Original Article: http://dartreview.com/archives/2005/04/08/the_week_in_review.php
Friday, April 8, 2005
BLTs Don't Speak Out
The Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transexual Queer Alliance (BLTs) has announced that next Wednesday will be a day of silence to "protest the silencing [sic] discrimination and abuse of the [BLT] community."
The BLTs will hold a silent candlelight vigil on the Green at 5:30. They claim that "by being visibly silent," whatever that means, they will "make our voice stronger."
Darfur Inaction
Students concerned about the ongoing genocide in Darfur, Sudan, and still convinced that the international community can and will do something about it, met last week to form the Darfur Action Group.
In addition to encouraging divestment from companies doing business with the Sudanese government, the Darfur Action Group seeks greater intervention to protect the people of Darfur. The United Nations currently supports a group of 3,000 peacekeepers sent by the African Union. The troops have done little to stop the slaughter of tens of thousands, not surprising given that a U.N. commission even found that nothing untoward was happening.
Nevertheless, the Darfur Action Group is lobbying for a more effective UN resolution including the establishment of a no-fly zone over Darfur. Perhaps more to the point, it is collecting donations for the Genocide Intervention Fund, which seeks to provide the AU peacekeepers with non-lethal equipment, which always works well against Sudanese helicopter gunships.
Columbia Woes
After a variety of incidents between students and professors, Columbia University formed a committee to examine allegations of anti-Israeli bias by instructors. The recently issued report mostly exonerated the accused professors, but did censure one. More importantly, the report revealed broader problems at Columbia, ranging from the involvement of unaffiliated advocacy groups to the procedures for dealing with student complaints about the faculty. Students claimed that the committee's composition was biased, and the guilty professor lamented a lack of due process. Goes to show there's rarely an easy way solve a problem stemming from the Middle East.
Tuck Accepts 'Hackers'
The Tuck School of Business has chosen not to automatically deny admission to those applicants that accessed their acceptance information early. Instead, admissions officers will take the hacking into consideration when evaluating candidates, but will not deny entrance outright.
A few weeks prior to official notification, an interweb message board posted information that allowed an applicant to hack into admissions computers at more than ten business schools and view his admissions status.
Each school's reaction has been different. Most notably, Harvard Business School elected to automatically deny admission to all 119 applicants who breached protocol.
Campus Outrages
For the past eight years, the Collegiate Network has awarded prizes to universities where incidents of extreme political correctness or flagrant double standards have occured. This year's winner is LeMoyne College, where a graduate student wrote a paper proposing light spanking as a reasonable part of classroom discipline. While this student's opinion did not quite qualify as a campus outrage, LeMoyne's subsequent expulsion of the student did. The University of Nevada-Las Vegas grabbed the runner-up spot for disciplining an economics professor who "stereotyped" homosexuals as unlikely to have children. Third place went to Carnegie Mellon University for hosting Malik Zulu Shabazz and his riot baton-wielding followers. Shabazz has publicly advocated killing Zionists.
Students-Cum-Lobbyists
The College's Financial Aid Office e-mailed students receiving Perkins Loans urging them to contact Congress and request that they vote against President Bush's budget proposal. The e-mail also included two form letters for this purpose.
The proposed budget would eliminate the largely unnecessary Perkins loan while at the same time expanding the Stafford loan and Pell grant programs. Under the new program, qualifying students would be eligible for up to $4,550 a year in federal grants that need not be repaid. The current College-administered Perkins program requires students to repay the funds.
The College, under the proposal, would dole out more funds in financial aid. But since the College collects a five-percent return on the current Perkins Loans, it is predictably upset with President Bush's plan to cut them out of the loop.
Dartmouth '09s: Now With More Color
The College's Class of 2009 is reportedly the best freshman class admitted in the school's 236-year history—at least until next year's class arrives. The '09s set new records in standardized test scores, with an average SAT verbal score of 729 and an average math score of 732. This year's applicant pool was whittled down to a 46 percent non-white student body; 6.9 percent of the class are legacy admissions.
While Dean of Admissions Karl Furstenberg said this year's applicants were strong, he did not comment on how many of those strong candidates play football.
Dartmouth Bookstore vs. Wheelock Books
A shocking new development in campus capitalism threatens to end the Hanover textbook monopoly. Absent from the market for two years, the Dartmouth Bookstore has begun to challenge the monolith that is Wheelock Books.
Starting this term, some academic departments began to provide their course syllabi to both bookstores. Some departments have resisted giving their textbook lists to the Dartmouth Bookstore, citing Wheelock's recent record of reliability and service. Then again, some classes' textbooks are only available at the Dartmouth Bookstore.
Wheelock Books advertises discounted prices, usually from their large used-books stock, though their new books are rarely discounted. The Dartmouth Bookstore offers a five percent discount for students and has a generous book buyback program.
Wheelock Books is a local small business, while the Dartmouth Bookstore has been operated by Barnes & Noble College Booksellers since last spring. Wheelock Books, though, has not yet appeared to suffer, as crowds were typically large as classes began.
