Monday, January 21, 2002

Greek System Looks Forward

In recent weeks, there have been several indications that the prospects for the future of Dartmouth's Greek system have improved significantly since the beginning of the fall term. During that term, both the Chi Heorot and Theta Delta Chi fraternities were on their 3rd term of probation, while Chi Gamma Epsilon (and very nearly Alpha Delta) was placed on probation for breaking the College's rule regulating the maximum acceptable number of people in their house, a rule that until then had been rarely enforced.

Law Profs Muzzle ROTC

Both SALT and AALS have been trying to make it as difficult as possible for the military to recruit law students, an effort that has gone on for over ten years. The organizations barred the military from recruiting on most law school campuses in 1990 when the organizations first added homosexuals to their list of potential victims of discrimination.

Files Sex Talk Stimulating

On January 8th, the Women's Resource Center, in conjunction with Health Resources, presented its second lecture in the three part series entitled, 'Let's Talk About Sex.' Today's subject was the mechanics of female pleasure, a favorite topic of the speaker, a midwife and OBGYN at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

No Child Left Behind: Bush at UNH

The No Child Left Behind Act, signed by the President into law just hours before his arrival in New Hampshire, represents the largest influx of federal resources into education since the Sixties. Passage of the Act was a great success for the Bush administration, which successfully guided it through both Houses of Congress with unprecedented bipartisan support.

Research Links Smoking, Movies, Cigarettes

The December 15 issue of the British Medical Journal contains a paper by team from Dartmouth College and the Dartmouth Medical School that links adolescent smoking to depictions of smoking in movies.

Walker: As Evil As You Can Get

Let's get one thing straight. The purpose of the Al Qaida is to kill Americans. Repeat, kill Americans. Kill you, just as they killed thousands at the World Trade Center. That has been the sole purpose of the Afghan training camps, the purpose of their infamous terrorist manual, the purpose of their existence.

The Zagreb Chronicles: Slavic Style

Croatian women can be gorgeous. Notice, that I didn't write 'are;' the caution is intentional as I do not wish to categorize a whole country's female population as readily as I am willing to disparage their civil society. This is an important topic and must be discussed delicately.

Wandering the Back Streets of Athens

Flying into Athens means flying into the brand-new, and very nice, E. Venizelos Airport. This is an odd introduction to Greece: it is new, clean, and efficient. Of course, the airport was built and designed by Germans. The old airport, Hellikon, better represented the country, with its deteriorating facilities, poor security, and overall chaos.

Nelson '97 sets Dartmouth Relays mark

Olympic silver medalist Adam Nelson '97 returned to his alma mater two weeks ago to compete in the 33rd Annual Dartmouth Relays at the Leverone Field House.

The Shame of 'Scientific American'

Now comes the January issue of Scientific American. It features a colorful 11-page spread, artfully decorated with wind turbines and iceless polar bears, containing a critique of The Skeptical Environmentalist. Sadly, the critics are another panel of four well-known scaremongers, led by the same Stephen Schneider. Apparently Schneider is making a comeback on Bjorn's back, as it were.

Silent, Deep, and Dangerous: Alexander Talcott Reviews 'Bias'

Bernard Goldberg, thirty year veteran of CBS News and winner of seven Emmy Awards, silences such debate in his landmark of a book Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News. While organizations like the Media Research Center have been tracking the left leaning bias for years, Goldberg reveals that the distortion is not merely incidental, that 'in the world of media elites, Democrats outnumber Republicans by twelve to one and liberals outnumber conservative by seven to one,' and that the media bias in America runs deeper and is even more widespread than nearly anyone imagined.

Tenebaums: Non-Stop Laugh Riot: Viraj Patel Reviews 'The Royal Tenenbaums'

And maybe by the third time the idea might start to get a little tiresome if it were not for Anderson's mastery of deadpan comedy and the sheer hilarity of scene after scene in this movie. If for no other reason, watch this movie to see Gene Hackman, after asking Ari and Uzi about their mother and learning of her death, respond with utter earnestness and geniality, 'I'm sorry for your loss÷she was a very attractive woman.'