. Panelist Maryam Kia '96 remarked that all Greek houses should be forced to adopt coed status.

Mike Fahey '97, the token fraternity brother on the panel, suggested that the base cause of date rapes on campus is the abuse of alcohol. He was rebuked by Tiffany West '97, president of the African American Society, who complained that although alcohol is forbidden in the all-black Cutter Hall, sexual assaults still take place there.

Kia proposed that overabundant male energy is the cause of sexual assault on campus. Doolittle echoed the sentiment, claiming that Dartmouth, especially the Greek system, indoctrinates students and produces a 'rape culture.' Whether or not this 'rape culture' produces widespread rape (statistics, and common sense, illustrate that rape is an extreme rarity on campus) is irrelevant, of course, to the liberals who see a sex offender hiding behind every door.

Clearing the Air

Last week's issue of The Dartmouth Review summarized a front page Metro Section article of the New York Times that described a student who hired an 'admissions consultant' to gain acceptance to the College. In the April 24th issue of the Times, Karl Furstenberg and Fred Hargadon, the Deans of Admission of Dartmouth and Princeton, respectively, responded to the Times article. The following are excerpts from their letter to the Editor:

'Contrary to your April 17 news article on 'college matchmakers,' private, paid college consultants have no influence in admissions decisions at Dartmouth or Princeton. Neither Dartmouth nor Princeton communicates with consultants about individual students; nor are recommendations written by consultants considered in the decision on a student's application. Alas, we are unable to prevent private consultants from taking credit for the admission of students who would have been offered admission in any event. Your article highlights a disturbing trend that devalues the substantive accomplishments of students, thereby promoting the sort of cynicism and anxiety that lead some families to consultants in the first place.'

Take Back the Night

Sexual Assault Awareness Week made its annual return to Dartmouth last week. The culminating event of the week — the 'Take Back the Night' march — began on the steps of Webster Hall with short speeches from victims of sexual assault, but the political undercurrent of the event turned it quickly into a rally against not just rapists, but all men. Participants were informed that looking at a woman's body constitutes sexual harassment, and few could resist mentioning the supposed connection between fraternities and rape.

The marchers set out armed with colorful posters proclaiming, 'You Know Men Who Rape,' and '[I am a] White Male Feminist.' Cacophonous chants of 'Dartmouth Unite! Take Back the Night!' could be heard as the army of marchers snaked across campus. Their destination? The evident wellspring of rape and sexual assault on campus: Fraternity Row. The chants there changed from 'Dartmouth Unite!' to 'Frats Unite!' as the mob wandered around the Row, placing candles at fraternity doorsteps. Regrouping, the marchers then made their way to the Green for the obligatory candlelight vigil.

Man of Dartmouth

The Dartmouth and Hanover communities lost a true friend last Monday when Edward S. Brown passed away in Hanover. A graduate of the College in 1934 and of the Thayer School of Engineering the following year, Professor Brown served Dartmouth for nearly 50 years. In 1937 he began teaching at Dartmouth and became a full professor seven years later. In addition to teaching, he sat on various local and state water control and health boards. Professor Brown retired in 1977. A man with so much concern for Dartmouth will be sorely missed. The College's quest for neo-progressivism is slowly destroying the potential for the kind of committment Professor Brown embodied.

Passing Glances

Did you know that when a man looks at or talks to a woman on the street that he is committing 'street abuse?' According to NYU graduate student/film maker Maggie Hedleigh-West, speaking at the College as part of Sexual Assault Awareness Week, it is. Ms. West showed her filmed chronicle of the gauntlet run daily by American women to about 40 students. The film uses MTV-like black and white footage of men on a New York City street 'abusing' Maggie —Üby looking her way — as she shoves an eight-millimeter camera (which she calls her 'phallus') in their faces. Maggie uses a voice-over accompanied by panting sounds to convey her message.

Get the Lead Out

Government professor Roger Masters has long held a that a major problem afflicting black America is the high level of lead and manganese contamination in the soil of black neighborhoods. If you fail to see the connection between soil and racism, you should have attended the recent debate, 'Environmental Racism: Does It Exist? Is it a Class issue?' Professor Masters took on chemistry professor James Worman and policy analyst Vernice Miller in a no-holds-barred contest.

Ms. Miller headed a study by the Environmental Justice Initiative of the Natural Resource Defense Council that found a link between racial neighborhoods and placement of federally regulated toxic waste sites. She was the most contentious of the speakers.

On the right, Professor Worman challenged the assumption that living near toxic waste dumps and industrial sites was unhealthy. While he agreed with Ms. Miller that there was an undeniable trend of minorities living near waste sites, he cited statistics showing that pollution was responsible for about 2% of all cancer incidence. Professor Worman also took issue with the charge of racism, saying there was no proof that chemical companies were intentionally trying to poison blacks and other minorities by locating dumps and plants near their neighborhoods.

Professor Masters again trotted out his data showing a link between manganese and lead contamination and high rates of crime. He blamed poor nutrition, high levels of alcoholism, and drug abuse — ailments which are, said Masters, 'epidemic' in the black community — for heightening the effects of contamination. According to Masters, studies have shown that the most violent criminals have abnormal levels of manganese and lead in their bodies.

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