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The Dartmouth
July 21, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth
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News

College reconsiders moving freshman parents weekend

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The College is currently considering changing its plans to move Freshman Parents Weekend to the Fall term. Dean of Freshmen Peter Goldsmith, who originally suggested the move, said he is now "rethinking his position on the issues." Goldsmith said he will release a memorandum discussing the future of Freshman Parents Weekend, which is currently held in the Spring term, within the next two weeks. Goldsmith said he was originally "very much" in favor of the move, because he thought the College lacked an event in the fall for the parents of most entering students. The College announced in May that it would move Freshman Parents Weekend for the Class of 1999. But members of the Coalition of Class Officers, a group made up of the presidents and vice presidents of each Class Council, voiced objections to the move. "Freshman Parents Weekend is more of a chance for freshmen to show off Dartmouth to their parents than for the administration to orient Dartmouth to the parents," Class of 1996 Vice President Tom Caputo said. Caputo said he was concerned that if the College moved the weekend to the fall, "it would be too informational because not too many students know enough about Dartmouth in the fall." Caputo said moving the event to the fall would also prevent freshmen from planning the weekend. "The great thing about Freshman Parents Weekend is that it has been very much planned by students," Caputo said.



Arts

Libre and Barbary Coast perform with energy, excitement

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In one of the finest jazz performances of the year, the Barbary Coast and New York-based Latin jazz band Libre gave a spirited, energetic and electrifying performance on Saturday night before an enthusiastic audience. There are quite a few jazz bands which can gather up the energy to perform one or two fast numbers, but what set Libre apart was their incredible stamina to play several tunes at blazing tempos with a high level of intensity.


News

Kiewit hardware, worth $8,200, stolen

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Last Thursday night, thieves broke into a room in the lower level of the Kiewit Computation Center and stole $8,200 worth of computer hardware. Hanover Police Detective-Sergeant Frank Moran said the incident happened some time between 9 p.m.



News

Dartmouth's tuition is average: Since 1987, Dartmouth has lowered its price relative to the Ivies

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Even for a school ranked eighth in the nation by U.S. News and World Report magazine, this year's $25,720 price tag seems a little hefty. But the College's cost places it in a more modest position than in 1987, when Dartmouth stood alongside Yale as the most expensive school in the Ivy League. Currently, the College sits in the middle of the Ivy League in terms of cost. Next year the total cost for tuition, fees, room and board will be $27,039.



Arts

Russian poet Lev Loseff reads at Sanborn library

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For the first time in sixteen years as a Dartmouth Professr of Russian Language and Literature, the renowned Russian poet, Lev Vladimirovich Loseff, read his poetry to an audience of nearly sixty students, professors, and community members last night in the Wren Room of Sanborn library. Highly respected by all of the students in the Russian Department, Loseff intrigued and perplexed, moved and inspired those who gathered to hear his poetry. Reading in Russian, the poet shed the skin of the man who quietly attends to business around the department, and powerfully emerged with a heightened expression of his experiences. His own vigor was well matched by that of his student, Eric Waters '95, who dovetailed the poet's Russian rendering with literal English translations. Loseff describes the time before his emigration to the United States as his "former life," a time during which he wrote many of his poems.



News

Reactions to reform

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As the Student Assembly grapples with a number of proposals aimed at reducing the problems that have plagued it for the last two years, the only thing agreed to by almost everyone is that some kind of reform is necessary. "The same problems come up every year," said Dean of Student Life Holly Sateia, the Assembly's adviser. Sateia said the key to a reform plan lies in improving the representation and accountability of Assembly members. "It is important to think of how members can share their platforms with the students whom they represent," she said. Senior Class Vice President and former Assembly member Hosea Harvey said, "Without a student assembly, the student's voice is severely diminished." "It is better to engage in substantial overhaul" than let it become ineffective, he said. Assembly President Rukmini Sichitiu '95 said she believes any reform must tackle the issue of support for the leaders of the Assembly and the goals that they wish to achieve. "The people who the student body put confidence in should be able to carry out their visions," she said. After Assembly Vice President John Honovich '97 last week proposed the adjournment of the Assembly, both Sichitiu and former Assembly member Kenji Sugahara '95 proposed plans to restructure the Assembly. "All of the plans have potential," Honovich said.



