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The Dartmouth
May 27, 2026
The Dartmouth
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News

New International House dedicated

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The residents of the International House hosted about 50 guests Friday night at a celebration in their new location in the recently renovated Brewster Hall. Brewster is located behind the Hood Museum of Art and was the former home of Epsilon Kappa Theta sorority.


News

Anxieties tax seniors

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About 30 seniors gathered at the Top of the Hop last night to burn rejection letters and talk about the stress of graduation in an event sponsored by Palaeopitus. Palaeopitus, a group composed of seniors from various student organizations, advises College President James Freedman and Dean of the College Lee Pelton. Senior Class Dean Teoby Gomez gave an informal talk and comedian Mike Bents performed at the event. Although this is the first year for the gathering, members of Palaeopitus said they hope it will become a tradition. "We hope to make it an annual event," said Kenric Tsethlikai '94, vice chair of Palaeopitus.


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Former Trustee Zimmerman '23 dies

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The flag on the edge of the Green stood at half mast Friday in honor of former College Trustee Charles Zimmerman '23, TU '24, who died Thursday at the age of 92 in Hartford, Conn. Zimmerman served on the Board of Trustees from 1952 to 1972 and on the Board of Overseers of the Tuck School from 1951 to 1957. Both Zimmerman Lounge in Blunt Alumni Center and Zimmerman Hall in the East Wheelock Cluster are named in his honor. "He was Mr. Dartmouth," College Spokesman Alex Huppe said. Zimmerman was an economics major and member of Zeta Psi fraternity.


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Panel on Haitian literature, democracy

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College and visiting professors discussed the links between literature and democracy in Haiti Friday morning in a seminar titled "Culture and Politics: Imagining Democracy." The panel, which was part of last week's conference "The Future of Democracy in Haiti," included French and Italian Professors Daniel Desormeaux and Keith Walker, English Professor Bill Cook and Regine Laforet, a professor from the Africana studies department at Brooklyn College in New York. The panelists spoke to an audience of about 30 people in Collis Common Ground. "Without the literacy that leads to freedom of expression, there can be no democracy in Haiti in the future," Laforet said. She said that literature reflects a society's ideology and encompasses the dominant ideas, values and sentiments by which people experience society. Walker captured some of the dominant themes in Haitian literature by reading translations of excerpts from "La Pacotille," a novel written by Haitian author Gerard Etienne. "There was blood everywhere in the colorlessness of the landscape which rose toward the seeming curvature of the sky.


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Two '94s arrested for hazing

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Hanover Police arrested two seniors who are members of Beta Theta Pi fraternity Friday for violated New Hampshire's hazing law during Fall term. Nate Cook '94 and David Robb '94 are charged with hazing, along with providing liquor to Oge Young '96, who was a Beta pledge Fall term. This is the first time Hanover Police arrested a student for violating the state's anti-hazing law, which went into effect last July.


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Lucke begins two jobs

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After nearly two years without a health educator or a drug and alcohol specialist, the College recently hired Gabrielle Lucke to fill both positions. Lucke will serve as coordinator of health education programs, a position combining the tasks of former drug and alcohol specialist Rahn Fleming and former health educator Beverlie Conant Sloan, both of whom left the College in the spring of 1992. The new position involves designing, evaluating and implementing existing health education programs, with emphasis on alcohol and drug education and peer education development. "This is my dream job," said Lucke served as assistant director of residential life at Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania and as a health education instructor at the University of Maryland at College Park. Lucke said the College hired someone to fill the position last spring but the individual, whose name she would not release, canceled at the beginning of Fall term.


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Aristide calls for return to democracy

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In a public address last night, Haiti's exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide called on the international community to increase sanctions against his country in order to restore political stability to Haiti. Aristide gave the keynote address in the College's conference titled"The Future of Democracy in Haiti" to a crowd of more than 350 people in Webster Hall.



