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The Dartmouth
July 25, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth
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News

NHCLU names lawyer

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The New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union, which is organizing an effort to overturn the Hanover Police Department's "internal possession" policy, hired a lawyer near the end of Fall term to represent minors with grievances concerning the policy. Hanover Police have used "internal possession" for the past seven years to press charges against underage drinkers by considering results from breathalyzer tests as evidence of prior possession of alcohol. Although possession of alcohol by a minor is illegal in New Hampshire, it is not illegal for a minor to be found with alcohol in his or her bloodstream. Claire Ebel, executive director of the NHCLU, said meetings about the policy between Hanover Town Manager Cliff Vermilya and Hanover Police Chief Nick Giaccone and the lawyer, Steve Borofsky, are going well. Ebel said Borofsky told her he has been very pleased with his meetings over the last four weeks. "I am optimistic that we are going to make a resolution of this problem without going through the time and expense of going to court," Ebel said. Ebel said one acceptable compromise would be an annual public forum to inform minors of their rights. "Internal possession does not exist in the law and the ACLU has not changed its position on that," Ebel said.



News

A bustling and busy Fall term

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From the campus-wide housing crunch to the resignation of Student Assembly President Danielle Moore '95, Fall term at the College proved anything but calm. Many students were forced to confront tough decisions about living accommodations before they even arrived in Hanover, due to a long housing wait list that peaked at nearly 400 students in May. After the list dwindled significantly as people shuffled their D-plans, all students who still remained on the list finally received on-campus housing. As summer waned, the College was set abuzz by the decision to try to add a new administrative position to address issues concerning the College's gay, lesbian, and bisexual communities. Although details about the position were sketchy, the hired official would be "the voice of gay, lesbian, and bisexual student concerns on campus," Religion Professor Susan Ackerman said. No College funds have yet been identified to support such a position. Student Assembly had perhaps the roughest time of any campus organization this fall. It was a long term for Student Assembly, often filled with partisan politics and bickering. Moore delivered a speech at Convocation promising an end to infighting in the Assembly, but that goal would never be reached. In one of its first meetings, the Assembly debated the constitutionality of Moore's decision to appoint several female members to the Assembly. After a brief investigation by a procedural committee headed by John Honovich '97, the appointments were allowed to stand. Also during the term, Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize Winner and Holocaust writer, spoke to a capacity crowd in Spaulding Auditorium to encourage students to "serve as the custodians of memory." "Memory serves as a cathartic release for Holocaust survivors but also serves as the best hope to insure history will not repeat itself," Wiesel said. In one of the biggest developments of the year, the College was involved in a heated legal controversy involving a Hanover Police Department policy geared at enforcing underage alcohol possession laws. The campus erupted when a false Associated Press story was printed describing how the Hanover police were stopping and arresting students on campus if it was found that they had been drinking by using a breathalyzer. After several weeks of reviewing the legality of the case, the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union decided to enter the fray and challenge the "internal possession" policy in court. The term ended with a new meal plan proposal presented by the Meal Plan Task Force, created last winter by College Vice President and Treasurer Lyn Hutton and former Assembly President Nicole Artzer '94. The plan would eliminate the current mandatory freshmen meal plan and require all students to pay $70 instead. Angered that the Assembly voted down a campus-wide referendum, Honovich took his battle over BlitzMail -- sending hundreds of message to students spurring them to protest the decision. Moore, tired of playing politician and refereeing fights within the Assembly, decided to resign on the heels of Honovich's actions, leaving Vice President Rukmini Sichitiu '95 the new president. On the sports front, the College's football team had a very disappointing season.


News

Hutton to consider new meal plan

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The fate of a new College meal plan proposal will be decided within the next month. The proposal would charge students $70 a term to have a declining balance account, something for which students currently pay no extra fee. Vice President and Treasurer Lyn Hutton said Acting College President James Wright, Provost Lee Bollinger and the Dean of the College Lee Pelton will discuss the proposal in the next few weeks, and if they decide to implement the plan, the new rates will take effect next fall. A task force created to formulate a new plan to eliminate the freshmen punch system in November suggested the current plan that would require students to pay $400 a term for $330 in DBA. The task force prepared a second report supporting the initial proposal after the group held an open forum to discuss the new plan, said Tucker Rossiter, associate director of dining services. "After the [open] forum and my going to Assembly meetings, we were endorsing the plan again," Rossiter said.


