Twenty members of the Class of 2014 with the highest cumulative grade point averages were inducted as junior members into the Dartmouth chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in a ceremony in the Wren Room at Sanborn House on Tuesday. This year’s early inductees are Julia Berkowitz ’14, Jacqueline Calloway ’14, James Carlson ’14, Phillip Coletti ’14, Laura Cressman ’14, Christopher Hauser ’14, Mitchell Jacobs ’14, Jeffrey Keller ’14, Kristina Lee ’14, Jake Leichtling ’14, Serena Liu ’14, Kellie MacPhee ’14, Gabriela Meade ’14, Charles Pastuszenski ’14, Jonathan Pedde ’14, Chien-Yi Png ’14, Ethan Portnoy ’14, Rebecca Rothfeld ’14, Natalie Salmanowitz ’14, Ryan Smith ’14, Samuel Tan ’14, Ezra Toback ’14 and Danny Wong ’14. Students do not apply for early induction, but the chapter votes members into the society based on their academic excellence. Dartmouth’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter was founded in 1787, making it the fourth oldest chapter in the nation. Rothfeld is a staff columnist for The Dartmouth, and Carlson and Pedde are business and editorial members, respectively, of The Dartmouth senior staff.
The late literary icon Gore Vidal’s donation of his $37 million fortune to Harvard University is being challenged by his half-sister, Nina Straight, The Harvard Crimson reported. Straight claims that her half-brother was in a weak mental state when he decided to leave the money to Harvard instead of to his family. Adam Streisand, the lawyer for the executor of Vidal’s estate, said that he believes Straight’s claims are unwarranted. Vidal did not have a formal connection to Harvard, but he wanted to attend the university when he was younger and was a guest lecturer at the university after becoming a published writer.
Veterans voiced their support for bills attempting to combat sexual assault in the military after a Veteran’s Day ceremony at White River Junction’s VA Medical Center, the Valley News reported. A bill introduced by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., for better protection of victims’ rights during assault investigations has garnered bipartisan support from 15 senators, including Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. and Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H. Another bill sponsored by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand ’88, D-N.Y., looks to separate prosecution away from the victim’s chain of command.
