Original Article: http://dartreview.com/archives/2008/05/05/week_in_review.php
Monday, May 5, 2008
The Plutocrats strike back!
On April 28, 2008 twelve of the sixteen trustees sent an e-mail to alumni attacking the “Democracy at Dartmouth” group, which is a group of individuals devoted to two issues: fighting against Mr. Haldeman’s board-packing plan, and honoring Dartmouth’s 1891 Agreement. Many alumni have contacted the Review about this letter, and have expressed discontent at the Board’s flagrant abuse of its own power and the College’s listserv in sending this letter out. Alumni are also upset at the Board’s attempt to dictate its political agenda to a group of 68,000 alums, all of whom can think for themselves.
The letter is full of factual errors and inconsistencies. For instance, the twelve trustees write, “The Dartmouth Review launched a reprehensible and baseless personal attack on Chair of the Board Ed Haldeman—unabashedly timed to coincide with the AoA elections. Members of this group even encouraged their political allies in the New Hampshire Legislature to promote a bill that would allow the Legislature to insert itself into the affairs of the College-a misguided effort that failed by an overwhelming majority.”
The Dartmouth Review was not a part of the “group” that “encouraged their political allies in the New Hampshire Legislature to promote a bill that would allow the Legislature to insert itself into the affairs of the College.” Contrary to the implications’ of the Board’s letter, The Dartmouth Review is in no way supported by this “group.” We fundraise and operate independently of any group that the trustees misguidedly are tying us to.
Granger Resigns in Wake of Scandal
Dartmouth Professor Richard Granger has resigned as Director of the Neukom Institute for Computational Science. His wife, who was arrested on March 27th, is accused of stealing over $300,000 from a church in Southern California. She is currently being detained in Orange County, where Professor Granger taught at University of California, Irvine before coming to Dartmouth in July 2006. Ms. Granger’s bail is set at $500,000.
Professor Granger is the owner of Caspian Scientific, a neuroscience consulting firm which may also be under investigation. Yvette Patko, who is the chief prosecutor of the case in Orange County, has declined to comment regarding the status of Caspian Scientific; however, New Hampshire’s company registry tellingly states that the business is “not in good standing.”
Sue Knapp, a Dartmouth Public Affairs Officer, stated that Granger “is stepping down for personal reasons.” Professor Granger will continue teaching in the computer science department and maintain his role in Dartmouth’s Brain Imaging Laboratory. Director of Periodicals and Communication Services Laurel Stavis commented, “The College is distressed to hear about this and our thoughts are with the family.”
What do Ms. Granger’s chances look like? So far, not good. She has been charged with multiple infractions, not the least of which are grand theft and forgery. Sgt. Evan Sailor of the Newport Harbor Police described how Orange County’s drawn-out investigation began November, 2006, when police obtained search warrants for Granger’s personal and business accounts. Granger was arrested in Hanover on March 27th, but opted to return to Orange County soon after.
Prof Separates Science and Religion
Professor Massimo Pigliucci gave a lecture Thursday, the 24th, in Filene Auditorium about the need to separate science and religion. He argued against conflating scientific findings with disproof of religion.
Throughout his speech, Pigliucci admitted that certain aspects of religions could be disproven by science; for example, geologists have disproved the natural incidents surrounding Noah’s story. Despite such concessions, the Stony Brook University professor resorted to a fail-safe: mainstream Christianity believes that the Old Testament is a metaphor, and how can you argue with a metaphor? He added that science couldn’t be used to explain supernatural phenomena because in most cases it has no way of disproving religious beliefs. The fact that the independent clause in that statement doesn’t logically follow from the dependent clause might indicate a fault in Pigliucci’s reasoning or it could be an example of the Daily Dartmouth’s mistakes in paraphrasing.
In a different vein of thought, Pigliucci commented on the juxtaposition of scientific and religious thought. He believes that, as a species, we are too stubborn to have meaningful discussion about science and religion. Instead of learning to think objectively and critically, it is a human’s tendency to be indoctrinated as a child by the people around us. Apparently, this means that atheists will be atheists and devout Christians will be devout Christians.
Liberian President to Speak at Commencement
The College recently announced that the 2008 Commencement ceremony’s speaker will be Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who has been President of Liberia since January 2006. Her name is perhaps not as readily familiar to Dartmouth students as that of Elie Wiesel, the speaker for 2006, or that of Henry “Hank” Paulson ’68, the current Secretary of the Treasury and former CEO of Goldman Sachs, who spoke to the graduating class of 2007. Ms. Johnson-Sirleaf is nevertheless a historic figure in African politics, as the first woman elected to lead an African state. “As an African woman, I feel that this woman is a real beacon of hope for a new kind of leadership in Africa,” commented Rose Mutiso ’08, founder of the campus organization Students for Africa.
