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The Dartmouth
December 24, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth
Opinion
Opinion

Reprehensible Rapprochement

By Sarah Perez | March 30, 2016

Last Monday,Obama made history by becoming the first sitting United States president to visit Cuba since 1928. The momentousness of the occasion was not lost, except maybe on Cuba’s current president Raúl Castro. While politicians and members of the press hailed Obama’s trip to the island as a historic triumph, the Cuban dictator apparently thought otherwise. Indeed, he did not even bother to greet the first family at the airport. Instead, the Obamas were received by a number of the regime’s dignitaries, including Cuban foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez and Cuban ambassador to the U.S. Jose Cabanas. White House staff quickly came to Castro’s defense, claiming it was “never contemplated or discussed” that he would attend the landing of Air Force One at Jose Martí International Airport.

Opinion

Beauty Required

By Clara Chin | March 30, 2016

Last week I saw “Whisky Tango Foxtrot,” a movie based on the story of journalist Kim Barker’s war reporting in Afghanistan. Something about the movie struck me as unusual. Unlike many heroines in action movies, she was unabashedly portrayed as naïve and uncool at the beginning of the movie. Unlike beautiful fellow journalist Tanya Vanderpoel, Barker did not know how to navigate parties or find her way around Afghanistan. But despite her initial struggle and, according to her peers, her lack of beauty, she was the winning protagonist. I realized that the movie seemed unusual because female heroines on screen are almost always effortlessly beautiful and, therefore, cool. The explicit importance of heroines’ beauty in movies, compared to the insignificance of the appearance of male heroes perpetuates the idea that true validation for an onscreen (and sadly, sometimes off-screen) heroine lies in her beauty.

Opinion

The ‘Biden Rule’

By Dorothy Qu | March 30, 2016

The debate over nominating a new Supreme Court justice has brought out the worst in political party leaders. Republican leaders have vowed to not give any of the Obama administration’s nominees a hearing. Ted Cruz even promised to filibuster any of Obama’s nominees.

Opinion

Caplan: Inclusivity in the DOC

By Michaela Caplan | March 7, 2016

To simply laud the inclusive aspects of the DOC is to perpetuate the stark reality of culturally embedded exclusion that exists in the DOC’s shadows. Despite efforts — rooted in dialogue and removing economic obstacles — to change, the DOC primarily consists of white, upper middle class students.

Opinion

Curtis: On the Right Side of History

By John Curtis | March 7, 2016

I just divested myself of any stock I owned in companies which produce or burn fossil fuels. I thought it might be useful to share with the Dartmouth community how I came to that decision. You would think that an ’81 who bought his first position not long after graduating, then went to Harvard Business School and forged a business career would never ditch the attractive yields in the oil and energy sectors. It has a lot to do with becoming a the parent of a ’14 and thinking ahead to the day when I could become a grandparent of a ’34.

Opinion

Sharma: Financial Literacy and DDS

By Hansa Sharma | March 6, 2016

Last term, I consistently used a quarter of my weekly meal swipes. Regularly skipping breakfast and lunch, I quickly finished off my DBA as a result of my newfound KAF addiction. As a result, I made the switch to the Convenience 45 plan, with a weekly allotment of five swipes. With more than $900 in DBA, I had full faith in my ability to manage my KAF addiction while still using meal swipes at other dining locations.

Opinion

Chun: #12 (Tied)

By Steven Chun | March 6, 2016

U.S. News and World Report’s college rankings are constantly critiqued, decried and loudly dismissed. But in the hearts of prospective students and college officials, they hold a secret power. They held a power over me during my own college search not long ago and play a role in my younger sister’s, which is just beginning. With no familial or athletic connection to any one particular university and parents who simply attended local colleges, our search had to start somewhere. To even admit the credence, I, as a junior and senior in high school, gave to the rankings feels wrong. The myriad of college rankings reflect, perhaps poorly, the state of higher education. But what I find most interesting is the dichotomy between universities and liberal arts colleges. It’s a dichotomy that Dartmouth doesn’t fit into. Yet, this division dictates a list that ­ — despite universal criticism — holds incredible sway over prospective students’ decisions.

