Original Article: http://dartreview.com/archives/2005/01/31/the_week_in_review.php
Monday, January 31, 2005
Support from Dartmouth for Tsunami Victims
Since learning of the devastation that swept across South-East Asia in the wake of last month's tsunami, Dartmouth's CFS organizations and other on-campus groups have held a tremendous number of charity benefits to provide aid in reconstruction. On January 19th, a series of performances and a silent auction capped off the College's fundraising efforts. Presided over by the Dartmouth Coalition for Global Health and various other organizations, the gala reportedly drew five hundred people and raised approximately $6,300. On Tuesday of the following week, a candlelight vigil signaled solidarity with the victims of the disaster and a celebration of student's ability to come together for the sake of the South Pacific nations affected by the disaster.
East Wheelock Residents Face Dishwashing Crisis
In a January 18th op-ed in the Daily Dartmouth entitled 'The East Wheelock Has Fun, Too,' Robert Taintor '08 attempted to debunk the popular myth that East Wheelock "is the loser dorm where all the smart people live so that they can all have perfect silence everyday and work in their plush hotel-style rooms." He even apologizes to the campus for choosing a place where people share "a love of knowledge and a love of culture," over "a dorm where some guy threw up in the same place 3 times in the boys bathroom, once leaving it there for 3 days straight without cleaning it up."
As of recent, though, the denizens of East Wheelock cluster have been facing their own problems. Those intellectuals and lovers of culture in McCulloch who enjoy conversing about their favorite professors have been accused of not cleaning up their dishes in the sink in a timely manner. Community Director Mike Lord, in a community bulletin, claims that, "others who have tried to use the kitchen have found their use hampered because of the amount of dishes left in the sink." Although the delinquent dish washers have not spread to the sinks of Brace Commons, those McCulloch bandits have also stolen a Windsor Chair, two Cranberry lounge chairs, a side table, and floor lamps from the first and second floor lounges. Though Community Director Mike Lord would prefer that the "furniture reappears on its own," in a January 5th edict to the East Wheelock blitz bulletin he warned that if not returned, "fines will be levied."
Low Turnout, Few Bids for Winter Rush
Winter rush, once the earliest possible opportunity for sophomores to pledge a Greek house, withered due to the popularity of the now-permissible fall rush. Whereas the three nights of fall rush saw bids sank by more than 250 men, winter rush saw less than twenty. Another factor contributing to lower rush attendance was the reduction of formal rush from three nights in the fall to one night, which by its nature discouraged houses from investing in rush and issuing call backs. Sigma Nu was a big winner with nine sunk bids; Psi Upsilon, three; Chi Gamma Epsilon, two; Chi Heorot, two; Alpha Chi Alpha, one; Alpha Delta, one deferred. Neither Kappa Kappa Kappa, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Theta Delta Chi, nor Phi Delta Alpha garnered any new pledges.
SA's Fiscal Foibles
The Daily Dartmouth reported that the Student Assembly had already spent just under 80% of its $80,000 budget by the beginning of Winter term. According to the figures given in the piece, about 67% of the allocated or spent funds went to the student newspaper program, the freshman advising program and the new blitzmail terminals program. $1,250 went to a summer 'event' supporting consensual sex. Later in the article, Assembly President Julia Hildreth asserted that most funds are allocated in the fall, while the spring is "policy-oriented."
Everyone Wins at the Special Olympics
Saturday, January 22nd saw 130 participants and 70 volunteers come together at Dartmouth Skiway to put on the third annual Upper Valley Special Olympic Winter Games. Organized by the Special Olympics New Hampshire organization, sponsored by the Dartmouth Club of the Upper Valley, and supported by Dartmouth students along with myriad other volunteers, the event was a team effort to the core. Volunteers claimed to have enjoyed the games as much as the athletes, despite the brutal subzero temperatures that threatened the games. Dartmouth students performed a variety of duties from ushering athletes to events, to providing hot chocolate. Such duties contributed much to the athletes' enjoyment of the day, but those involved also kept a close eye on how the Winter Games' success was achieved. This spring the responsibility of running the Olympic Games will rest solely on the shoulders of Dartmouth students.
