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(05/26/15 11:47pm)
As a graduating senior, I was surprised to get an email from the Dartmouth Card Office as early as April 30 — a full month and a half before graduation — notifying me that many of the accounts tied to my student ID would be shut down on May 13. Since the vast majority of seniors do not leave campus until June 15, shutting down many of their accounts a full month in advance presents massive and unnecessary challenges.
(05/13/15 11:12pm)
There has recently been a plethora of columns regarding respectful discussion, yet all have an underlying theme — a complete disregard of true openness for multiple views. A friend of mine, fellow senior and columnist Aylin Woodward ’15, wrote a column last week about the commenter “fribble.” She wrote that readers of The Dartmouth’s comments section might encounter “the bombastic, belligerent and often incoherent commentary penned under the moniker ‘fribble.’” Fribble, far from “bombastic, belligerent and often incoherent,” usually expresses opinions in the defense of personal liberty, transparency, accountability and the pursuit of truth.
(04/27/15 11:22pm)
Jon Miller ’15 is a member of the undergraduate finance committee.
(04/13/15 10:21pm)
On April 10, The Dartmouth reported a decrease in applications to living learning communities from 844 to only 575 — a drop of more than 30 percent. We should question why there was such a precipitous decline in applications for a relatively new program. I suspect that some of the 575 applicants were first-time applicants — which raises the possibility that a sizeable number of students decided not to continue living in these communities.
(03/30/15 10:07pm)
On March 9, the College budget was approved by the Board of Trustees with a 2.9 percent increase in tuition. I find it startling that this has been the lowest tuition increase since 1977 — not counting the last fiscal year, which also saw a 2.9 percent increase. Dean of admissions and financial aid Maria Laskaris stated, “I think it sends a really strong message that we are committed to controlling costs for families.”
(03/05/15 12:33am)
In Monday night’s town hall meeting, hosted by Palaeopitus senior society, Student Assembly and the Office of the President, administrators — including College President Phil Hanlon, Interim Dean of the College Inge-Lise Ameer and Provost Carolyn Dever — answered questions about “Moving Dartmouth Forward.” I was surprised by the relatively low turnout at the event, since these top administrators were instrumental in devising policies that will affect all students.
(02/20/15 1:02am)
Not far from the Orozco Room in the basement of Baker Library is an inconspicuous hallway, which houses the Dartmouth book arts workshop. It is a shame that so many students are unaware of the opportunity to learn and hone their skills in printing, which — as is the case with many of the specialized resources on campus — is something that won’t be so readily accessible after we leave the College. While the workshop allows you to create physical works of printing, it may also help curb some of the madness that comes with midterms, extracurriculars and the general fast paced style of the quarter system. Given that creative hobbies can help relieve feelings of stress or anxiety, these four years seem like an ideal time to explore resources like the book arts workshop offered by the College.
(02/06/15 2:33am)
Dartmouth’s current academic honor principle is both a largely archaic and a very naive policy.
(01/07/15 11:35pm)
Based on current policy, the Organizational Adjudication Committee of the judicial affairs office handles cases of misconduct for student groups (both Greek and non-Greek). The committee is made up of faculty members, administrators and students who are given a packet of related materials beforehand so they may familiarize themselves with details of the case. Then the actual presentation of the case occurs. It is not unlike a jury, although fundamentally the committee is not determining culpability. Rather they suggest sanctions to the judicial affairs office based on precedent.
(11/10/14 10:38pm)
The recent faculty vote to open course evaluations ostensibly seems to be a move in the right direction. And in some regards it is — Dartmouth ought to have made course evaluations available to students long ago. The editorial board’s Nov. 7 Verbum Ultimum discussed some of the proposal’s flaws, but it did not highlight some of the most troubling ones. In addition to the “opt-in” clause, which enables faculty members to open course reviews at their discretion, there is also the more troubling ability for faculty members to cherry-pick responses. Faculty members will have a 10-day window to pore over student comments, pull out ones they arbitrarily deem objectionable and submit them to their dean. The professor, then, could decide to censor student comments. Where is the line between truthful negative comments and ones subjectively considered to be inappropriate?
(10/26/14 10:09pm)
Although most students may be unaware of it, Baker-Berry Library offers scholar study spaces to seniors writing honors theses. These are private spaces which guarantee that students working on senior theses always have quiet places in the library to work. I have learned about these as I plan to write a thesis and I believe that they can be highly beneficial to students. However, the library’s current setup and the allocation of scholar studies mean that students cannot use these spaces to their maximum effect.