Sexual Assault Coordinator Resigns
Sexual Abuse Awareness Program coordinator Abby Tassel, one of the many full-time employees of the Center for Women and Gender and its resident expert on sexual assault, has resigned. According to the Daily Dartmouth, Tassel quit out of frustration with the administration. Unfortunately, the College plans to hire a replacement.
Oh, the Irony
Tufts University will grant an honorary degree to former Dartmouth President James Freedman for his defense of the liberal arts.
Gingrich in Hanover
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will be in Hanover on April 19th for a book signing at the Dartmouth Bookstore.
Alcohol Policy Changes Show Promise
The Social Event Management Procedures Committee presented its recommendations for a revised alcohol policy in Filene Auditorium on March 31st.
Most significantly, the committee recommended the creation of two fundamentally different categories of events at which alcohol is present: "closed" and "members only." "Members only" events would be limited to members of an organization but would not be subject to inspection by College officers as they are now. No prior notification or registration would be necessary, though no kegs would be permitted. Similarly, a "closed" party would be an event of between 40 and 80 people and likewise would not be subject to admistrative babysitting. Kegs would be permitted at these events, and student organizations would not have to jump through administrative hoops to get them.
Other recommendations would create a web-based calendar of all registered parties in a given week and provide free water to all of them.
The committee also determined that registered parties could serve alcohol for up to five hours; currently, parties are restricted to four hours in length. Registered parties must also be at least twelve hours apart.
The committee intends for its recommendations to provide workable solutions to many of the inefficiencies and perceived injustices of the current SEMP policy. The review of the policy is meant to be a two-year process. The committee elected not to recommend changes in certain areas, especially the much maligned keg policy for large events.
Dean of the College James Larimore must approve any alterations to the plan. Larimore, who formed the group in October, charged the committee with creating a social system on campus that is compatible with New Hampshire liquor laws and reflects the realities of social life on campus.
Lil' Tykes Protest
A small group of Hanover middle school students have scheduled a weekly peace protest on the corner of Wheelock and Main Streets in Hanover. Each Friday afternoon, from 3:30 to 4:30, the plucky youngsters, unaccompanied by responsible adults, hold signs saying "peace" and distribute propaganda to passers-by.
Alum Awarded Pulitzer
Nigel Jaquiss '84 was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for journalism for his investigation into sexual abuse by the former governor of Oregon. Jaquiss covered Gov. Neil Goldschmidt's exploits with a 14-year-old girl for the Willamette Week, an alternative weekly newspaper in Oregon.
After Me Lucky Charms
A school in the Boston area (you know the one) has decided to remove Frosted Flakes, Fruit Loops, Cap'n Crunch and other cereals from its dining halls and replace them with generic cereals. The move was justified as a cost-cutting measure. The esteemed Cambridge university, according to a Boston Globe account, spends over $100,000 a year on cereal.
What the F*** Is a 'Genderf***er?'
The Center for New Words in Cambridge, Mass. is seeking submissions for its progressive magazine, called hor*ti*culture. Organizer Kate Bovitch sent an e-mail, forwarded by Dartmouth's Center for Women and Gender, asking "feminists, queers, genderf***ers, smart girls, and others of all abilities, ethnic experiences, and ideals to supply content for the first issue." The magazine presents itself as a voice for liberals, who apparently go "unheard" in the mainstream media.
Bovitch's e-mail closes with a quote from feminist author Dorothy Parker: "You can lead a horticulture, but you can't make her think."
Wright 'Tired of Losing'
In a March speech to Florida alumni, President James Wright acknowledged the question of Dartmouth's poor athletic performance, saying in particular that he's "tired of losing" at football.
His speech did not address the problem some administration critics have identified as the root of the Indians' sports woes: Dean of Admissions Karl Furstenberg. Instead, Wright noted that some sports teams are doing well, including the men's basketball team, which finally had a .500 season in the Ivies (10-17 overall).
Fine Baaaa Me
At the College of the Holy Cross, the Fenwick Review, a conservative newspaper, recently caused a stir by being more tolerant than campus lefties. Two gay rights organizations produced a shirt with three couples of stick figures: two gay couples (one male, one female) and a straight couple. Under the pictures was the caption "Fine By Me!"
In its January issue, the newspaper did the activists one better by publishing a cartoon with a fourth couple: a man and a crudely-drawn goat.
The campus chattering classes quickly erupted. The class deans met with the head of the Holy Cross student government to discuss the possibility of charging the staff of the Fenwick Review with a hate crime. After a month-long debate in another newspaper and a panel discussion titled "Fine By God?" which featured two openly homosexual professors, a campus-wide day of protest diffused the self-righteous anger.
Nostri Culpa
In the March 11th, 2005 issue of The Dartmouth Review, there was a transcription error in the interview with the new College Librarian, Jeffrey Horrell. In a passage near the end of the article, our transcription read, "Humanities, social sciences, and other parts of the College Library are going to be crimped for a long, long time." The passage should have read, "Humanities, social sciences, and other parts of the College Library are going to be in print for a long, long time." The Editors regret the error.