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(02/18/15 12:13am)
The middle of February is a reliably upsetting time. The weather is frightful, midterms are upon us and Valentine’s Day — or, more accurately for often-single college students, Singles’ Awareness Day — throws many for a loop when happy couples come out of the woodwork. Their displays of togetherness almost seem to mock those of us who are without a significant other. For same-sex couples and those with other romantic arrangements, however, this holiday may be especially uncomfortable. Despite recent increases in the number and diversity of media portrayals of same-sex couples, the fact remains that Valentine’s Day and mainstream conceptions of love in general leave little room for romantic relationships outside the monogamous heterosexual norm or those wherein men are not seen as the providers of material goods on this particular occasion.
(02/04/15 11:10pm)
In the wake of College President Phil Hanlon’s presentation of the “Moving Dartmouth Forward” plan last Thursday, I am surprised and disappointed to see students, faculty and national media fixate on the hard alcohol ban — a relatively minor part of the overall plan — rather than pointing out some of its glaring inadequacies. Given the amount of scrutiny that the College has come under for failing to meet its obligation to protect students under Title IX, it boggles the mind to see how paltry the “Moving Dartmouth Forward” policies on sexual assault prevention and response truly are.
(01/12/15 1:33am)
Scan national publications over the past few years, and you will find that the topic of sexual assault on college campuses has garnered an immense amount of attention. Members of Congress, college administrators, student activists, alumni and parents have all taken an interest in seeing change come about on college campuses. A recent White House report cited a statistic that one in five college women will be the victim of attempted or completed sexual assault over the course of her college career, highlighting the frequency at which college-aged women face the threat of sexual violence. The recent publication and subsequent retraction of Sabrina Rubin Erdely’s Nov. 19 Rolling Stone 9000-plus word story, “A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice,” captures some of the journalistic and ethical dilemmas that arise in the coverage of this issue. Specifically, issues regarding sensitivity to survivors’ rights to privacy come into direct conflict with the journalistic directive to fact-check a story as thoroughly as possible.
(09/29/14 8:45pm)
This week, the U.S. and several Arab nations intensified airstrikes in Syria, targeting the Islamic State extremist group in Raqqa, Deir Ezzor, Al Hasakah and Abu Kamal. As of yet, the Islamic State has not commented on the strikes, but it is worth noting that the group used U.S. airstrikes to explain its execution of three Western hostages. Given the Islamic State’s track record of capitalizing on military action as a rationale for escalating violence against Westerners, America’s decision to increase airstrikes seems poorly thought-out.
(09/15/14 9:35pm)
It is gratifying to see that the newest class of Dartmouth students seems to be settling in to the rhythms of campus life with ease. There are, of course, the usual shmobs milling about in search of food, classes and the route back to their dorms (in that order), but as a whole it seems that our newest community members are quickly making it their home. However, the housing crisis caused by the sheer size of this year’s freshman class — the largest ever — is the perfect opportunity for students to demand better and more plentiful housing options.
(04/21/14 10:34pm)
Like many students, I was stunned when I heard about the College’s receipt of a record-breaking $100 million gift. It is, of course, a tremendous testament to Dartmouth’s impact on its alumni that someone would give the institution such support. However, I am disappointed by the gift’s narrow-minded focus on academic initiatives. To be fair, a college’s overarching mission is to provide its students with a quality education. But in light of the College’s recent and highly public struggles with student life issues and diversity, one might have expected that more of the gift would be allocated toward initiatives designed to improve quality of life and inclusivity at the most basic levels.
(03/23/14 11:11pm)
As the debate over the College Board’s imminent changes to the SAT continues, I cannot help but feel that many people ignore an important fact: the SAT, or any standardized test, better predicts factors like family income and parents’ education levels than it does academic success in college. Neither the current SAT nor the proposed new exam pass muster as predictors of students’ potential to be academically successful and intellectually engaged in college.