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New hazing policy remains vague

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Dean of the College Lee Pelton recently released the finalized version of the College's hazing policy Tuesday, which detailed virtually no changes from last year's policy. A primary draft of the policy, discussed in the fall, contained specific references to initiation rites that could constitute hazing.


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Panelists discuss Haiti's history

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In a panel discussion on the future of democracy in Haiti, four panelists agreed that the explosive situation in Haiti cannot be calmed until exiled president Jean-Bertrand Aristide is returned to power. About 60 people attended the panel, titled "Historical Background: Barriers to Democracy," which was the first in the "The Future of Democracy in Haiti" conference. The panelists included author Amy Wilentz, Miami University Law Professor Irwin Stotsky, Wesleyan University Afro-American Studies Director Alex Dupuy and Princeton University French Professor Leon-Francois Hoffman. The four sketched a grim picture of Haitian history.



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At 25 and older; non-traditionals try to carve campus niche

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Non-traditional students, the College's designation for students matriculating at age 25 or older, have formed a group to help other atypical undergraduates make an easier transition to college life. Club founder James von Rittmann, a 31-year-old junior, said the group aims to welcome new older students and to propose changes to housing and financial aid procedures that are not adapted to the needs of non-traditional students. There are 23 non-traditional students on campus ranging in age from 25 to 52.


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Norman favors new voting system

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Addressing a small audience last night in a talk titled "Power, Law and Order," Mathematics Professor Bob Norman discussed the accuracy of different voting systems and advocated the "approval system," which allows voters to choose as many candidates as they wish in any given race. Norman said most elections in the United States are either decided by the plurality method, in which the highest vote-getter wins, or by the plurality with run-off method, in which the top two candidates compete in a second election and the winner is the one with the greatest number of votes. But in his studies of election outcomes, Norman found these two methods often fail to accurately reflect the will of the voters.


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Students and faculty meet at Dean's dinner

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A total of 24 students and faculty members attended the annual Faculty-Student Community Dinner last night in the Collis Center. The event was sponsored by the Dean of the College Office. The dinner gave students the opportunity to meet and talk with their professors on an informal basis. For the last three years, the Dean of the College Office has sponsored this event, which is mostly geared toward freshmen and sophomores. "This is an important opportunity for students because education is a continuum, and I would like to be able to hold these dinners more often, maybe even once a term," Dean of the College Lee Pelton said.


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Fraternities mixed in response to sorority letter

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Greek presidents' opinions varied about the effectiveness of the letter written by the presidents of the College's six largest sororities in response to the report issued last month by the Committee on Diversity and Community at Dartmouth. Last week the presidents of Delta Delta Delta, Delta Gamma, Epsilon Kappa Theta, Kappa Delta Epsilon, Kappa Kappa Gamma and Sigma Delta sororities sent a letter highlighting their organizations' merits to several key administrators and members of CDCD. The letter was written in response to CDCD's recommendation that the College immediately and thoroughly evaluate the Greek system. The sorority presidents said they recognize flaws in the Greek system as a whole but noted the sororities have many positive aspects. Some fraternity presidents said they think the letter will not influence the administration's actions. "Unfortunately, I don't think the letter will have any effect on the College's evaluation of the Greek system," Gamma Delta Chi fraternity President Todd Brackett '95 said. "The administration and the faculty refuse to listen to anything the Greeks say, whether they be in a sorority, fraternity or coed," he said. "We all believe that we are banging our heads against a wall and that any response is in vain," Brackett said. But other fraternity presidents were more optimistic. "I wouldn't presume to speak for the College, but I would imagine that they will make a careful examination of the system as a whole," Zeta Psi fraternity President Kevin Rogers '95 said. "I'm sure a responsible approach for reforming the Greek system will include a detailed appraisal of each house in an effort to target specific areas for improvement," Rogers said. Psi Upsilon fraternity President Giano Cromley '95 also said he thinks the administration will listen to the sororities' letter. Adriana McGrath '95, Sigma Delta sorority president, said she thinks the letter will help facilitate open communication between Greek leaders and the administration about the Coed, Fraternity and Sorority system. College President James Freedman, Dean of the College Lee Pelton, Dean of Residential Life Mary Turco, Assistant Dean of Residential Life Deb Reinders and members of CDCD received copies of the letter, dated Feb.