Johnson-Sirleaf’s lifetime achievements have been numerous. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin and a Master’s degree in public administration from Harvard. During the nineties she directed the African division of the UN Development Program and also worked at the World Bank and Citibank. In 1997 she returned once more to Liberian politics, running against the incumbent President Charles Taylor. Although Taylor was notorious for tyranny and widespread corruption that became the hallmarks of his regime, Johnson-Sirleaf had supported Taylor during his initial rise to power in 1990. Despite finishing second out of thirteen candidates, Johnson-Sirleaf only managed to garner ten percent of the popular vote during the 1997 election. After the election, she was forced to flee the country again to escape charges of treason, which the re-elected Taylor’s regime had leveled against her. She ran again in 2005, however, and emerged victorious, succeeding Moses Blah in office.
During the Commencement ceremony Johnson-Sirleaf will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. Seven other individuals, including former dean of the College Ralph Manuel ’58, have also been selected to receive honorary degrees.
“Clearly she represents a terribly important part of the world,” President Wright declared. “ But she also will speak not only as a regional leader, but as someone who has experience with human rights and democracy, and those values very much have a place here at Dartmouth.”
Well, Jim, we certainly hope so.
Murdock: Americans have Right to Discriminate
Do Americans have the right to discriminate? The College Republicans invited syndicated columnist Deroy Murdock to explain that yes, such a right should be understood as a corollary to the First Amendment right to freedom of assembly with whom one chooses (the freedom not to assemble with whomever one chooses). Murdock explained that discrimination really means choice, and that the government should keep its hand out of the choices of private individuals and businesses as a general practice, no matter how egregious the racial or gender makeup of a restaurant staff or model agency happens to be.
Murdock highlighted the absurdity of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission with a few clips from “20/20”, in which Hooters was sued for not employing enough men and Joe’s Stone Crab was sued for not having enough women lifting the massive trays, despite the fact that nobody had complained. enough women lifting the massive trays, despite the fact that nobody had complained. It seems that a self-perpetuating bureaucracy goes around exacting expensive uses of time and resources from companies wishing to prove their absence of bigotry, all without the need for anyone to have felt discriminated against in the first place. For some reason, Murdock did not believe that this was the appropriate culmination of the Civil Rights movement .
Audience members supporting the federal government as the ultimate source of fairness in the world initially appeared uncertain about the proper way to identify these obviously racist and homophobic statements as such, perhaps because Murdock is himself black and homosexual. They were not deterred for long, however, and as the question and answer section stretched into its second hour one prospective member of the Class of 2012, on campus for Dimensions, felt it important to voice his opinion that the feds should get involved if cheerleaders in upstate New York don’t cheer for the girls teams.
DOC Pats Self on Back, Pulls Muscle
Last week, the DOC announced their selection of this year’s leaders for the fall’s first-year trips. 42% percent of the 645 students who applied to lead a DOC trip were accepted, along with 65 students who were placed on a waiting list. This was a record number of applicants, up from 598 the year before. Individuals chosen to be trip leaders will undergo trip leader training sessions in wilderness skills, risk assessment, and group dynamics in the months to come, and must additionally be CPR and first aid certified. According to blitzes sent out to those on the waitlist, there is strong chance that waitlisted applicants will receive an opportunity to lead a trip should they follow through on their training.
Along side this announcement was a further notice that this year’s Croo members had been selected. 26% of the 170 applicants received spots on one of the H, Lodge, Grant, Climbing, and Vox Croos. Members of each Croo are expected to bond as a group in the fall, and to help ensure this the selected individuals were not named publicly and were given instructions to keep their acceptance a secret.
Lam ‘10 Wants Signatures for her Secret Letter
>Date: 22 Apr 2008 11:17:44 -0400
>From: Bonnie F. Lam
>Subject: update on the letter
>To: (Recipient list suppressed)
Hey Guys!
So I just wanted to thank you all for supporting this effort [a student petition to be sent to alumni in support of the Dartmouth Undying slate in Association of Alumni election]. Please continue to reach out to anyone you know who may be receptive to this idea. Alums unfortunately identify and understand titles most, so it’s very important that we all try to get as many campus leaders as possible to show the strong support of this letter.
The letter will be printed on Thursday so I need electronic signatures/agreements by Thursday morning. The format will be as follows: the letter on one page with signatures on the other. Signatures will have position of leadership of each person beneath. A disclaimer will on the top of that page explicitly saying in much better prose that the signatures do not mean support from the entire organization, just from that specific individual who signed. If you have ANY RESERVATIONS with this, PLEASE talk to me and we can figure something out.
Attached is the letter which you can show to friends who would think about supporting the cause. Please DO NOT distribute it to people you KNOW would not be receptive.
Thanks!!!