Verbum Ultimum: Real Life Starts Now
Tone-deaf College communications miss the point of a liberal arts education.
Tone-deaf College communications miss the point of a liberal arts education.
Despite staffing and pandemic-related challenges, the Campus Climate and Culture Initiative — which the College launched in early 2019 to assess the educational and work environments of its departments and revise sexual misconduct policies — is proceeding with its current initiatives.
Though the pandemic marches on, Dartmouth has moved forward with multiple construction projects, including the completion of renovations to Reed Hall and Baker-Berry Library, the start of renovations on Dartmouth Hall and the continued construction of the new Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society.
Dartmouth students in search of mental health support now have the chance to talk with therapists via virtual counseling sessions, thanks to a collaboration between the student-run mental health app Unmasked and teletherapy platform Uwill. Announced in December, this partnership has enabled students to access Uwill’s large network of therapists after registering via Unmasked.
Millions of schoolchildren will bear the scars of remote learning for years to come.
This past weekend, the first part of the 14th annual Dartmouth Idol semifinals took place virtually. Breaking from the traditional format of the beloved competition, the kickoff event combined footage from previous competitions with audition tapes from this year’s semifinalists.
As students prepare to return to campus this weekend, the College has warned that “more restrictive conditions” than originally anticipated may be required for those living on campus due to an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases at Dartmouth and in the Upper Valley.
When I virtually signed Dartmouth’s “Community Expectations” agreement last summer, I didn’t think much of a certain line. I agreed to “receive a vaccine for COVID-19, should one become available that is both FDA- and Dartmouth-approved,” if I wanted to live on campus and access Dartmouth’s facilities. At that point, a COVID-19 vaccine seemed years away — a promise overshadowed by the stress of preparing for a virtual academic year.
Every winter, Hanover undergoes a transformation. The days get shorter, temperatures plummet and snow covers campus. However, this winter features a more dramatic shift than usual. As Dartmouth prepares to welcome students back for the winter term, signs of a more fun, social experience are appearing around campus.
As the pandemic drags on into the new year, many people are getting sick of strictly adhering to COVID-19 guidelines. With the first doses of the vaccine rolling out across the country, some have started to let their guards down and regard restrictions with a more lax attitude.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began almost a full year ago, I’ve thought a lot about the future of art. If art is a mode of self-expression, what happens when your sense of self, removed from the places and people that shape it, is rocked? If art is a vessel for our joy, what happens when the sources of joy change? I was afraid that life in lockdown would make us too tired to create things, or that stress and lack of materials would immobilize us even when we wanted to create things. I hoped that making things was such an inherently human act that it would pull us through the wildest of circumstances.
Every January, gyms fill up with fresh-faced clientele eager to fulfill New Year’s resolutions made the night before over glasses of champagne. For many, New Year’s resolutions are a way to try something new, refocus on old rhythms or buckle down on long-term goals. After the dumpster fire of 2020, it’s hard to say whether New Year’s resolutions feel completely irrelevant or more important than ever. In this edition of Mirror Asks, a few Mirror writers share their own thoughts on the new year and the things they’re looking forward to in 2021, both big and small.
The vandalism of the Chabad menorah in early December was a reminder that the “Dartmouth bubble” has not always included Jewish students, harkening back to the days when the admissions office maintained quotas for the number of Jews in each class, academic departments sought to hire mainly Protestants and most fraternities barred Jewish students from membership.
On Jan. 4, the Boston Red Sox announced the hiring of former Dartmouth softball player Bianca Smith ’12 as a minor league coach, making her the first Black woman to coach in professional baseball history.
Dartmouth’s 14 recognized senior societies and various unrecognized ones are gearing up to pass the torches on to the next senior class in a process known as “tapping.” This winter’s fully remote tapping process, which will embrace text messages, emails and Zoom calls, comes nearly a year after many current members of senior societies themselves underwent tapping virtually.
The issue of stimulus checks shows Democrats need to consider both politics and policy in their agenda.
Dartmouth must allow for student socialization this term.
With limited opportunities for social interaction, the demands of virtual classes and the ongoing instability posed by the pandemic, fall term saw students grappling with isolation and anxiety alongside their coursework. Now, as students gear up for a New Hampshire winter and another pandemic-era term, the College has taken recent steps to increase mental health support — yet concerns linger that resources may still be lacking.
The right-wing insurrectionists have dealt a disservice to the legacy of justified resistance.