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The Dartmouth
October 8, 2026
The Dartmouth
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News

Bronski: Potter has homosexual subtext

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Speaking to a crowd of students, professors and Dartmouth community members yesterday afternoon, visiting lecturer Michael Bronski contended that the experiences of popular fictional character Harry Potter may be understood as an allegory for the coming out of a homosexual individual. In the speech, entitled "Queering Harry Potter: The Trouble With Normal" Bronski discussed general trends that point to a gay allegory subtext in the novels. He did not assert that Harry Potter is himself homosexual. The journalist and cultural critic described author J.K.


News

Mather discusses role of court justices in campaign

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Making her public debut as the Acting Director of the Rockefeller Center, Lynn Mather spoke to politically-oriented freshmen and others about the November election's impact on the judicial system. In what was a particularly lively lecture for a Rockefeller Center event, Mather made the case that although the 2000 race will be a critical one in determining who will sit on the Supreme Court bench, the presidential contest is unlikely to focus on judicial nominations. Much of last night's talk focused on why the presidential candidates have shied away from Supreme Court politics.


News

'04s initiate unique housing option

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In addition to experimenting with freshman-only housing for the first time in two River Cluster dorms and various floors in residence halls, the College has also designated those River dorms substance-free after a record number applied for the option. In the past, only 21 beds in Butterfield were set aside for freshmen who requested substance-free housing. But this year, the Office of Residential Life received more than 200 requests for substance-free housing and/or all-freshman housing. Director of Housing Services Lynn Rosenblum said she was surprised by this high level of interest in special housing arrangements. She explained that in the past, the maximum number of students requesting substance-free arrangements was 120, and last year, only 60 members of the Class of 2003 had applied for substance-free housing. This jump in applicants for first year, substance-free housing may have something to do with the new housing applications, Rosenblum said, explaining that "it was more an option for this class." When the 2004s received housing applications at the end of May or the beginning of June, there were clear options for smoke-free, substance-free and all freshmen.


News

Final fall rush begins tomorrow

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Both the Panhellenic and Interfraternity Councils expect the rush process to successfully match a vast majority of -- if not all -- participants to Greek houses. After disappointing a group of women who did not receive bids during rush last year, Panhell once more predicts being able to successfully offer bids to all rushees, due to a low number of people registering. With the first meeting taking place later today and round zero starting on Thursday, around 250 women have registered for rush, a number that continues to grow.


News

Library gets cold welcome

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Students viewing the inside of the newly constructed Berry Library after tours yesterday responded with mostly negative comments, many describing the interior as cold and impersonal. "It's kind of like a hospital," Jeannie Eisberg '01 said, of the lighting in the library. "It felt really institutional, like a public library.





News

College avoids fall housing crunch

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The Office of Residential Life managed to avoid a Fall term housing crunch for the second consecutive year, despite a long waiting list at the end of Spring term that led to a demonstration by members of the Class of 2003. The College paired the 249 students who did not receive housing in the spring with rooms that were allocated to students who later changed their D-plans to be off-campus in the fall and therefore no longer needed their spaces. "I think Lynn [Rosenblum, director of housing services] and I bit our nails a lot ... we did our best to find accommodations to meet students' needs in a variety of ways," Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman said. He said 250 to 300 students typically change their plans, giving ORL a significant number of spaces for the housing waiting list. "[The number of students on the waiting list] was a higher number than we would've liked, but we made a commitment to them," he said. Also, around 30 students, mostly seniors, opted to leave the residence halls and live in College-owned off-campus rental property when given the chance later in the year. The apartments became available after they were renovated to meet local building codes.


News

Taps, trees and Men's Health mark summer term

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The Summer term began with an announcement that would affect many more classes than just that of 2002, in residence for their Sophomore Summer. Only one week into the term, Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman announced that all CFS houses must remove their permanent bars and tap systems by this past Saturday, as part of changes due to the Student Life Initiative.


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Senate impeachment begins against alum

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New Hampshire's Senate opened its first-ever impeachment trial yesterday, to hear charges against State Supreme Court Chief Justice David Brock, who graduated from Dartmouth in 1958. According to government professor Lynn Mather, the trial "is significant because it's the first impeachment trial before the Senate ever in the state of New Hampshire." She said at this point in the proceedings it is hard to predict the outcome of the trial, but she noted that the Senate is "treating the issue quite seriously." She explained that the Senate is paying close attention to certain procedural issues and is taking stricter stances towards evidence than have been taken in earlier stages of the case. Twenty-two senators -- two others were disqualified for potential bias -- will act as jurors in the trial, which is expected to last between two and five weeks. The trial began for the senators yesterday with a tour of the Supreme Court building, focusing on key locations that will come into play in the ensuing trial. According to the Boston Globe report yesterday, defense lawyers will focus on the judge as a man, not a symbol, claiming that using Brock as a scapegoat for the wide-reaching problems of the court is unfair. In pretrial hearings, a large majority of the Senate voted to require a two-thirds vote -- or 15 senators -- to convict Brock instead of a simple majority.


