[Print] Dartmouth Baseball Excelling in 2013

The Dartmouth Review: Obviously you’ve been having a very successful season thus far; how does it feel compared to where you were at this point in the last couple of years?

Ryan Toimil: I think we have a really good chance this year to win the Ivy Championship. We returned most of our starting position players, which helps because we are experienced, and also have a really solid pitching staff that always keeps us in the game. Everyone on the team is very excited and working hard to keep improving as well. Overall we’re feeling great about our chances this year.

TDR: What were your expectations for this team at the beginning of the season and how has the team’s performance compared to them?

Toimil: We knew we would have a good team in all aspects of the game. Our strong start to the season boosted everyone’s confidence, especially as we beat Minnesota, a team that started an incredibly strong pitcher against us. I had high expectations for the team and we have lived up to them so far. We’ve hit a bit of a rough patch in the past couple weeks but we are recovering from it and still have a lot of confidence moving forward in our season. Our 19-4 win over Holy Cross on April 10^th was a big confidence booster because we had been struggling with hitting a little bit until then.

 TDR: What is the team doing psychologically to get over the “hump” of losing in the finals last year and move forward?

 Toimil: If anything, the loss last year has motivated the team to play harder and better this year. We’ve learned not to underestimate any opposing teams and to give 100 percent in every game, but overall last year’s loss has only served as motivation for us this season. A key thing about this team is the chemistry between us; we’ve become as much a family as a team. This togetherness keeps everyone focused and on the same page as we work to reach our common goal of getting to and winning the championship. Everyone has put in the work and we have gotten really close over the course of the year in preparation for the season.

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[Print] Reform Students, Not Fraternities

The Huffington Post recently published an article about Dartmouth written by an ’07 titled “Devil in the Night: Frat Culture at Dartmouth.” Go right ahead and add Ezra Tzfadya’s fairy tale of evil fraternities to the collection of sensationalist, unhelpful, controversial-for-the-sakeof-controversy articles depicting Dartmouth as this hellish place where innocent fun goes to die, and blaming the Greek system for all the social problems at Dartmouth that have been piling up this past year. 

Dartmouth College does indeed have some incredibly deep-rooted social problems. A frightening percentage of our students engage in high-risk drinking frequently. Dartmouth is still very much a man’s world. Yes, the fraternity basements can get pretty nasty and unhygienic. Yes, there is sexual assault as there is on every college campus. Many of those assaults are hushed up due to shame or to victims not even being sure about what happened. Some victims would prefer to never know. 

I’ve certainly been that freshman girl with fuzzy memories and the grim realization that I wasn’t at all in control of the previous night’s events, and I know all too well that I am not alone. And there is absolutely a disturbing lack of respect for women on this campus. However...

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Dear Protesters, It's Time to Stop the Hijacking

As has been publicized throughout the country, Dartmouth College cancelled classes this Wednesday in order to calm the campus following a controversial protest over the weekend. This was largely done in order to “address not only the initial protest, but a precipitous decline in civility on campus over the last few months,” according to an email sent out on the 26^th of April by Steve Mandel, Chair of the Board of Trustees. That much is accurate.

Civility has indeed declined on campus. It was almost exactly a year ago that a college-approved display by a pro-life group was savaged. Counter-protesters planted signs, disrupted the demonstration, and finally drove a car off the road in order to squash the display. Luckily, no one was run over.

Then came the Dimensions protest. It was not college-approved and violated multiple Standards of Conduct as we and so many other commentators have observed. While the administration’s first response did not condemn the protesters’ behavior, that has recently changed. In her speech at the Community Gathering on Wednesday, Interim President Folt made reference to the private processes of the College’s justice system. Even more recently, Mandel’s April 26^th email stated that “the administration is following established policies and procedures with regard to any possible disciplinary action in both cases [the protest and the harassment thereafter]. As in every case regarding a disciplinary investigation, this process is confidential and respects the privacy of our students.”

