Original Article: http://dartreview.com/archives/2006/04/07/the_week_in_review.php
Friday, April 7, 2006
NH Veterans Face VA Cuts
VISN1, the VA New England Healthcare System, has submitted proposals to the Department of Veterans Affairs that would affect service at the Manchester VA Medical Center. One of the proposals recommends closing the ER between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m., forcing veterans to seek private care at their own expense during these hours. On February 6, Congressman Charlie Bass ’74 sent a letter to VA Secretary R. James Nicholson expressing his concern about the proposal, citing “a lack of clarity regarding how these savings will be employed to expand VA healthcare coverage in New Hampshire.”
Four days later, Senator John Sununu sent a similar letter in which he requested more detailed information, including “a cost-benefit analysis of each proposal” and “plans to mitigate any costs veterans may incur.” Governor John Lynch followed suit on February 17 with a letter of concern over the potential decrease in healthcare access and benefits, noting that “thousands of New Hampshire veterans depend exclusively on the VA for their healthcare and in many cases have no other insurance.”
Local veterans are understandably concerned about these proposals, which could potentially compromise the healthcare they are entitled to. Attempts to ascertain the current status of the proposals were largely unsuccessful. At the time of publication, neither Gov. Lynch’s nor Sen. Sununu’s offices had responded to inquiries. The only response came from Congressman Charlie Bass’ Washington office. The staff member there indicated that the VA is still considering the proposals and that Congressman Bass would carefully review any decision before taking a position. Our veterans deserve better.
DDS Looks to Increase Deficit
As most students probably know at this point, thanks to the posters and signs the College has strewn across campus, Dartmouth now receives its eggs from a supplier that raises its chickens in a “cage-free” environment. The change was prompted by the National Association of College and University Food Services and the Humane Society; and enacted with the help of Jim Merkel, Dartmouth’s sustainability director. The groups maintain that “cage-free” chickens live happier lives. Additionally, DDS conducted a blind taste-test that indicated that students prefer the “cage-free” eggs. The costs? An extra $12,000 each year. As Merkel would certainly point out, this is more than twice the global average income for an individual. We at the Review have decided Dartmouth should instead hire two more sustainability directors, making our job more than four times easier.
Dartmouth Faculty Salaries Lagging
The American Association of University Professors recently surveyed over 1,400 institutions across the nation regarding faculty salaries. The report, which appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education, states that for the first time in eight years, average faculty salaries lagged behind inflation. The average salary of a full professor at private doctoral universities in 2004-2005 was $127,214. Dartmouth averaged slightly lower than this figure at $124,500. Rockefeller University in New York City had the highest average salary for a private university, with professors bringing home an average of $169,200. Dartmouth did inch out the highest paying public university, the University of California-Los Angeles at $123,300; as well as the highest paying liberal arts college, Wellesley College, at $119,500. That said, factors such as cost of living and faculty size heavily influenced reported salaries.
Buzzflood Seeks Clean Underwear
Dartmouth failed to earn a spot on The Princeton Review’s recent lists of “Dream Schools” for the fourth year in a row. The publication ranked the top ten dream schools for both parents and students. Princeton topped the parents’ list, while New York University was selected by students, who were mostly unaware that the Olsen Twins have dropped out of the institution. As expected, Harvard, Yale, Princeton appeared on both lists, joined by Duke and Stanford. Somwhere, Kabir Seghal ‘05 soiled himself over Dartmouth’s exclusion. Meanwhile, in Hanover, nobody cared.
Mansfield Deflated in Grade Inflation Fight
In a recent Harvard Crimson article, staff writer Lulu Zhou tells of Kenan Professor of Government Harvey Mansfield and the difficulties surrounding his staunch opposition to grade inflation at Harvard. Professor Mansfield, a frequent guest of the College and supporter of the Review, has for years fought against the grade inflation that permeates academia at Harvard.
Professor Mansfield, often referred to on campus as Harvey C. “C-minus” Mansfield for his history of giving the less-than-desired grade, has recently returned to a two-grade system for his courses. This grading system involves giving students an “ironic” grade, which is submitted to the registrar, and a “true and serious” grade, which Mansfield gives to the students in private to indicate their true performance in his eyes.
Professor Mansfield was forced to make this decision because students were avoiding his courses for fear of tarnishing their transcripts. Yearly, a full 50% of grades given at Harvard are either A’s or A-’s. Several students were quoted as saying that students at Harvard do “A” work and thus receive A’s; this flippant justification seems prevalent throughout the Ivies.
Woe be the Oppressed White Male
Affirmative action has reached an end game. The diversity wizards have done such a great job, have so thoroughly identified and elevated every possible permutation of unfairness, that there is no one left to help. No one but the white man. The system of artificial racial equity has awarded so many points and gold stars to minorities and women that the white male “oppressors” now need a helping hand.