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Haiti conference to begin

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A two-day conference on democracy in Haiti begins tomorrow and will feature a keynote address by exiled Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide at 8 p.m.


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Fellowship created

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Starting next fall the College will offer a fellowship for Latino doctoral candidates who want to complete their dissertaions at Dartmouth. The program is modeled after the College's Thurgood Marshall Dissertation Fellowship program for African American students and the Native American fellowship that began last year, said Dean of Graduate Studies Richard Birnie, who chairs the selection committee. The Marshall Fellowships and the Native American and Latino programs provide minority doctoral candidates, who are in the last year of their research, with financial and academic support while they finish their dissertation. "The new fellowship programs for Native American and Latino scholars were created because the problem of minority recruitment is not limited to African Americans," Birnie said. College President James Freedman established the Marshall Fellowship in 1991 to increase the number of minority students within the academic "pipeline," Birnie said. The Marshall Fellowship provides funding each year to sponsor two African-American students, who are chosen from about 20 applicants, Birnie said. Like the Native American fellowship, the new Latino fellowship will sponsor one scholar each year. The fellows receive office space, a stipend of $25,000 and a $2,500 research grant, Birnie said. Kenneth James, a current Marshall Fellow, is here completing the Ph.D.


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African peace explored

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African diplomat Solomon Gomes lamented the vestiges of European colonialism and the lack of effective continental leadership in a speech on African peace efforts last night. Gomes, a special political affairs officer for the Organization on African Unity, gave a speech titled "The Future of African Unity: Peacekeeping and Peacemaking on the African Continent" to about 30 students in 3 Rockefeller Center. Gomes outlined the problems of creating and sustaining peace in Africa from his perspective of working with the OAU on the continent's developmental problems. The purpose of the OAU, which is comprised of 53 African nations, is to "promote the unity and solidarity of African states," Gomes said. Gomes said he hopes South Africa will join the OAU within the next two years. Africa's instability was created by the powerful impact of 19th and 20th century European colonialism, which was "oppressive in design and racist in outlook," Gomes said. Gomes said African leaders have dealt poorly with the arbitrary borders and economic structures left behind by colonialism, both of which hampered the development of independent African nations. "Africa is the richest continent and yet the poorest," he said. But Gomes expressed hope for Africa's future development.


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Yong Dems, CUaD debate school vouchers

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In a raucous debate last night, conservatives and liberals squared off on the issue of school voucher programs in front of 40 students in Rockefeller Center. Representatives from the Conservative Union at Dartmouth and the Young Democrats argued the topic "Resolved: Parents should be granted the right to send their children to any school, public or private, using a government-sponsored voucher system or similar plan." The debate, which pitted CUaD's Scott Rowekamp '97 and Bill Hall '96 against David Melaugh '97 and Tim Edgar '94 of the Young Democrats, was often punctuated by angry shouting matches and roars of laughter from the audience. The argument centered around money, segregation and politics. The Young Democrats criticized the voucher system for eroding public schools and causing segregation while helping only a small segment of middle class children. But Rowekamp and Hall disagreed.


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Candidates emerge as elections near

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Two weeks before the filing deadline for the 1994 Student Assembly election, David Gonzalez '95 and Kenji Sugahara '95 have emerged as presidential candidates. Early candidates in the vice presidential race are Steve Fagell '95, Alex Morgan '95 and Jesse Russell '96. Candidates must file a petition signed by 100 students to the Student Activities Office by March 4 in order to get placed on the ballot for the April 12 elections. Director of Student Activities Tim Moore led a meeting last night to discuss election procedures.