Bravo. As we pointed out in our editorials, the administration should seek justice. That includes the rude and violent protest as well as the threats of violence to the protesters. Yet, we fear this is far too little, far too late. The protesters have neither ceased their attempted hijacking of the College nor opened a legitimate and calm dialogue with the remainder of the student body. They have continually flouted the Dartmouth Community Standards of Conduct as well as polite behavior by repeatedly breaking into and interrupting meetings that were supposedly off-the-record or private with intimidation tactics, unsolicited videotaping, or both.

These guerrilla tactics have reached the point where the following email about the harassment was sent by the Admissions office to student tour guides: 

The above letter was sent to all tour guides describing the current situation.

For reference: “conduct (including by way of example, obstruction, noise, or the display of banners or objects) that prevents or disrupts the effective carrying out of a College function or approved activity, such as classes, lectures, meetings, interviews, ceremonies, and public events” is expressly prohibited by the Dartmouth Community Standards of Conduct. It appears that the protesters have embraced a campaign that continually violates these standards.

These are not the tactics of a group that seeks reconciliation, harmony and civil discourse. This is not dialogue. This is not calm and rational. This is not even the type of social justice work that social justice consultant Jennifer Pettitt suggested during her relatively moderate lecture on Wednesday. The protesters, a very vocal minority within a vocal minority that desires reform at the College, have displayed little to no desire to enter into a dialogue that is truly open and free.

If they cannot control themselves and abide by the standards of this community, then perhaps stronger actions are required. Why not ban these protesters from campus until they are willing to actually discuss these issues in a calm and rational manner without intentionally disrupting the functioning of the College? Appeasement does not work with fanatics. Until they are willing to behave reasonably and responsibly, why should we attempt to negotiate with them? Why should we attempt to bribe these protesters with larger and larger stages for their platforms?

Truly, the saddest thing of this whole encounter is that the protesters have nearly drowned their own causes in a sea of hypocrisy. While supposedly fighting for tolerance, they have been intolerant of other people’s opinions and their right to be listened to. As the protesters have argued for greater community harmony, they have also disrupted the functions of the community and fought against attempts for harmony. Their causes are just. The College should discuss homophobia, sexual assault, and many of the other issues they raised. The Dartmouth Review wonders if the battle over capitalism hasn’t already been fought and decidedly won. But their approach has hurt most of these same causes. The chaos of each subsequent demonstration alienates the student body from the protesters and thus, the battle for reform. After all, many people on this campus wish to modify the Greek system, but not destroy it. The disorderly protests have shoved this sizeable block off of the platform of reform. As a letter to the editor of The Daily Dartmouth stated: “This is getting ridiculous.”

Dartmouth is one of the best colleges in the country, but it can be made better. We would be the first to admit that. We are ready to sit down and discuss serious reforms to the Greek system, alternative social spaces, and increasing tolerance at the College. We decried the violence at the Vita Clamantis pro-life display, at the Dimensions protest, and in online forums. The Dartmouth Review looks forward to participating in those frank, friendly, and free discussions because we love this College and want to leave it a better place for the future generations of students.

--J.P. Harrington

[Print] Fraternities: A Freshman's Best Friend

Gauging the social life at an institution can be tricky. Departments can be assessed based on the quality of professors and courses. Tuition couldn’t be a more black and white issue for rising seniors in high school given their knowledge of their own family’s budget and eligibility for loans. Figuring out if you’ll fit in at a certain college, on the other hand, seems impossible to answer without firsthand experience. It’s a lot of guesswork, involving subjective perceptions and the impressions given by the College and its critics. Unfortunately, for incoming students, those impressions can be overwhelmingly misleading.

I remember the first impression of the College’s social life that I received on a tour in the summer of 2011. It was a rainy day, but not so unpleasant as to keep us from slogging around campus; however. it was wet enough that some soggy pieces of Keystone thirty rack boxes floated along Webster Ave. A classic Dartmouth scene that I have now come to know quite well. Our tour guide took it in stride, though at first he looked a little rattled by the concerned faces of some parents. He gave that strange, narrow and qualification-filled definition of Greek Life that I suppose tour guides are told to relate. Frats organize “social events,” like concerts, the majority of campus participates in Greek Life, but you don’t have to, and sometimes there’s alcohol, but no one underage drinks. Ever.

There’s something unsettling about these halftruths from the perspective of a prospective student.

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