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Parker talks on multiculturalism

By Erin Loback | February 28, 1996

Star Parker, an African-American writer, speaker and radio host, told about 30 students she does not think students should be forced to take multicultural classes, in a speech in the Rockefeller Center for the Social Sciences. She said she sees "no common merit in forcing multicultural studies." The speech was the first event sponsored by the new campus group Ivy Leaguers for Freedom, a conservative organization seeking to increase intellectualism on campus. Parker, who once received welfare from Aid for Families with Dependent Children and who has appeared on the television shows 20/20 and Larry King Live, is the founder of the Coalition on Urban Affairs, formed in response to the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Parker said multicultural studies should not be pushed on all students, "especially when they are taken to one-sided extremes." "We have stolen freedom from others in the name of freedom" in requiring students to take multicultural classes, she said.

News

College may approve new minor

By Erica Thrall | February 28, 1996

The Committee on Instruction will review a proposal to create a new minor in public policy today, said Director of the Rockefeller Center for the Social Sciences Linda Fowler.

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Currier '97 elected new president of DOC

By Lillie Ng | February 28, 1996

The Dartmouth Outing Club elected Megan Currier '97 to be its president, and Kevin Hand '97 will serve as the DOC's new vice president. "I'm very excited," Currier said.

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Favor discusses black culture and definition

By Sara Burch | February 28, 1996

English Professor Martin Favor told 13 students it is difficult to define "black culture," in a discussion last night in Casque and Gauntlet senior society's library. Favor spoke for a large portion of the discussion, which was sponsored by Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. Alpha Phi Alpha is a historically black fraternity. Favor, who also teaches African-American studies courses, said "I'm increasingly dubious about there being such a thing" as black culture. "It's nice to pin down 'What is black culture,'" Favor said.

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Students unsure about Dartmouth Experience plan's potential

By Jonathan A. Lee | February 27, 1996

Although several students support the goals Dean of the College Lee Pelton's Dartmouth Experience plan proposed, others expressed doubts about the plan's methods and its potential to meet its goals. The College will implement Pelton's supercluster proposal in the East Wheelock cluster this fall and will require $600,000 in renovations and improvements.

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Alpha Chi discusses pledge skit

By Charles Davant | February 27, 1996

About 250 students crammed into Brace Commons last night to hear officers of Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity read from what members of the audience called a racist and sexist script, which new members of the house wrote and acted out in November. Members of the house decided to release the document to the public on the recommendation of Dean of the College Lee Pelton, according to Matt Richardson '97, Alpha Chi's president. Richardson said he did not know a copy of the script existed until two weeks ago, when he heard Pelton had received a copy anonymously.

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Bright seeks to advance discourse on Latino culture: In June, Bright will end her two-year term as a Mellon professor in Latin American and Caribbean Studies

By Michelle Gregg | February 27, 1996

Posted on the door of Mellon Professor Brenda Bright's office, along with her office hours, is a sign patterned after a graffiti-style mural in Los Angeles which espouses her own personal philosophy: "Study your CULTURE and learn to be proud of it." For Bright, who said she takes pride in "understanding how culture works and in working to make it better," the sign affirms her belief that people should study their own cultures. Bright, who will leave the College in June when her Mellon professorship expires, said she has been especially delighted to be teaching at the College because she has been able to teach Latin American and Caribbean Studies, her area of expertise. "It's not always the case that anthropologists get to teach their specialty.

News

Professors encourage action against racism

By Erin Loback | February 27, 1996

Several College professors encouraged students to take organized political action against racism at a panel discussion sponsored by Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity last night in the Rockefeller Center for the Social Sciences. The professors said Dartmouth students should follow the example of students at the University of Michigan, who responded to racial incidents in the spring of 1987 through "effective political organization," according to Sociology Professor Steven Cornish. Approximately 60 students attended the panel discussion, which featured Cornish, Sociology Professor Misagh Parsa and Drama Professor Victor Walker. As background for the discussion, representatives from Alpha Phi Alpha showed a movie titled "Racism 101," which chronicled incidents of racism at Michigan in 1987 and Dartmouth in 1982 and 1983. The movie showed the University of Michigan "torn by racial strife" in the spring of 1987 when a student called the campus radio station and told racist jokes about African-Americans. Two weeks earlier, a student had slipped a racist flyer under the door of a meeting of African-American women. In the film, Michigan students said people were labeling these occurrences as "isolated incidents," but such events were taking place on campuses across the country. As a response to these incidents, African-American students at Michigan formed the Black Action Movement to unite and protest for change. BAM gave the administration five days to consider its demands, which called for an immediate granting of tenure for African-American professors, money for a black student union and more black enrollment. BAM flew the Rev.

