Give Admissions a Chance
To the Editor:
I founded the Dimensions show back in spring 2004. In light of recent events ("Admissions seeks to boost yield," Feb. 28), I would encourage students to think creatively about its future. When the show started, I was a former H-Croo chief and a new admissions officer trying to highlight the energy and enthusiasm of current students as a way to set the College apart. Admissions gave me full support to create, with former Croo members, an H-Croo-esque Dimensions welcome show, disguised as a seemingly boring panel discussion with a dozen current students. The idea to have first-year performers, directed by past years' sophomore performers, was one of necessity. After the show's success and with my departure for graduate school looming, I needed to create a way for it to live on that did not require an admissions officer organizing it every year.
I am surprised and delighted that the show has become a tradition at Dartmouth and continues to highlight the unique enthusiasm for student life at the College. I felt that the program worked well precisely because it did not feature a formal campus group like Sheba, but rather average, enthusiastic (and perhaps tone deaf) students from various corners of campus, putting together a performance out of their sheer love of Dartmouth and desire to share this with its rising classes. The original venue, Collis Common Ground, was well-suited for this purpose, as it was a cramped space with no technology. For instance, performers did not have a music background and we were worried that playing with mics would be more painful for the audience than our regular singing. I realized that increasing attendance (namely, current students who wanted to see the show) mandated its move to Leede Arena, but it seems a poor fit with the show's original design.
Maria Laskaris, the director of admissions at the time, was extremely supportive of me as a first-year officer trying to get this performance off the ground. She has the best intentions in genuinely highlighting the unique aspects of student life on campus, particularly in the arts. Her concern for "acoustics and other technical and logistical issues" strikes me as absolutely correct in assessing the show's limitations in Leede and right on the mark in keeping with the show's original purpose and intent. It is an expression of passion and enthusiasm for prospective students, not a campus-wide event for thousands.
The senior admission administrators had the innovative foresight and risk-taking creativity to give the show a chance in the first place, all in the name of highlighting the best of Dartmouth to its future classes. Their intentions have not changed in continuing to attract the best students and set the College apart from its peers. The creativity and enthusiasm of current students and recent alums, combined with the willingness of the Admissions Office to innovate, served us well in 2004. I encourage current students to give admissions the benefit of the doubt and bring forward the kinds of creative, adaptive ideas that brought us the Dimensions show in the first place.
Lauren Foley '03Baltimore, MD
Dartmouth is Secure
To the Editor:
Chandrasekar Ramesh's recent column ("Dartmouth Insecure," Feb. 26) highlights an important problem facing not just the Dartmouth community, but anyone who uses a smartphone, laptop, tablet: data security. Computing services is committed to protecting data through good policy and investment in the right technology. The recent switch from a Dartmouth-managed PKI certificate authority to a vendor-supported alternative prioritizes security, maximizes utility and is cost-effective.
Our former security system faced countless problems. Unforeseen changes in operating systems caused our custom installer to fail and led to long lines at the help desk. Rather than getting the old certificate system to work on their computers, students often chose the "Dartmouth Public" network that is not secure, offers limited bandwidth and does not allow access to key library and Blackboard services. We selected Xpress Connect from Cloud Path. Cloud Path maintains the installer to keep pace with all operating system changes. Xpress Connect automatically configures each user's computer to use PEAP, a proven secure wireless solution. As a result of the shift, use of Dartmouth Secure has doubled.
Ramesh's concern about user passwords being "sniffed" while using Dartmouth Secure is valid. Thankfully, his worries are unfounded as our authentication system does not use the legacy communications protocol which leverages the MSChap vulnerability. His assertion that a stolen computer with cached passwords is less secure than a stolen computer with a PKI certificate is ill-conceived. The vulnerability remains with either solution.
Ramesh said our password policy could be more stringent. Due to certain format issues related to legacy Blitz authentication, we are limited in the requirements we can impose. Now that Blitz is gone, we are removing the current restrictions. However, he overstates the ease with which someone's answers to the challenge questions can be guessed based on publicly available information. Though opponents of "knowledge-based authentication" make these claims, actually succeeding is not easy, which is why financial institutions use it to protect online banking. It is worth noting that since deploying KBA for access to our Virtual Private Network, we have documented success in thwarting certain attacks.
Computing services prides itself on customer service and our willingness to respond to community needs and concerns. To that end, the Computer Security Initiative was formed in 2006. It comprises IT staff, computer science faculty and students. The focus of the group is to assess issues and vulnerabilities in the context of acceptable risk and cost, and develop solutions accordingly. All issues mentioned by Ramesh were fully discussed. CSI worked collegially to find solutions to these and other security challenges. Disagreeing with advice is not tantamount to ignoring it.
Steve NymanChief Informational Security Officer