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In leaked college rankings, Dartmouth leaps up two

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After two consecutive years of falling in the annual U.S. News & World Report's college rankings, Dartmouth has leapt two spaces to ninth place on the hotly-debated list that will be released tomorrow morning on the magazine's website. Among Ivy League institutions, Dartmouth placed fifth behind Princeton, which holds the first position, Harvard and Yale, which are tied for second and the University of Pennsylvania, which is tied with Stanford in sixth place. Director of Admissions Karl Furstenberg told The Dartmouth today that "When you're in the top ten, it just confirms what people already know ... It may not make a big difference, but it doesn't make our job harder." "I think that when you're in the top tier of institutions nationally, you're really talking about angels dancing on the head of a pin," Director of Public Affairs Laurel Stavis said, noting that the differences between the most highly ranked schools are "incredibly small." She explained that it is tough to apply a quantitative ranking system to the Dartmouth experience, which she classified as "an experience that is essentially qualitative." College Provost Susan Prager said applicants and their parents do look at the rankings, but she added, "When you're dealing with as accomplished an applicant pool as we have, most of the applicants are looking well beyond rankings." She said more important factors that perspective students consider and the breadth and quantity the College has as well as atmosphere. The rankings were leaked to the media before the scheduled Sept.


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Students to reside in Phi Delt

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The Phi Delta Alpha fraternity house, dormant since the fraternity was derecognized Spring term, has finally found a new calling -- as rental housing for graduate students. The decision to lease the 14 rooms to graduate students was made at the beginning of this summer, after discussions between the Phi Delt Corporation president and former members of the fraternity. "Obviously it's not our first choice because we'd like to be living there, but given the circumstances and our need for money, it's the best option," Benjamin Steele '02 said, former member of Phi Delt, charged with handling the negotiations. The need to pay insurance and taxes for the property with some form of income prompted Steele to enter the house into the graduate student housing market. According to Steele, Phi Delt did not offer the space for undergraduate housing because "if any undergraduates were going to live there, it would be Phi Delt brothers." College derecognition sanctions prohibit undergraduates from residing in the house. Steele contacted the graduate students office for help in locating graduate students who would be interested in renting rooms. But Steele emphasized the fact that College involvement is minimal in the arrangement and will not be responsible either for the house nor the tenants. "This is really being done mostly without the College's help.



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Chaplain to leave College for sabbatical

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After 20 years of serving in ministry and 16 years of guiding the spiritual core of the College, Interim Chaplain Gwendolyn King will finally be taking a much-needed sabbatical. For King, who just celebrated her 20th anniversary of ministry on August 10, the decision to leave was not an easy one, nor will be saying good-bye. About two years ago, King said she began praying for guidance as to what direction God wanted her to pursue. "I was beginning to feel the stress and strain of being in ministry for 20 years," she said.


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Convention Perspective

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LOS ANGELES -- Like a boxer entering the ring before a title fight, Vice President Al Gore ran down a side corridor at the Staples Center and entered the presidential arena to the cheers of the thousands of convention guests and delegates assembled here. In his acceptance speech, which also had boxing-like, reoccurring theme of "I will fight for you," Gore used a combination of McCainesque "straight talk" and policy promises to deliver the most important speech of his campaign, and possibly his entire life.




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DHMC plans major expansion

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The Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center is considering a major expansion in three of its main facilities -- diagnosis and treatment, outpatient clinics and cancer treatment -- and is currently in the planning stages of how this extension should be realized. According to Susan Reeves, vice president of the medical center, the center is feeling a major space crunch and the expansion project is a huge one, which is expected to be completed by 2005. Reeves said the construction of more outpatient clinics is one of the the project's main focuses. "A combination of better technology and much better drugs have led us to be able to make the transition from in-hospital to outpatient care," Reeves said, adding that the current size of the outpatient clinics is proving too small to accommodate all the patients. Reeves said that while in the past many patients had to be admitted to receive serious treatment like chemotherapy, vast technological improvements have allowed the medical center to handle most of this treatment from the outpatient wards without having to admit the patients. Economic factors have also been responsible for the move to outpatient clinics; receiving treatment in such clinics proves a lot cheaper for the patients, Reeves said. According to Reeves, the medical center's patient volume has been consistently growing at a rate of five percent every year -- another reason why the center has "outgrown our space" since it was first built in October 1991. The medical center will be "adding onto existing buildings and building buildings to accommodate our growth," Reeves said. According to Reeves another reason for the shortage of space is that the center has also started many new programs, which were not offered when the medical center first moved to Lebanon nine years ago. She referred to the center's Air Medical Transport Program, which flies transport patients in helicopters and treats them at the hospital. "Now we don't have any [more] room to be introducing any new programs," Reeves said.


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Routine work causes water outage

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Water shut down at about 10 p.m. for Dartmouth's campus and parts of downtown Hanover yesterday when a planned construction project at the corner of Lyme Road and North College Street went awry. The College had been notified that the town was shutting down a valve, Associate Director of Facilities Operations and Management John Gratiot told The Dartmouth soon after the water pressure slowed to a trickle last night.