(10/12/14 8:37pm)
Although last year’s NSA scandal has largely faded from the news, the U.S. government’s strong-arming of technology companies that have million of users’ private information has not ended. Last December, Facebook, Microsoft and Google joined other technology companies in lobbying President Barack Obama to reform government surveillance practices. Last week, Twitter filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government to further the coalition’s goal of increasing the amount of information companies can provide to their users with regard to government information requests.
(09/28/14 10:32pm)
Recently, the Advanced Placement credit policy and the policy regarding how many four-course terms students can take without incurring extra tuition fees underwent significant changes at the College. The Class of 2018 is the first affected by the change of policy. For these students, AP credit awarded in high school can no longer count toward the 35 credits required to graduate. Although this policy has been unpopular among students, we should actually praise the College’s decision to uphold its commitment to high-quality education. The AP policy and four-course term policy changes fundamentally work toward the College’s pedagogic mission.
(09/14/14 8:40pm)
Many students have heard of the Dartmouth Organic Farm, but the property is underutilized. Although classes in environmental studies, such as “Ecological Agriculture,” use the property, a wide range of classes and student activities could take advantage of the farm as well. While the Outdoor Programs Office could certainly do more to promote student involvement in and awareness of the farm, departments other than environmental studies must consider how their classes might benefit from its resources. Additionally, increased usage of the farm will educate students about local and sustainable agriculture.
(05/18/14 11:09pm)
As the treasurer of a student group, I was recently informed that our group had gone slightly over budget for an event. This being the case, I decided to look closely into the charges billed to our organization’s account. What I found illustrates a complete abuse of student groups and an exploitation of the student activity fee by certain services provided by various divisions of Dartmouth, such as the Hopkins Center and the Office of Conferences and Special Events. This is a serious problem that the College should address.
(05/07/14 11:57pm)
This past Monday, some faculty of the arts and sciences raised concerns over a proposal which would have allowed professors to publicize their past course evaluations with students. Although the meeting was poorly attended by faculty members and thus the concerns expressed may not accurately reflect views of the broader faculty, a few faculty members were quite vocal in expressing not only concern, but flat out disapproval for the proposal. I find it concerning that there is such disagreement. Whereas the Board of Trustees, the Student Assembly Academic Affairs Committee and the Committee on Instruction (which should, in theory, reflect faculty opinion) support the proposal, several faculty members remain resistant. Apparently, though students are graded, it seems that some of the faculty are less keen on the idea of sharing their own evaluations.
(04/20/14 10:44pm)
Although recent years have seen average tuition increases of 4.8 percent (from 2009-14, well out-pacing inflation rates), and lowering this number is long overdue, I would like to laud College President Phil Hanlon for his efforts to rein in out of control tuition increases. Rather than cutting back, the consensus on some parts of campus seems to be that tuition can be raised endlessly, and students will still matriculate. I attended one of Hanlon’s faculty meetings in the fall, where he affirmed his commitment to trying to tie tuition levels to inflation. I witnessed firsthand what a contentious topic this was among the faculty.
(04/13/14 10:12pm)
Many of you may have seen the sidewalk chalk that my running mate, Harry Qi ’17, and I have put around campus. Our platform has been online since the very beginning of campaigning, and it is accessible to all. I have reached out to many of you personally either in FoCo, at your dorms or in Baker-Berry Library. And so I would like to take this opportunity to talk about something more important than the platform of any one candidate.
(04/06/14 10:31pm)
Last quarter, the faculty came together and discussed grade inflation. The average GPA at Dartmouth has gone from a 3.05 in the 1970s to currently above a 3.4. If one examines the published median grades, it becomes clear that there are large differences in median grades across departments. For the years 2007-2011 collectively, we find that theater, Arabic, Chinese and music had departmental median grades of 3.9, 3.86, 3.81 and 3.77, whereas chemistry, biology, mathematics and economics respectively had median grades of 3.22, 3.33, 3.34 and 3.34, according to data complied in 2012 by Dartblog.
(03/23/14 11:09pm)
Last fall, the rules of the U.S. Senate were fundamentally changed. This change will drastically alter how our government functions and threatens to destroy the checks and balances historically in place. It represents what may be the single greatest abuse of power in the last 200 years in our system of governance. Yet it has received relatively little media coverage. The change, allowing a simple majority to overcome filibusters on judicial nominations, a move known as the “nuclear option,” threatens the integrity of the Senate’s ability to give voice to minority party members, which has been vital to our democracy.