Palaeopitus presented a community lunch on Thursday that
explored the relationship between the personal lives of activists and the work they do. The panel included Hillary Abe '08, a documentary filmmaker; Vivian Chung '07, an economics and studio art major; Vaughn Booker '07, an MLK Papers Project intern; and senior fellow Michael Amico '07. Amico said that the panel sought to focus on a different angle of student activism. "I think the overall purpose of the panel was to address student activism at Dartmouth by looking at it personally, in the sense of how our personal lives are implicated in our political work," he said. The panel, organized by Michelle Davis '07, was held in Collis Common Ground.
Chechen journalist Selda Mourtazalieva spoke at a lunch hosted by the World Affairs Council on Thursday. Mourtazalieva, who also works for the World Food Program, said she had wanted to come to the United States for some time to gain more experience and training in her field while practicing English. The daughter of a prominent journalist in Chechnya, Mourtazalieva has worked in both print and broadcast journalism. She has studied both Arabic and English and is in the country traveling and living with a host family in Washington D.C., until mid-January as part of an internship with the International Center for Journalists. Her journey has been a long time coming; she had to postpone her travel plans to care for her husband in Chechnya. He was returning home to Ingushetia when he was injured in a shooting between Chechcen and Ingush forces.
After criticizing the Harvard Graduate School of Design last week for its staff's lack of gender diversity, Harvard professor Martha Schwartz agreed to stay at the university. In a letter to the University President Derek Bok, Schwartz -- an adjunct professor of landscape architecture -- accused the GSD of gender prejudice. The school has never granted tenure to a female professor in the landscape architecture department during its 106 years of existence. Schwartz's comments added fuel to the heated gender war at the university. A recent report released by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences noted that the percentage of women accepted for tenure was down 20 percent. In 2005, former University President Lawrence Summers attracted criticism following a speech on women in science that some viewed as sexist. "The sexism is entrenched," Schwartz said. "What conclusions can you draw? The Larry Summers one would be that maybe women are not predispositioned to be landscape architects. Or if you reject that one, what are the factors? But I can't really find any real reason." In 1992, Schwartz declined tenure because she wanted to continue to research. She later began to work as an adjunct professor with two male colleagues who are both now tenured.