Writing in the New York Times, the Dean of Admissions at Kenyon College has exposed the fact that men are now given an edge in college admissions. A gap is developing between the genders in both applications and enrollment; the nation’s great equalizers have begun favoring men in the same way they favor the gender-, race-, ethnicity-, and otherwise life-challenged. Yet some of the reasoning has to do with a convenient distribution of dance partners, an explanation which assumes a traditional male/female couple. What would the gay rights activists say?
It doesn’t matter. They’ve had their say, as have every other group. This development in college admissions marks a bright new chapter in which white men will be raised to the level of their female and minority peers. White males everywhere, prepare for the day of restitution. Prepare to be given a fair shot at life. Prepare to be smashed through the pasty white testosterone ceiling.
Blanchflower Named to Bank of England
In a March 22 speech to Parliament, Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchquer, tapped David Blanchflower, the Bruce V. Rauner Professor of Economics, for the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England. The MPC is charged with setting interest to control the supply of money in the economy, much like the Federal Reserve Board of Governors stateside. In a statement, Blanchflower expressed great contentment with the appointment, saying, “This is a call to public service in the country where I was born that I simply could not ignore. Setting interest rates is the ultimate job for any economist.” Blanchflower’s appointment is the highest position ever held by a Dartmouth Professor.
Tucker Sponsors Sexual Assault Month
The month of April is known for its showers, which bring May flowers, as well as a slew of events that nobody knows about. On the light-hearted side, these include Chocolate Eaters Month, International Guitar Month, National Humor Month, and National Pecan Month (whose celebrations are often held jointly with those of Chocolate Eaters Month, resulting in festivities affectionately dubbed “Chocolate Eaters Who Also Love Pecans Covered in Chocolate Month, or CEWALPCCM). But April is also a time of reflection on and solidarity for many worthy causes, including but certainly not limited to Cancer Control Month, Child Abuse Prevention Month, and Autism Awareness Month.
Most importantly, April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. To celebrate this joyous time of year, a series of events are planned to “break the silence” on sexual abuse. April 3-7 features the “Clothesline Project,” a symbolic hanging of baggage on clotheslines in solidarity with the effect of sexual abuse on its victims. Let’s hope the lines don’t snap. On April 4, students the annual Take Back the Night March & Rally took place. It commenced at 6:30pm, just in time to protest against the sun’s intrusion on the night. Participants proceeded to take back the night from the day and at dawn collectively returned to their coffins ‘til the next blue moon rises.
April 5 featured a “Mock Hearing” at Dartmouth Hall, when students presumably go to mock various campus activists and throw foodstuffs at them. Telling Jim Merckel was highly discouraged, as this event proved wasteful and unsustainable. April 7’s event will seek to answer the question “What do SAPA’s, Soulscribes, Alumnus, Have in Common.” After a brief discussion of proper syntax, a guessing free-for-all will commence. Current odds suggest that the answer is the letter “S.” Finally on April 19, there will be a discussion on “Reproductive Choice in the Popular Media.” Attendees should be familiar with binary fission, budding, regeneration, parthenogenesis, and sexual reproduction. The first four topics will be limited to plants, bacteria, jellyfish, echinoderms, and similar organisms.
At the conclusion of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Stuart Lord, Dean of the Tucker Foundation, will wave a magic wand and sexual assault will cease to be an issue on campus.
Gavitt ’59 Elected to Basketball Hall of Fame
On April 3rd, the National Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA announced that it will be inducting David Gavitt ’59 as part of the Class of 2006. Gavitt will join a number of illustrious contributors to basketball including Charles Barkley and Dominique Wilkins. Perhaps best known as the former Conference Commissioner of the Big East, and as one of its principle founders, Gavitt spent seventeen years coaching Providence College. Gavitt led the Friars to eight consecutive twenty-win seasons and five NCAA Tournament appearances. Later he would become president of USA Basketball and was selected as Head Coach of the 1980 Olympic Team.
Tubestock Barely Afloat
As the Review reported in the previous issue, Dartmouth College, and several governments in New Hampshire and Vermont are conspiring to end Tubestock, a sophomore summer tradition formerly known as Summer Carnival, where students gather in rafts on the Connecticut River. As it stands, the biggest threat to Tubestock is the legislation pending in New Hampshire to make participation in a non-permitted event on a state waterway illegal. Currently, it appears that the Class of 2008 will squeeze through with their Tubestock festivities, if only because of the glacial pace at which legislatures operate.
Under current law, only the organization of such an event is illegal, and since Tubestock has no official organizers, students have thus far escaped prosecution. If legislation passes during the next session, it will effectively end Tubestock until students and the College are able to come to an agreement that would allow the event to fall under the College’s insurance policy—an unlikely occurrence that would undoubtedly leave Tubestock scarred beyond recognition.
