Sheinberg: Keeping the Door Open
This column is featured in the 2020 Commencement special issue.
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This column is featured in the 2020 Commencement special issue.
This column is featured in the 2020 Commencement special issue.
Police brutality against the Black community has spiked in visibility over the past week. In reaction to these events, many people I follow on social media have been expressing their horror at the blatant transgressions of basic civil rights. All over social media, one finds reposts of Instagram stories, words of solidarity, the #BLM hashtag and links to donations for organizations such as the Minnesota Freedom Fund. The topic has taken online platforms by storm, and people are rightfully angry. We want to educate each other, and we want to spread the word that Black lives matter because the world has missed that message by a huge mark, time and time again.
In preparing to write this column, I considered many different topics related to the LGBTQ community: from the prejudice within the LGBTQ community, how certain identities are considered more acceptable than others, how one’s level of queerness alters one’s experience both within and outside of the community, the lack of intersectionality within most portrayals of queer characters or corporations’ profiting off of Pride. Even then, some part of me felt that all of these topics were too niche and too specific to the queer community for readers unfamiliar with these debates to find worthy of their time.
This term, I’ve spent a lot of time not working hard enough. It’s the nagging feeling I get when it’s 8 p.m. — four hours before my essay deadline — and I’m watching my seventh Riverdale episode of the day while my Canvas page stares back at me disapprovingly. Cognitive dissonance, one might call it. It takes a lot of energy to convince myself that my research paper warrants less attention than the latest series of woes in Betty and Jughead’s relationship.
The College has yet to announce its decision on the structure of fall term — a formal announcement is slated to be made by June 29. In a recent installment of his weekly livestream, Provost Joseph Helble said that the COVID-19 task force is looking into a “hybrid operation” for fall term that would see a portion of the student body back on campus. This plan hinges on the million-dollar question: Which students will be allowed on campus come fall?
Nowadays, many people are focused on the question of when scientists will be able to find a COVID-19 vaccine — widely perceived as the only hope for returning to normal life. Fewer, however, are concerned about whether or not Americans will even take a vaccine against the coronavirus when one does become available.
If there was one benefit to going to college in rural New Hampshire, away from big city amenities, it was King Arthur Flour. Specifically KAF, the cafe that occupied the physical and spiritual heart of Baker-Berry Library.
When I was a junior in college, the issue of the day on campus was an innovative new technique that the Hanover Police were threatening to deploy to crack down on underage drinking. The police department had announced that if underage students were found to be drinking in college Greek houses, the students themselves would not be the only ones held responsible — the Greek houses that supplied the alcohol would be held responsible as well. In this case, “held responsible” meant that they would be fined. The fine could be as high as six figures.
I’ve braved many “first days of school” in my life, but none gave me as much anxiety as I felt about the first day of college. Living with a random roommate and getting thrown into life on the other side of the country was daunting.
According to Tom Friedan, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. could need up to 300,000 contact tracers to help contain the COVID-19 outbreak. Meanwhile, distributing any potential vaccine, especially to areas underserved by the current health care system, will require an unprecedented effort. In light of the current and future need for workers to help contain the pandemic, Dartmouth should consider giving a half-course credit to students who serve in such roles.
On May 6, while wall-to-wall COVID-19 coverage dominated the media, the Department of Education quietly released an updated set of Title IX guidelines. These new policies have amounted to, in the words of Dartmouth’s Title IX office, a significant change in “the definition and scope of sexual misconduct” and surrounding processes.
From the bed they sleep on to the apparel they wear, the lives of many Dartmouth students are influenced by a few dozen of their peers: Dartmouth’s student-business owners. But for years, Dartmouth women have been boxed out of student-business ownership. It’s not an act of intentional exclusion. Women have merely been forgotten as the traditional student-business structure has evolved without them. Currently, only six women have been able to establish themselves as student-business owners, out of a total of around 60 student-business owners at Dartmouth.
During a normal term, a Saturday night would bring a momentary respite from class work. In this remote term, this respite has become especially important amid the monotony of a virtual college experience. At home in the suburbs of Chicago, activities are few and far between. The weather here has turned from cold and snowy to cold and rainy, and in areas across the country that remain shut down, options for activity outside the home are often not available.
Last year, celebrities, politicians and many of my friends took to social media to spread the hashtag “#BelieveWomen.” Prompted by decades of not taking sexual assault against women seriously enough, the hashtag was used to promote the idea that women who shared allegations against men could expect to be believed. The campaign to “believe women” told survivors that even if their case wouldn’t win in court, they would be believed in the court of public opinion. Recently, many of the same people who were outspoken about the need to believe women have changed their tune now that believing women comes with unfavorable political consequences.
In the recent student elections, only seven out of 25 races had competing candidates on the ballot. Eighteen races were uncontested, and five seats had only write-in options. Dartmouth’s student elections are defined by a lack of competition, leaving voters without real choice. To ensure accountability, ballots should include a “none of the above” option — and if this option gets a majority of the votes, the seat shouldn't be filled.
The Spanish flu, AIDS, smallpox, the Black Death — new and deadly diseases pop up frequently throughout history. But in a world in which we carry computers in our pockets, it’s easy to forget about how much we still don’t know. In the face of COVID-19 and all of its unknowns, scientists are now taking much of the blame. Without proper representation in our legislative bodies, science is left undefended and unfairly battered.
From 2000 to 2014, worldwide clothing production doubled. This trend has continued to accelerate, with a 21 percent increase in production from 2016 to 2019, as globalization, internet usage and social media have come to dominate consumer behavior. Meanwhile, people are wearing garments for only half as long as they did at the beginning of the century. With new fashion trends emerging at faster rates and consumers looking for cheap alternatives to keep up, fast fashion retailers have stepped in to meet demand. These retailers, such as Boohoo, Zara and Revolve, emphasize making fashion trends quickly and cheaply available to consumers, primarily through their online platforms.