Opinion

Verbum Ultimum: Accepting Responsibility

By The Dartmouth Editorial Board | March 3, 2016

It has been roughly one year since the campus-wide ban on hard alcohol was implemented. Last winter, College President Phil Hanlon announced the policy shift as part of the “Moving Dartmouth Forward” initiative. Beginning last spring, students in possession of alcoholic beverages containing more than 15 percent alcohol by volume were subject to stricter action by the College. The new policy was intended to create a safer, healthier campus culture. By outlawing hard alcohol, the administration hoped to curb high-risk behavior and address issues such as binge drinking and sexual assault. However, whether the new policy has accomplished what it set out to do remains debatable.

Opinion

Chin: Vox Clamantis, No Response

By Clara Chin | March 3, 2016

When I think of common college experiences, I imagine movie nights with friends, hiking in the woods and, at worst, stressing over midterms. So to hear that Kate Carey, a behavioral and social sciences professor at Brown University, wrote in an editorial accompanying a Center for Disease Control report last year that “rape is a common experience among college-aged women,” I was surprised and appalled. According to the report, roughly 20 percent of women are sexually assaulted during college ­— a number much too high for a situation much too grim.

Opinion

Solomon: Wake Up America

By Ioana Solomon | March 2, 2016

Stop Trump. Now. Let’s be real — Donald Trump will be the Republican Party’s nominee in the upcoming election if current trends continue. Let’s be even more real — his success is easily the biggest failure in American politics in recent history. This is the last column I get to write this term, and I can’t think of anything more critical than asking you to refrain from supporting him. If you’re not a big Hillary or Bernie fan, that’s fine. I get that. To be perfectly frank, none of the candidates in this election are what we truly need. This November, we will be forced to choose the lesser of two evils. Yet, even if this choice is a difficult one, it has the potential to drastically change the course of this country and our way of life. Most of us are lucky enough to be of voting age at a time when our votes are perhaps more powerful than ever. Let’s not waste that.

Opinion

Uhlir: The Downfall of Democracy

By Tadeas Uhlir | March 2, 2016

Winston Churchill once said, “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.” While these words reflect an elitist view of governing, they offer at least some insight into the upcoming election. American democracy, like all others, will stand or fall with the average voter. Hence, it can be terrifying to imagine who will be elected to lead our nation. Recent developments on the campaign trail have been particularly concerning — the average voter seems to be gravitating towards not-so-average candidates. This election cycle, we’ve witnessed the rise of both a billionaire-turned-politician and a 74-year-old socialist. Obviously, I’m referring to Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.

Opinion

Voces Clamantium: Villegas, Seaton and Rotering

By The Dartmouth | March 1, 2016

Ben Szuhaj argued in his February 26 article “The Tragedy of Comedy” that “The Nightly Show” and “The Daily Show”’s fall in viewership could be attributed to an emphasis on race, class and gender and that Americans are too squeamish to broach the subject. I disagree that the fall in viewership has anything to do with the news anchors focusing on the topics of race, class and gender. And I especially disagree that Americans take offense to an outsider, like South African Trevor Noah, pointing out our idiosyncrasies.

Opinion

Hartley: A Solution to the Greek Crisis

By Abigail Hartley | March 1, 2016

This academic year has been, without a doubt, a rough ride for Greek-affiliated students at Dartmouth. SAE and AD have gone the way of the brontosaurus. KDE and Tabard are suspended, and who knows who else is next. Every remaining house seems to move with the care and anxiety of French Resistance agents, slinking around avoiding authoritarian attention, communicating clandestinely through Gmail lists and GroupMe conversations.

Opinion

Qu: I'm Not Racist, But...

By Dorothy Qu | February 29, 2016

Although some shudder at the thought, a widespread research theory holds that we are attracted to people who are similar to our parents or ourselves.Before you quickly glance at your romantic partner and close this tab or stash this paper under something, keep reading.

Opinion

Albrecht: Representing the Oscars

By Emily Albrecht | February 29, 2016

Last night was the biggest annual event in the film industry — the Academy Awards, otherwise known as the Oscars. While controversy is nothing new to awards season, this year’s show was prefaced by a months-long Twitter campaign against the Academy encapculated by the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite. Despite incredible performances and productions by people of color across subject and title, not a single non-white person entered the Dolby Theatre as a 2016 acting nominee last night. Going into the show, the question on just about everyone’s mind was this: how would the host, Chris Rock, address the controversy and the large implications Oscars whitewashing makes about Hollywood? The answer became clear within minutes of the broadcast’s beginning — Rock was going to hold no punches.

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