Keggy Takes a Hit
According to a study published this month in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School researchers have concluded that adolescents who own clothing and other merchandise featuring alcohol brands are more likely to engage in high-risk teen drinking. In the study’s conclusion, Dr. McClure, the lead author, recommended that “parents discourage their children from wearing these products and that schools limit the display of alcohol-branded items among students.” In the 1990s, similar studies indicated that adolescents who had purchased tobacco-labeled merchandise were more likely to become teen smokers, leading tobacco companies to voluntarily change their advertising tactics. McClure and her colleagues are currently planning a national study that will include a more thorough investigation of background factors, such as parent drinking.
Chabad Sponsors “Munich” Speaker
Dan Alon was an Israeli champion fencer and competitor in the 1972 Munich Olympics. There the housing of the Israeli team in the Olympic Village was stormed by Palestinian terrorists, eventually leading to the deaths of eleven members of the Israeli delegation. Mr. Alon came to the Rockefeller Center March 31st to speak about the events that transpired, after thirty-three years of silence.
The packed auditorium was very receptive to Alon’s message of both anti-terrorism and tolerance. Many of the questions following Alon’s speech regarded the 2005 Steven Spielberg film “Munich”. Alon supported Spielberg’s depiction of the events and went as far as to declare the recreation as “very accurate”. One audience member questioned why Alon and other survivors were not consulted for the production of the movie. Alon replied that he felt Spielberg likely wanted to keep the project as secret as possible, although he had no definitive answer. Another question related to Germany’s denial of a rescue attempt proposed by Israeli Special Forces. Alon said he believed at the time that Germany did not want its sovereignty violated even though German forces were relative amateurs in counterterrorism compared to their Israeli counterparts.
Alon ended his time by thanking the United States for standing alone in defending the world from global terrorism and drew parallels between the Munich events and 9/11. He received a hearty applause by a truly appreciative audience.
Picture the Inevitable
After posting pictures from a January off-campus party on Facebook.com, an online “community” for college students wishing to avoid live interaction, a fraternity at the University of North Florida has found itself on probation. The pictures, posted by the Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter on their Facebook page, depicted violations of university rules; most notably underage drinking. While the pictures have now been removed, SAE will remain on probation until December 31, 2006. Underage drinking at SAE will surely continue during this time, but probably won’t be documented on Facebook.
Brown Oatmeal
According to The News Virginian, a student at Fort Defiance High School who defecated in a Styrofoam bowl and sent it through the cafeteria conveyor belt, unleashed a series of events that led to four cafeteria workers walking out, one being dismissed and charged with assault, and the expulsion or suspension of five students.
The offending student was bet $15 by two classmates, one of whom was a guidance counselor’s son, to defecate in a bowl in the school restroom then send it to the cafeteria dishwashers via the conveyor belt. When a cafeteria worker discovered the feces filled bowl, she contacted the school principal. Upon hearing of the incident, the principal allegedly laughed, and said it would be handled. A janitor was called to dispose of the excrement.
The guidance counselor’s son later insulted a cafeteria worker and was pushed by another workers son. When the worker attempted to intervene between her son and the guidance counselor’s son, she was dismissed on the grounds of assault and battery. Later the initial cafeteria worker’s son pushed the guidance counselor’s son. Both sons were suspended for their efforts to defend “their mothers’ honor.” The students who initiated the bet were suspended, and the defecator was expelled for the remainder of the year. Outrage continues as school workers have leveled accusations of special and inconsistent treatment at the school administration.
Duke Lacrosse Stripped of Season
The Duke University lacrosse team has been pulled from action upon reports of three team members raping and sodomizing an exotic dancer. The woman was called to a house rented by the team captains for a bachelor party where she was told she would dance for five men. Upon arrival the entire team came out, some screaming racial slurs and obscenities. The dancer was then pulled into a bathroom and raped, which has since caused uproar at Duke and in the sports community. The event has caused controversy as many wonder if the reaction would be the same should the event have occurred within the ranks of Duke’s storied basketball team. While not as lucrative a sport as its basketball counterpart, the #2 Duke Lacrosse team is currently 6-2 on the season and considered a premier team in NCAA play.
The event also highlights the racial tensions in Durham as the accuser, a black woman, claims that her attackers were racist white males who offended her verbally in addition to the physical assault. Duke’s president will not allow the team to play again until the legal matters are resolved.
UPDATE: Take Back the Night
Due to inclimate weather, efforts to “Take Back the Night” were moved indoors to Collis Common Ground. As such, the Night remains independent and at large. The Night is presumed to be dark and dangerous. Please contact the Hanover Police Department immediately so that they may take the Night back into custody.