(11/04/13 7:08pm)
In a surprising op-ed for The Wall Street Journal this Sunday, usually apolitical Apple CEO Time Cook urged Congress to approve the Employment Nondiscrimination Act, which up to now has received tepid public support. The proposed bill, currently under review by Congress, would protect workers from discrimination and termination as a result of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Although more than 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies have adopted written nondiscrimination policies explicitly prohibiting harassment and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, their actual commitment to such promises vary wildly. For this reason, Cook’s, and by extension, Apple’s, support of ENDA is incredibly important. The bill faces an uncertain outlook in the Republican-controlled House and stiff opposition from conservative groups such as the Heritage Foundation and the Family Research Council. As a lesson in audience-specific advocacy and a promising sign of things to come from Apple’s leadership, Cook’s op-ed this weekend is both substantively and ideologically meaningful.
(10/25/13 2:00am)
In my time here, I have had some truly remarkable professors. They have challenged me to work harder, think more critically and reconsider my assumptions about the world. However, the most life-changing teacher I had was my humanities teacher in my public middle school in the suburbs of Portland, Ore. Sadly, the wonderful experience I had with Mr. Wandell, a University of Chicago graduate with a flair for historical simulations that capitalized upon our adolescent competitiveness and imaginations, was a rare one in the American public education system. Many students suffer from thoroughly uninspiring schooling experiences where the countdown to the last five minutes of class is the highlight of their days.
(10/09/13 2:00am)
Last week, Irish singer Sinead O'Connor penned an open letter to Miley Cyrus, advising her not to let the music industry "pimp" her for profit and attention. While O'Connor's letter may have been written with the best of intentions, the philosophy behind her advice to Cyrus is troubling. The idea that women must police their bodies, expressions and behaviors so as not to present temptation to men is deeply oppressive and rooted in a patriarchal paradigm that views women as objects and men as slaves to their basest desires. The parallel belief that men cannot help but objectify women who fail to conduct themselves with the utmost decorum sets a disappointingly low bar for appropriate male behavior.
(09/24/13 2:00am)
Since his papacy began in March, Pope Francis has shown to be comfortable charting new waters for both himself and the Church as a whole. His endeavors, from washing prisoners' feet or hugging a disabled child after Easter Mass to making impromptu phone calls to letter-writers have embraced a set of principles that his predecessors did not. Even more radically, Francis has reached out to atheists, gays and divorcees. In an interview released last week, Francis went farther still in his effort to reorient the Catholic Church toward a broader and more inclusive view of its membership. The Pope's affirmation of his support for gays and lesbians is an admission that the Vatican has fixated for too long on a narrow set of issues and "small-minded rules." It is a signal that this new papacy might represent a much-needed transition toward a more modern and culturally aware Catholic Church for the 21st century.
(08/16/13 2:00am)
After nearly half a term of student agitation and campus-wide controversy, College President Phil Hanlon revoked the Right Rev. James Tengatenga's appointment as dean of the Tucker Foundation due to concerns over the reverend's previous statements regarding homosexuality. He made the right decision. Regardless of Tengatenga's personal position on homosexuality, past or present, the fact remains that he was complacent as the Malawi government criminalized and persecuted an entire community.
(08/13/13 2:00am)
When I received my acceptance letter to Dartmouth, I knew right away I was going to be a government major. I had an affinity for the subject in high school, I knew I would enjoy classes in the department and I was sure it was the field I wanted to enter after graduation. Today, less than halfway through my Dartmouth career, on a muggy sophomore summer evening, I remain absolutely convinced that this is still true. However, I did not come to this conclusion by testing the hypothesis as a freshman. As a first-year student, I took classes in any subject that interested me my first-year seminar was in the geography department, my first-year advisor was an English professor whose class I took in the spring, I dabbled in philosophy and ended up going on the foreign study program to Edinburgh, where I decided against majoring in philosophy, I took two public policy courses with the same professor solely because I enjoyed the content and I took a course taught by a physics and history professor.