Sons of Sehgal
Buzzflood, the unpopular pet project of over-achieving malcontents Kabir Sehgal '05 and Brent Reidy '05, has launched a recruiting campaign. In a campus-wide email, the Buzzflood staff announced its search for "writers, posters, and tech staff to help spread a positive message about Dartmouth." Many of the 'Flood's recent stories have come directly from Daily Dartmouth features, but the service still claims 2,600 subscribers. The staffers remain undeterred by the fact that many of these are current students, thus limiting the actual spread of any messages. While the email did not delineate a reason for the sudden recruiting drive, a popular theory is attrition of current staffers, discouraged by the overwhelming idiocy of the endeavor.
Thanks, But I Didn't Ask
The Daily Dartmouth also proudly reports that Hildreth has been admitted to a number of the most prestigious law schools in the country. Some acceptance letters are still pending, but Harvard, Stanford, Georgetown, the University of Pennsylvania, Boston College, and New York University have all been won over by Hildreth's impressive resume, which can be found alongside the list of schools she has been accepted to in the January 20th issue of the Daily Dartmouth.
Edsforth Rehired
After a nine month hiatus, visiting history Professor Ronald Edsforth is back in Dartmouth's Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS) program. Edsforth, who failed to attain tenure after eleven years at the College, was placed in employment limbo last January when the College informed him that his job would be "made redundant" come July. A mainstay of The Dartmouth Review's "Worst Professors" list for his overtly political lectures, Edsforth will not be teaching his usual War and Peace classes. Instead, he teaches a limited schedule of only two classes, including one in globalization studies, a position which was created specifically to facilitate Edsforth's return. Edsforth says he considered taking positions at NYU or University of Massachusetts before deciding to hold out for Dartmouth. "I am old enough to look ahead and see the end of my career, and this is where I want it to end," the professor told the Daily Dartmouth.
Professor Edsforth will debate Victor Davis Hanson on foreign policy at the College on February 8, in an event sponsored by The Dartmouth Review and the Intercollegiate Studies Insitute.
Mourning Professor Perrin
Friends and family members gathered at Rollins Chapel last Saturday to remember longtime Dartmouth English professor and author Noel "Ned" Perrin. Perrin passed away last November after a lengthy battle with Shy-dragger syndrome, a neurological disorder associated with Parkinson's Disease. As an English teacher he specialized in modern poetry and the works of Robert Frost. Perrin was also an adjunct professor of environmental studies who practiced what he preached. Perrin's Vermont farm was solar-powered and he drove an electric car. He would often jokingly express his desire to become an eco-terrorist and was once credited with saying that "all the bridges over the Connecticut River should be blown up." Perrin, born in New York City in 1927, graduated from Williams College in 1950 and joined the Dartmouth faculty in 1959.
Reading, Writing, Raging, Hahvahd Style
Harvard students might be able to coordinate late night study sessions, but they couldn't throw a party if their life depended on it. Or at least that's what the administration thinks. The school has hired recent graduate Zac Corker to fill the newly created position of "fun czar." Corker, 23, will serve as an assistant to the Dean for Social Programming, receiving room and board, as well as a modest stipend for his services. During his undergraduate years, Corker helped organize numerous social events, such as, "Hammered for Humanity", and is responsible for creating the website —hahvahdparties.com—aimed at protecting students' indefatigable "right to party." One of Corker's first duties as "fun czar" is the organization of a dodge ball tournament.
I Can Hear the Returns Rolling In
The National Association of College and University Business Officers recently released its 2004 Endowment Study, ranking the market value of more than seven hundred colleges and universities. Dartmouth ranked twenty-first nationally, with an endowment of $2.45 billion. Per usual, Harvard set the pace with $22.14 billion, almost twice that of second-place Yale ($12.75 billion). Dartmouth was ranked seventh in the Ivy League, outpacing only Brown ($1.65 billion).
Many of the schools with a higher market value than Dartmouth also boast a much larger student body; while per student values are not available, a perusal of the data places Dartmouth much higher on a list of per-student market value. Also of note is the growth of the endowment in the last year; following several years of mismanagement and languid returns which significantly trailed other institutions, the market value of Dartmouth's endowment grew by 15.7%, a number several points ahead of the national average and second in the Ivy League.