News

Fowler appointed Rocky head

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A faculty panel yesterday approved Syracuse University Political Science Professor Linda Fowler's appointment as head of the Rockefeller Center for the Social Sciences and as a tenured government professor. The Advisory Committee to the President met yesterday afternoon and decided to recommend Fowler's appointment to the College's Board of Trustees. Acting Dean of the Faculty Karen Wetterhahn, the agenda officer for the advisory committee, said Fowler accepted the College's appointment, effective this July 1. "The [College's Board of] Trustees will make the final decision, but I think she is such a strong candidate that everybody is delighted for her acceptance," she said. Fowler said from her home in Syracuse, N.Y.


News

College picks first members of '99 class: 173 women and 161 men selected

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For the first time in its history, the College admitted more women early applicants than men this year. According to a profile of students admitted early, the College admitted 173 women and 161 men out of a pool of 1,281 early applicants. The Office of Admissions and Financial Aid compiled the profile. "It is noteworthy that for the first time the College admitted more female than male students," Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Karl Furstenberg said. This year's total of 173 women also represents the highest number of women applicants accepted early in the past five years. The larger number of women admitted early reflected the increase in the percentage of women who applied early to the College.


News

SA to elect new vice president

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Early next week, the Student Assembly will hold an internal election to select a vice president to replace Rukmini Sichitiu '95, who took over as Assembly president when Danielle Moore '95 resigned in November. At this point, most Assembly members are reluctant to name themselves as candidates.



News

Sculpture to reach old heights

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The 1995 Winter Carnival Council will attempt to break the pattern of lackluster snow sculptures by reviving a building method used more than 20 years ago that allowed for more elaborate designs. This year's planned sculpture of a wolf perched on a rock howling at the moon -- in fitting with the "Call of the Wild" theme -- will be constructed by packing snow around a frame made of wood and chicken wire, a technique used to build the towering sculptures of past decades. "Since the early '80s the snow sculpture has been built by packing down snow and building tiers," said Patricia Bankowski '95, who is in charge of building this year's snow sculpture. "When you build in tiers you have to go two inches in for every additional tier, and the process makes the sculpture seem more blocky." Bankowski said she researched the history of Winter Carnival looking for the reason why the tier technique replaced the frame technique. "It is only a rumor that the frame technique was abandoned because of safety reasons," Bankowski said.


News

Fowler appointment awaits final approval

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Syracuse University Political Science Professor Linda Fowler confirmed yesterday that she is likely to become the next head of the Rockefeller Center for the Social Sciences. "I have an offer from the Dean [of the Faculty] to be head of the Rockefeller Center with tenure in the government department, pending approval" by the Advisory Committee to the President, Fowler said in a telephone interview from Syracuse, N.Y. Fowler said if the committee, composed of senior faculty members and chaired by the College President, approves her appointment she will accept the five-year position and begin work on July 1. The Rockefeller Center has been without a head since Geography Professor George Demko decided not to apply for another five-year term last February. Assistant Dean of the Faculty George Wolford, who chaired the committee searching for a new head of the Rockefeller Center, said the advisory committee will likely meet this week and a decision on Fowler will "probably be finalized by Friday." In a typical decision the College's Board of Trustees makes a final offer based on the advisory committee's recommendations, according to Roxanne Waldner, the acting director for the Rockefeller Center. Fowler, who specializes in American public policy and the U.S.


News

Cause of illness remains mystery

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A meeting yesterday between College Health Services officials yielded no new information about the cause of the mysterious illness that swept the campus at the end of last term. More than 100 students were affected by the illness that still has yet to be identified. "There really wasn't anything new to come out of [the] meeting," said Dr. Nield Mercer, assistant director for clinical affairs for College Health Services. Mercer said Health Services, the New Hampshire Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Ga.


News

Wright takes over as acting president

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As Acting College President James Wright settled into his new office yesterday, he received a phone call from the man he is filling in for -- College President James Freedman -- who called to wish Wright luck on his first day on the job. Wright, acting president until Freedman returns from his six-month sabbatical in June, said yesterday as he reviewed the day's hectic schedule, "I have had a full day of appointments and have not had a chance to reflect" on the new position. But Wright, sitting behind his new desk on the second floor of Parkhurst Hall, said the position is not completely different from his usual position as Dean of the Faculty. His basic tasks of taking care of administrative details and meeting with members of the Dartmouth community were "the same in Wentworth [Hall] as they are in Parkhurst," he said, except that "all the discussions I have had [as Acting President] have dealt with different topics and with people from different areas of the College." Although Freedman called Wright yesterday morning, Wright said the two will not be talking too often during the next six months. College Spokesman Alex Huppe said Freedman "will only be called if there is no other option ... the general plan is to keep him as free as possible from obligations." In an earlier interview with The Dartmouth, Wright said he will not make any policy decisions or decisions that will have lasting effects on the College without consulting Freedman. Wright said he enjoyed his first day on the job. "The people I have met with have been pleasant, supportive and encouraging," he said. Wright said Freedman will return to the College for a short period in the near future, but will then return to Boston where he has an office at Harvard Law School for the next six months.