News

Freedman discusses race issues

By Jaime M. Bedrin | February 27, 1996

About 25 people gathered at Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity last night for a fireside chat, where College President James Freedman discussed race relations, both through his personal experiences throughout his life and during his time at the College. Freedman began the discussion by examining his own experiences with race relations since his childhood in New Hampshire. "Very few of us talk about our own lives when discussing life," Freedman said. Growing up in Manchester, Freedman recalled that despite a large number of diverse ethnic groups in his town, there were no African-American families or any Asian-American families. The first time Freedman ever met an African-American was when his parents took him on a trip to Boston, he said. Without a television, Freedman lacked almost all exposure to African-Americans while growing up in New Hampshire, something that left his generation very ignorant of race relations in the country, he said. Things did not change that much for Freedman when he attended Harvard University, as in his class of 1,157 there were no women, and just one African-American and one Asian-American student. A few years later, at Yale Law School, Freedman's class of 170 had just seven women and two African-American students. It was not until he clerked for Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American justice to sit on the United States Supreme Court, that Freedman said he finally learned about African-American life. Freedman also discussed his career as a professor and as dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, where he worked for 18 years. Even at Penn, one of the renowned law schools in the country, there were still no black faculty members in 1964, Freedman said. When the discussion was opened up for questions, many asked Freedman about the recent decision by the California Board of Regents to discontinue affirmative action.

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Students distribute flyer

By Charles Davant | February 27, 1996

A group of about 35 unidentified students delivered a flyer to residence halls Sunday night, which made allegations against fraternities and individual students for allegedly racist, sexist and violent behavior. The double-sided one-page flyer, titled "The Shit You Don't Hear About," included the text of an allegedly racist and sexist poem read at Beta Theta Pi fraternity during Summer term. One of the group's members, a female '97 who asked to remain anonymous, said the group is composed of the same students who dumped manure on the lawns of Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity and Beta last week.

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Students receive oratory awards

By Cindy H. Jwo | February 27, 1996

Monica Oberkofler '96 took first place yesterday afternoon in the annual Barge Oratorical Contest for seniors for her account of how ordinary German men became perpetrators of Nazi war crimes, and Eric Paley '98 won the Class of 1866 Oratorical Contest for sophomores and juniors with his speech encouraging citizens to challenge the injustices arising in America. Both contests, which have been annual events at Dartmouth since the turn of the century, were held in Dartmouth Hall. More than 40 students listened to the orations of seven finalists, who addressed issues ranging from the recent racial incidents that have occurred on campus to how American foreign policy should be developed. The Benjamin F.

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SASH strengthens relations with students

By Sara Burch | February 27, 1996

The College's Sexual Abuse and Sexual Harassment committee, created in 1987, is working to strengthen its relationship with students and to address a more varied list of concerns. "The College had very few policies and very little coordination" in 1987, Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Director Mary Childers said.

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Senior Symposium plans nearly finished

By Elysa Jacobs | February 26, 1996

Plans are now being finalized for the Class of 1996 Senior Symposium, a six-day event that will focus on this year's theme "They Said It Couldn't Be Done." "The topic encompasses a lot of disciplines and at the same time has a lot of great stories associated with it," Senior Class Vice President Tom Caputo said. Scheduled to run from March 8 to March 13, this year's symposium is one day longer than usual due to the wide variety of fields encompassed by the theme. The Class of 1978 began the senior symposium as an intellectual gift to the College from the senior class. This year's symposium will include 18 speakers in total, according to Leslie Jennings '96, chair of the senior symposium. Roger Launius, chief historian at the National Aeronautical and Space Administration, will give the symposium's keynote address. He will speak about the Apollo 11 moon landing, Jennings said. This is the "traditional thing you think of" when you think about things that were at one time thought to be impossible, she said. Some of the other topics the symposium speakers will discuss include sports, medicine, technology, social movement and government. One of the speakers for the sports section of the program is Roger Bannister, the first man to break the four-minute mile, Jennings said. The symposium will also include a panel discussion about coeducation at Dartmouth.

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Organic farm becoming a reality

By Tom Arnold | February 26, 1996

With the assistance of the newly hired farm manager, Betsy Garties, Dartmouth's Organic Farm is gearing up to cultivate the farmer in every Dartmouth student. Student volunteers will provide a lot of labor for the farm, said Garties, who is a professional farmer with a degree in soil and crop science from Texas A&M University. "We are also going to be hiring work study students," she added. Garties said she is hoping people will get involved with the farm on an academic level, with a class project or independent study. "I'd like to think of it as a resource for students," Garties said. Ross Virginia, chair of the Environmental Studies department, said next term's Environmental Science 79, Soil Science, will utilize the farm. Virginia said the department has been interested in the farm since its inception and he said he hopes students may soon be able to become academically involved with it. "The farm is sort of an outdoor lab," Virginia said.

