Original Article: http://dartreview.com/archives/2005/03/11/the_week_in_review.php
Friday, March 11, 2005
Review of Books Draws Harsh Critique
A reader from Sanford, Virginia was extremely dissatisfied with the annual Dartmouth Review of Books, published on January 12th of this year. He writes that it "was a disgrace and a black mark on the fine history of The Review. I have been a subscriber for many years and held your operation in high esteem. One more issue like 1/12/05 and I will be a former subscriber. I feel you are entitled to one error." He enclosed a copy of that week's section of the 'Last Word,' which was entirely comprised of comical excerpts from the popular student website www.thefacebook.com. He noted, "This drivel must have been written by drug addicts—NOT Dartmouth students."
Theta Delta, Tri-Delt: Guilty & Guilty
On February 17th, 2005, the Committee on Standards and the Organizational Adjudication Committee found Theta Delta Chi fraternity and Delta Delta Delta sorority each guilty of violating multiple "College standards."
According to the COS and OAC, the Tri-Delt pledges embarked on several "missions." One involved Theta Delts taking soi-disant "body shots" off of the sorority girls; another event gave Tri-Delts the opportunity to recite lewd poetry while using brothers as strip poles. The report stated that "several of the women described the sexual comments and sex-related nature of the experience as degrading, coercive, harassing and intimidating."
Tri-Delt will serve four weeks of probation and Theta Delt twelve, "because of different degrees of responsibility." No alcohol restrictions will be imposed on either house.
East Wheelock Contretemps I
The East Wheelock Cluster's 'Community Director,' Michael Lord, had to yelp out electronically for justice when theft rocked the otherwise Edenic cluster. Three females made off with a white plastic basket from the Morton Hall laundry room. A student claimed to have seen the three make off with the basket but did not suspect foul play.
"I would like to think that the persons who took the basket would be willing to return it as soon as possible," philosophized Lord. So do we, Mr. Lord—after all, what was the rigorous East Wheelock admissions process for?
N.B. The basket's dimensions are three feet by two feet around and two feet deep.
Space for Menstruation
Hampshire College's newest student group is "a group of individuals dedicated to celebrating and opening the space around menstruation." They "wish to question the silence and general societal views about menstrual bleeding, and help to create a more joyous experience."
This is not some pie-in-the-sky enterprise, either: they have real ideas, including "a red tent/moon lounge, a celebratory space for people who are or have menstruated" and "story-telling, book sharing, myth making."
You may have assumed otherwise, but they "are not seeking to define what a woman is." An e-mail from the group tells students to "bring your ideas, dreams, fears, enthusiasm, and anything red" to their first meeting on April 3rd.
Boot the Bell
The Dartmouth Greens recently cancelled a "Boot the Bell" rally against Taco Bell, originally scheduled for the spring. They had sought to push the College to divest from Yum Brands, the chain's owner, because of alleged mistreatment of tomato-pickers in Immokalee, Florida. Interestingly, 'boot' is what most people do after consuming Taco Bell in the first place. Perhaps they meant it ironically.
Daily Dartmouth Under Fire
The Daily Dartmouth has been criticized of late by minority activists who believe the official campus newspaper deliberately targets them.
Lesbian activist Jewelle Gomez reacted badly to an "insulting" article titled "Leading gay rights activist bashes men, praises '60s rock," prompting her to ask if the paper employed an editor.
In response to the Daily D's allegedly "discriminatory" commentary, Tim Andreadis '07 and the Student Assembly's Diversity Affairs Committee drafted a resolution proposing that the Daily D be evicted from its offices in Robinson Hall because of its "bias."
The Assembly misdiagnosed the problem with the Daily Dartmouth. Its problem is not some sort of prejudice against excitable minority groups but an incompetent staff.
I'm a Sad Panda
Hanover's lone Chinese restaurant, Panda House, will be expelled by its landlord from its space on Lebanon Street because of continued problems with credit card fraud by employees. Last week, the Hanover Police began an investigation into over $40,000 in excess charges, which follows similar incidents in 2000 and 2002.
Another Upper Valley Chinese restaurant, the Lantern buffet in West Lebanon, was closed in February for health code violations.
Admissions Hacked
Last Wednesday a hacker broke into admissions computers at the Tuck School and elsewhere and helped applicants learn their fates weeks early, according to the Associated Press. Following instructions posted on the BusinessWeek Online message boards, about 150 applicants tried to see whether they were accepted by business school programs at Stanford, Harvard, Duke, Carnegie Mellon, Dartmouth and two programs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The Harvard Business School announced on Tuesday that all 119 students who tried to access its system early would be automatically rejected.
The Tuck School has not yet made a decision whether to reject those students that gained early access to the system and will hold an ethics meeting today with professors, deans, and admissions officials as part of its ongoing investigation.
East Wheelock Contretemps II
According to a message from the official East Wheelock cluster e-mail account, "an individual had defecated into [a trash] can, and left it there. Whomever did this also did not totally get all of their excrement into the can, so the custodians had to scrub down part of a wall and toilet with rather strong disenfectant." Ah, yes, the extreme lifestyle of 'intellectual housing.'
Big Green Bikes Passes
The Student Assembly has flushed away $2,000 of its remaining budget to purchase communal bicycles for the campus. The contentious proposal, which was opposed by the Assembly's upperclassmen who remember the last two times Big Green Bikes failed, passed Tuesday.
The naiveté of program sponsors Frank Glaser '08 and Ben Zimmerman '07 is clear from the text of their resolution, which explains that, somehow, "this program has the potential to last for many years as the infrastructure will be easily continued." Because they belong to the Assembly and not to individuals, students see no particular reason to take care of the equipment.
Dartmouth Gives In To Dormitory Smoking Ban
Dartmouth has finally succumbed to the dormitory smoking ban trend, making it the last Ivy League school to do so. Only last month Princeton announced its decision to ignore a student government vote against the ban. Dartmouth has now followed suit.
Fewer than ten students from the class of 2008 identified themselves as smokers in a survey by the Office of Residential Life. O.R.L. deemed this an insufficient number to justify smoke tobacco in Lord, Richardson, Wheeler, and South Massachusetts Halls.
This data belies the findings of a 2004 Student Assembly-sponsored focus group. That group determined there was substantial student approval for smoking dormitories. The ban will go into effect by the fall of 2006, regardless.
Hood Museum Hires New Director
Dartmouh's Hood Museum of Art has hired a new director, Brian Kennedy. Kennedy worked as the Assistant Director of the National Gallery of Ireland and most recently as the head of the National Gallery of Australia.
Hockey Advances
Men's Hockey advanced to the E.C.A.C. quarterfinals by defeating Yale two games to one last weekend. Dartmouth won the first game 7-2, lost the second game 5-4 in overtime, and bested the Elis easily, 5-1, in a game three ass-kicking. The 15th-ranked team will play a best-of-three series against the Vermont Catamounts this weekend in Burlington.
Grammarian Rig
Editor's Note: Readers in the last year may have become curious about the promiscuous use of the word 'rig.' To clear up any confusion: a rig is a vague entity in time or space.