Week in Review

Wednesday, October 22, 1997

Daring Dreamers On the Road

College President James O. Freedman spoke earlier this week at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. Freedman's speech focused on what he described as 'an attack on intellectualism in the United States.' Freedman cited 'widespread attacks on higher education, and on the professorate in particular, in renewed calls for a narrow vocationalism and practicality in college curricula, and in perennial efforts to abolish the National Endowments for the Humanities and the Arts, both of which are vital sources of support for intellectuals.'

Freedman also spent much time defending Affirmative-Action. 'Do we want to have a country in which all of the positions of leadership are given to people who are not members of a minority groups?' Freedman asked.

Bosworth Named South Korea Ambassador

Dartmouth Board of Trustee's Chairman Stephen Bosworth '61 will most likely be confirmed by the senate to be the ambassador to South Korea.

Last week the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to approve Bill Clinton's nomination of Bosworth to the diplomatic post.

Cardinal Sin

The Stanford Band hit a sour note last week after their half-time performance during a televised football game against Notre Dame that angered many Catholics and Irish. The band conducted a 'parody of the Irish Potato Famine' and one member dressed as a Cardinal.

According to the apology released by the band, 'We did not intend to imply that all members of the Catholic Church believe that the sun revolves around the earth, that the earth is flat, that the universe has only existed for four thousand years, that evolution is a farce, or that contraception is wrong.' Stanford's Athletic Director issued a formal reprimand of the band and has banned them from Notre Dame games until after the year 2000.

We Love to Fly and It Shows

Continental Airplanes was ordered to pay $875,000 in damages to Capt. Tammy S. Blakey, a women pilot who complained of rampant pornography she encountered in airline cockpits.

It is a long standing tradition for male airline pilots to leave pornographic material hidden for the next set of pilots to discover. Blakey claims that she found photos with her name written on them. Blakey was the only women pilot to complain of such problems.

In response to the lawsuit, Continental has made a rash of firings including Capt. Ron Jeremy, Navigator Peter North, and Admiral John Holmes. Capt. Blakely said that she was disenchanted with the airline business and is considering a career in the more 'female friendly' auto-repair industry, the Marine Corps, or construction work.

Becker Survives Fall

Dan Becker '00 was injured last Sunday afternoon when he fell while rock climbing at Cannon Mountain. Becker fell over 80 feet before slamming head first into a ledge. Becker fell past two of his pins and his climbing partner, sophomore Jon Waldman. Dr. Josh Boverman, who had been climbing with the group, immediately contacted emergency services and aided the unconscious Becker.

Shortly afterward a National Guardsman, Major Frank Leith, maneuvered his helicopter to an incredibly difficult location that was lined with boulders on an uphill slope to take Becker to the hospital. He is reportedly recovering normally. Waldman, Becker's roomate as well as his climbing partner, reports Becker will be back to class soon.

Uh-oh

In the last several days, a spate of dour tidings has rocked the College campus. First, the British Journal of Medicine published a report last week that found binge consumption of alcohol, consuming more than six drinks at a sitting, significantly increases one's chances for an early demise.

As if that weren't enough, J. Crew announced on Thursday that it has experienced financial difficulties of late and recently saw a 14% decline in profits. A leveraged buyout of the company seems imminent. A J. Crew spokesman did, however, assure an anxious Dartmouth community that the Winter catalog will be mailed in full and on time.

Streeped Down

The Dartmouth Film Society welcomed two-time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep back to the College this weekend to present her with the Dartmouth Film Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Students and communiy members packed Spaulding Auditorium for the presentation of the award, which was followed by an interview of the honoree with New Hampshire Public Radio personality Laura Knoy. During the interview, Streep spoke about the year she spent at Dartmouth in 1970 as an exchange student from Vassar. According to an article in Monday's Daily Dartmouth, Streep 'remembers feeling 'unhappy and lonely' while at Dartmouth and recalled 'taking long walks across the quad and weeping.' ' She also quipped, thankfully, that 'Streep does not strip.'

Beer Battles

Who needs Budweiser when we have the Beast? Currently the Federal Department of Justice is investigating allegations of anti-competition tactics by Anheuser-Busch, the nation's largest brewery. Other breweries, including many microbreweries across the country, claim that Anheuser-Busch is making illegal payoffs to certain national distributors. Alledgedly the maker of Bud offered sizeable monetary incentives and other benefits to distributors to increase their inventories of Anheuser-Busch products. Other breweries pled to the feds that Anheuser-Busch's unfair dominance of the beer market is pushing them out of business. Anheuser-Busch, which holds approximately half of the U.S. market for beer, denies all allegations of illegal activity.

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