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Forum discusses 'black love and self-respect'

By David Kung | February 26, 1996

In the continuing celebration of Black History Month, Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity presented a discussion of "Black Love and Self-Respect" yesterday afternoon. The discussion session featured Assistant Director of Career Services Abraham Hunter and Assistant Dean of the College Sylvia Langford as speakers. Hunter and Langford spoke for a half-hour to an audience of about 15 students and then participated in an hour-long discussion. Langford's speech centered on the importance of self-love, self-respect and the continuing fight against racism. Hunter told the story of how he met his second wife and the precepts they used to maintain a stable family. Langford began yesterday's forum by quoting civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., who said, "If we don't learn to live together like brothers and sisters, we should die together like fools." "Self-love is the root of all love," Langford said.

News

Students discuss black Greek life

By Jeffrey Giuffrida | February 26, 1996

The history of black Greek organizations, their emphasis on community service and the misconceptions their members face were some of the topics discussed Friday by a panel of members from several historically black Greek organizations. The discussion, titled "The History of Black Greek Organizations and Their Contributions to the Community," took place in Room 1 of the Rockefeller Center for the Social Sciences and drew an audience of about 20 students. Panelists from the Dartmouth chapters of Delta Sigma Theta sorority and Alpha Phi Alpha and Kappa Alpha Psi fraternities participated, as did Chris Chambers, an Area Director at the College and former Phi Beta Sigma fraternity brother at Howard University. The misconceptions that members of historically black organizations experience on campus were a lively topic of discussion. Former Alpha Phi Alpha President Calvin Daniels '96 said several Dartmouth students have asked him, "Why aren't you allowed to talk to white people?" Delta Sigma Theta President Taja-Nia Henderson '97 said her sorority should not be lumped in with the rest of the sororities on campus. "We're not a part of that rush process," she said. Daniels also emphasized that prospective members "do not rush." He said they must attend informational meetings, be invited to apply, be interviewed by the brothers, and pass a history examination given by the national fraternity. All panelists said their organizations were not necessarily limited to black students. "Anyone can join if they're interested," Kappa Alpha Psi brother Adrian Busby '96 said.

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Results in, Buchanan shows strength, but not staying power

By Jeffrey Beyer | February 23, 1996

As presidential hopeful Patrick Buchanan eeked his way across the New Hampshire Primary's finish line, political pundits claimed they were unruffled by what many voters saw as a surprising upset. While few analysts think Buchanan will be handed the GOP nomination at San Diego, they say his New Hampshire finish may cause voters and candidates alike to pay more attention to him. The candidates will have just a few days to reflect upon the results in New Hampshire before the scene shifts to Delaware, Arizona, North Dakota and South Dakota. By March 12, or "Super Tuesday," more than half of the delegates for this August's Republican convention in San Diego will be determined. Since New Hampshire holds the first primary in the nation, the outcome of the election here is always significant, and few men have procured their party's presidential nomination without first receiving New Hampshire's stamp of approval. Following Tuesday night's election, the conventional wisdom among most analysts is that the number of candidates vying for the Republican Party's nomination has been definitively narrowed down from eight to three -- Buchanan, Kansas Senator Bob Dole and former Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander. Buchanan garnered 27 percent of the vote, slightly ahead of Dole's 26 percent.

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Mohr speaks on cultural attitudes towards gays

By Erin Loback | February 23, 1996

Richard Mohr, a philosophy professor from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, argued that political change can only result from reformed cultural attitudes towards homosexuality in a speech titled "Special Rights?

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Haig to compete in Miss Black USA

By Ann Debord | February 23, 1996

Nadine Haig '97 will represent New Hampshire at the Miss Black USA pageant in Washington, D.C., tomorrow. Haig says she is excited about the national contest because it will give her the opportunity to meet women like herself from across the nation and to be "a role model for other young ladies." A 20-year-old from Brooklyn, N.Y., Haig won first prize in the Miss Black New Hampshire pageant in November, giving her the right to continue on to the Miss Black USA pageant. Haig said she entered the New Hampshire pageant, which she learned about on an Afro-American Society bulletin board, because "it would be something fun and interesting, something to tell my kids about." So far there have been no requirements of her state title, Haig said. The national contest, which is based on academic achievement as well as physical beauty, will be aired on the cable network Black Entertainment Television later this year, she said. The competition consists of four segments: personal expression, talent, evening gown and a personal interview. At the televised pageant, Haig will perform a monologue for the talent portion of the show, she said. Haig said she has been working with English Department Chair Bill Cook to find an African-American monologue that is "really dramatic, strong and cultural." Haig said she spent her winter break preparing for the national competition.

News

Forum discusses affirmative action

By Sara Burch | February 23, 1996

A panel of Dartmouth administrators and faculty members that discussed the positive and negative aspects of affirmative action and its impact on Asian-Americans provoked a heated discussion last night The community forum, titled "Asian-Americans, Affirmative Action and Graduate School Admissions," was co-sponsored by the Korean Asian Student Association and the Dartmouth Asian Organization. Government Professor James Shoch began by providing a compact historical background of affirmative action in America and went on to emphasize its illegitimate role as a political tool. "Affirmative action has become a wedge issue," Shoch said.