Week in Review

Wednesday, October 2, 1996

Dating Service

This item appeared in the summer issue of TDR. It is reprinted here for those who missed it, or more likely missed out.

A recent essay in the College's new feminist journal, Intersections, examined the graffiti scrawled on tables in the Baker Reserve Corridor, pronouncing it sexist, racist, and heterosexist. The essay was followed by an editorial in the Dartmouth summarizing the author's conclusions.

Less of a stir has been made about the (homosexist?) graffiti in the men's bathroom off the Reserve Corridor. The bathroom walls have lately become the written equivalent of a dating service for homosexuals seeking anonymous liaisons. What's more, if the Reserve bathroom graffiti can be believed, the Hopkins center has become Dartmouth's version of the library bathrooms at Stanford University, where homosexuals reportedly used 'glory holes' to engage in anonymous sex.

'Top of Hop, BJ or f*ck me, hot young stud wanted, Monday 5 to 9 pm, big c*cks welcome, no old trolls,' reads one message. Another entices the reader to meet at the 'Top of Hop, July 16 noon,' and 'work my butt.' Another announces 'Top of Hop men's room, May 22 5:45 to 7:00 pm, young and ready to try anything.' Yet another asks the reader to meet at the 'Top of Hop, July 24 noon to 1:00 pm,' and reassures the prospective partner that 'it will fit fine.' A final mark is on the wall between the bathroom stalls, where a message urges the reader to 'tap floor for a BJ' from the man in the adjacent stall.

New Courses Offered

A survey of Organizations, Regulations, and Courses reveals a few new politically slanted classes promising stunningly intellectual conclusions and interesting fabrications of new and fashionable P.C. terms.

A description of Sociology 19, 'The Social Production of Hunger: Food Security in the World-System,' makes the shocking revelation that 'Hunger results from the persistent shortage of food and is the precursor of famines. It is the exclusive province of poverty and a daily fact for hundreds of millions of people. Hunger transcends national boundaries with upwards of 30 million people in the United States suffering from hunger in the 1990s.'

The Women's Studies department will be offering Women's Studies 44, 'Feminist Readings.'

The description for this course reads: 'This course will provide an in-depth look at the evolution of feminist literary criticism and theory during the last twenty years, concentrating on different feminist reading strategies, as exemplified in a number of case studies.... We will follow feminist challenges to the literary canon and feminist revisions of literary tradition. We will study examples of gynocriticism [emphasis added] and gender criticism, film theory and readings of popular culture, the intersections of race/class/gender, [and] lesbian and queer theory....'

Crash Course

The '00's, like the '99's and '98's, are required to fulfill 'distributive requirements' which mandate that a student pass a minimum number of courses in various fields of study. Among these requirements is a 'Non-Western requirement' —?a student must study the culture, art, literature, or some other aspect of a foreign culture.

Not surprisingly, many of the Non-Western courses focus on the political works of racial minorities in the West rather than on genuine works of a non-Western society. There are, however, a number of intellectually serious, academically challenging, and generally unpoliticized Non-Western courses, particularly in the History and Government departments.

The same cannot be said of Dartmouth's requirement that students pass one 'Interdisciplinary Course.' The Interdisciplinary requirement is essentially the same as the Non-Western, in that a student need only take one Interdisciplinary Course. For those trying to keep their College curriculum somewhat wholesome, though, it's a much more draconian policy —?nearly all of the College Courses are thoroughly politicized and intellectually vacuous.

Samplings from this year's Organizations, Regulations, and Courses?include a College Course on, 'Gender and Nationalism in Japanese Literature and Film,' which focuses on 'the significance of gender construction' and 'the place of women authors in the Japanese literary canon.' 'Narratives of Business and Business as a Narrative,' studies 'women or ethnic minorities who work to influence the role of business in American culture.'

One of last year's courses, focusing on artificial insemination and its social ramifications, will not be offered this year.

Finger Lickin' Good

Dartmouth Dining Services' efforts to revitalize Thayer dining hall have at least partially succeeded, if long lines at Food Court are a reliable indicator. Menus have grown slightly, and food quality seems to have improved a bit. A second grill has been added, and pizza service has expanded as well.

Of course, the increased demand at Food Court may just be due to the elimination of Full Fare, replaced by the West Side Buffet, yet another all-you-can-eat establishment which specializes in chicken. Collis, furthermore, no longer serves sandwiches, a task taken over by the Lone Pine Tavern. The 'tavern' now has neither hot food nor waiters, and a customer must go to the bar to get a beer.

Housing Crunch Solved?

A 'treehouse' expansion of Alpha Delta fraternity has been squashed because AD was unable to insure the project under College pressure.

Construction of the treehouse began when AD's James King '98 and Jonah Blumstein '98 failed to secure College housing for the fall. King and Blumstein enlisted Matt Welander '97 to design the structure, which would have incorporated a 120-square-foot common room, two loft bedrooms, and a front deck. The treehouse would have stood separate from the AD house, but would have had electricity and heating. Four telephone poles have already been sunk into the ground behind AD, and a wooden platform has been constructed. Now that the project is dead, however, all will be torn down. AD has already spent $2,000 of a planned $10,000 on the structure.

King and Blumstein acquired a zoning and use permit from the town, naming the treehouse an 'accessory structure' to the AD house. In an effort to halt the construction, the College appealed the permit, maintaining that the treehouse was a 'principal structure.' The project was dealt its death blow, however, when it was revealed that the College's umbrella insurance policy for Greek houses would not cover the treehouse.

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