News

Amtrak may take Montrealer off White River tracks

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Dartmouth students may soon lose the option of taking the train to and from the College if Amtrak follows through on its plan to eliminate the Montrealer train line on April 1. Despite local efforts to save the train in Vermont, Amtrak maintains it cannot keep the line unless state governments foot the bill. "If the states want to pick up the costs, we will be willing to listen," Amtrak Public Affairs Spokesman Steven Taub said. But New Hampshire Transportation Commissioner Charles O'Leary said the train's cancellation seems imminent. "It's pretty clear to me that Amtrak is in a fairly tenuous situation and could only be convinced if the full operating costs [of the Montrealer] were picked up by the benefiting states," O'Leary said. "I don't think it likely that all routes Amtrak has decided to cancel can be saved by a ground swell of local initiative unless that ground swell comes cash in hand," he said. The elimination of the Montrealer, the only train that stops at the White River Junction, Vt.


News

New phone system now online

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The College added a wide variety of new features to student telephones over winter break including call-waiting, last-number redial and automatic callback. The new telephone system, installed by the Office of Telephone Services on Dec, 16, also eliminates the crosstalk problems of the old telephone service. Director of Administrative Services Marcia Colligan said the switch to a new telephone system went well considering the size of the change. As part of the switch-over, the prefix for student phone numbers was changed from "640" to "646" and students with numbers in the "4000" series changed to "7000" with the last three digits remaining the same. According to Colligan, phone numbers from "5000" to "5099" were also changed.


News

Girmay's appeal is denied by N.H. court

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New Hampshire's Supreme Court last Friday upheld the conviction of an Ethiopian man found guilty of hacking to death two Dartmouth graduate students. Haile Selassie Girmay murdered physics graduate student Selamawit Tsehaye, who was Girmay's former fiancee, and her roommate Trhas Berhe with an ax in their Hanover apartment in June 1991. Girmay pleaded insanity at his trial but was still convicted in March 1993 and sentenced to mandatory life in prison without parole. Girmay, who was studying in Sweden, killed the women on a visit to Hanover after Tsehaye rejected his marriage proposal. When police arrived at the murder scene, minutes after the killings, Girmay shook an officer's hand and told him, "I killed them.



News

College approves Morocco FSP

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Last month, the College approved and guaranteed funding for a Foreign Study Program in Fez, Morocco for a one-year trial period in the Fall term. James Wright, then Dean of Faculty, notified Dale Eickelman, anthropology professor and Asian studies program co-chair, on Dec.


News

College investigates outbreak

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College health officials will meet today to discuss the mysterious illness that swept the campus at the end of last term, afflicting more than 100 Dartmouth students just before final examinations. Dr. Nield Mercer, assistant director for clinical affairs for College Health Services, said although the illness has yet to be publicly identified, Health Services Director Dr. Jack Turco will meet with his staff this morning to discuss the investigation into the sickness. The most common symptoms of the illness experienced by students were nausea and vomiting, according to Mercer. Health Services and the New Hampshire Department of Health launched investigations into the illness after the outbreak occurred during the first week of December. Both organizations sent out electronic mail questionnaires to students who had said they were ill that asked students to recall what they had eaten up to three days prior to the outbreak and asked them to list their symptoms. The New Hampshire Public Health Service also took blood samples from both sick and healthy students during the outbreak and two weeks after, Mercer said. The illness struck Matthew Silvia '96 at 3 a.m.


News

Ehrmann dies at 86

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Government Professor Emeritus Henry Ehrmann, a legal scholar, author and journalist, died of heart failure on Dec.


News

Harvard president, fatigued, takes leave of absence

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A victim of the high-stress life of a major university president, Harvard University President Neil Rudenstine announced in early December that he will be taking an indefinite leave of absence due to physical exhaustion. Doctors and Harvard officials believe that Rudenstine's condition could be due to the amount of stress involved in running Harvard's $2.1 billion capital campaign that started in May, 1994, the largest fund-raiser ever conducted by a university. At the beginning of the campaign, Rudenstine, who has been president since 1991, stated his goal was to raise $1 million per day.