News

Al-Nur celebrates Ramadan

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At sunset tonight a small group of Dartmouth students will come together to break a day-long fast as part of the celebration for Ramadan, the holiest month of the Muslim calendar. "Ramadan brings us together as a Muslim community and provides us with a sense of community," said Nader Hebela '95, president of Al-Nur, the College's Muslim student association. "We gather at the end of the day to eat and break our fast together," he said. Ramadan commemorates the completion of the Koran and Hebela said fasting plays a very important role in the celebrations. Fasting is one of the five pillars of Islam, and every woman or man past puberty should observe the fast, said Kamran Khan, Al-Nur's faculty advisor. "We fast because it is a commandment from God," Hebela said.


News

College reshuffles positions

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With the recent departure of Janet Sims, associate director of counseling and director of Health Resources, College Health Services has been forced to shuffle a number of positions. Sandy Spiegel, a counselor who had been working part-time in the counseling office, has permanently taken over Sims's counseling role. Health Educator Gabrielle Lucke has assumed Sims's responsibilities in the Health Resources department, Health Services Director Dr. Jack Turco said. The Health Resources department provides education on nutrition, alcohol awareness and sexual awareness issues. The counseling office also hired Laurie Levinger, who has experience working with gay, lesbian and bisexual affairs, on a temporary basis, said Dr. Jeffrey Hersh, the director of counseling and human development. College officials said Levinger's hiring has no relation to the recommendation made by the Committee on Diversity and Community at Dartmouth last winter that the College appoint an administrator to oversee gay, lesbian and bisexual affairs. "Levinger was hired as a counselor for her general counseling ability ... the fact that she brings a certain experience is something extra," Hersh said. Turco said Hersh "has heard the same signals as" Dean of the College Lee Pelton "and looked into the possibility of finding a suitable counselor" for winter and spring. Sims left at the beginning of this year because a position opened up in a local private practice. "It was a career choice -- the timing just seemed right to move into private practice," Sims said. During her time at the College, Sims organized and coordinated the Health Resources department.


News

Board asks to find Webster replacement

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The College's Board of Trustees decided at its meeting last weekend to proceed with the planned renovation of Webster Hall but also asked the administration to look for replacement programming space. Deputy Provost Bruce Pipes said "the administration is beginning to look at a number of solutions" to replace the function of Webster Hall. "We are just in the process of looking at options," Pipes said. He said the College administration hopes to find an alternative space to use instead of building a new structure. Pipes said constructing a new programming space would be very expensive and would fall behind other priorities, like the construction of a new math building. Student Assembly President Rukmini Sichitiu '95 said when the Trustees initially decided to convert Webster Hall into a special collections library, they had been told the building was not being used. Sichitiu said the Trustees were surprised that the Assembly and the Coalition of Class Officers were able to show a need for a space similar to Webster Hall. COCO distributed to the Trustees copies of its Webster Hall report, which concluded "the elimination of a medium-capacity programming space will severely limit the diversity of programming at Dartmouth." Sichitiu also said so far more than 500 students have signed petitions and shown support for the student initiative. "It is not realistic to not convert Webster Hall into a special collections library," said Sichitiu.


News

Assembly reform plans proposed

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Members of the Student Assembly continue to discuss efforts to restructure the Assembly in the wake of a motion made last week to adjourn for the remainder of Winter term. At Sunday's executive committee meeting Assembly President Rukmini Sichitiu '95 unveiled a proposal to form an objective external review committee. According to Sichitiu's resolution, the committee would look at structures within the Assembly that prevent it from acting, create a constitutional process to support Assembly leadership and establish an effective representational system. Sichitiu's proposal followed a proposal by Assembly Vice president John Honovich '97 last week calling for the adjournment of the Assembly. Although the executive committee did not vote on Sichitiu's proposal, it discussed the proposal for an hour-and-a-half and deferred debate until next week's Assembly meeting.


Opinion

Dartmouth's Lost Weekends

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There's an unusual new movie playing in a handful of American cities right now called "Mrs. Parker and The Vicious Circle." It chronicles the lives of the writer Dorothy Parker and her intellectual circle of friends that comprised the famous Algonquin Circle -- a group that pretty much sat around in their hotel lounge and drank themselves silly.