(07/30/13 2:00am)
In the wake of Anthony Weiner's second public sexting slip-up in as many years, some have questioned his wife Huma Abedin's decision to stand by her husband not once, but twice. However, while those who couch their arguments for Abedin to leave Weiner may believe themselves to be well-intentioned advocates for a woman's right to an equal, loving and committed relationship, there are several points at which the supposedly progressive logic of their argument breaks down. Ultimately, the primary arguments and hypothetical explanations for Abedin's personal choice are a hodgepodge of racist, sexist and prescriptive illogicisms.
(07/16/13 2:00am)
L ast Friday, Bay Area news station KTVU reported that the pilots of Asiana flight 214, which crashed in San Francisco last week, were named "Sum Ting Wong," "Wi Tu Lo," "Ho Lee Fuk," and "Bang Ding Ow." Despite being off-color racist jokes about Asian names and the crash itself, the station read these names on the air without any apparent realization that they were incorrect. KTVU has since apologized for its reporting, saying that the National Transportation Safety Board confirmed the names to the station. The NTSB in turn blamed an unnamed intern. Asiana Airlines responded to the incident by threatening to sue both the NTSB and KTVU. As of Monday, the airline had decided to drop the suit against the NTSB but proceed with the one against KTVU. However, this entire incident highlights a continued problem with frequently accepted racism against Asian-Americans in the United States.
(04/09/13 2:00am)
Proponents of Prop 8, citing studies showing that children fare better in households with a mother and father, argue that the government should limit marriage rights to opposite-sex couples in the service of the public interest. They also contend that the measure encourages responsible procreation and upholds tradition. Furthermore, from a political perspective, proponents argue that the court should defer to the political process in the state of California and not engage on what they argue is a state issue.
(03/04/13 4:00am)
However, just how "real" is Jennifer Lawrence, really? And just how advisable is it to encourage young, impressionable girls to look up to an actress who, for all her success and talent, dumbs herself down for the sake of producing Tumblr-worthy GIFs and sound bytes? Lawrence's schtick, and particularly its pretended glorification of slackerdom, is horrifically detrimental to the cause of encouraging young girls to assert themselves as individuals with valuable, worthy opinions and goals.
(02/21/13 4:00am)
In social science and humanitarian circles, it is an oft-repeated fact that the United States, ostensibly the land of the free, has the world's highest incarceration rate. Since the shift during the 1980s to more strict penal policies in an effort to combat rising crime, incarceration rates among poor, urban and black communities have climbed to astronomical rates. The number of Americans in state and federal prisons has quintupled since 1980, in large part because prisoners now serve longer terms than they would have in past decades for the same crimes. As the Obama administration tackles poverty and hunger issues, it would be well-advised to consider punitive measures outside the penal system for non-violent offenders, even in multiple-offense cases. Reducing the number of prisoners in U.S. penitentiaries would have positive effects on poverty, urban and minority community health and government budgets.
(01/29/13 4:00am)
At a panel session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg made a series of fiery comments on the gender stereotypes that she says prohibit women from advancing in the workplace. Sandberg singled out T-shirts sold in the United States, with the boys' version bearing the words "Smart Like Daddy" and the girls' version the words "Pretty Like Mommy" and said, "I would love to say that [those T-shirts were from] 1951, but [they were from] last year. As a woman becomes more successful, she is less liked, and as a man becomes more successful, he is more liked, and that starts with those t-shirts."
(01/16/13 4:00am)
In recent weeks, "Django Unchained" (2013) has provoked a wide range of reactions. While the film won Golden Globes for screenplay and supporting actor and has garnered several Oscar nominations, it has also provoked harsh criticism from many who believe that director Quentin Tarantino, renowned for his envelope-pushing filmmaking, crossed the line from controversial to simply racist. The truth may be somewhere in between the two. Certainly, Tarantino's films intend to challenge their audiences, so dismissing "Django" as a reductionist take on slavery-era America would be inaccurate. However, by the same token, the fact remains that Tarantino is a white man who has chosen to tell stories about struggles from a time and place in history that are not necessarily his to tell.