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The Dartmouth
April 17, 2026
The Dartmouth
Opinion
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.

Opinion

Sharma: Academic Mindfulness

By Hansa Sharma | February 28, 2016

When my mother first suggested I try out yoga, I initially dismissed her. Why? The first image that pops into my head when I think of a yoga-goer is a super skinny, petite person bending into seemingly impossible shapes. Being a traditional martial artist, yoga seemed like an incredible waste of time to dedicate to breathing. However, after my first class at a hot yoga studio, I was surprised to feel how intense this activity I assumed to be passive could be. Throughout the hour, I became more aware of each and every breath and felt more alert. As college students, we spend much of our time trying to increase our productivity with triple-shot espresso drinks and Red Bull. Despite so much time and effort dedicated to this end, why do we ignore the most obvious solution?

Opinion

Verbum Ultimum: Safety and Accountability

By The Dartmouth Editorial Board | February 25, 2016

On Tuesday morning, Student Assembly sent out its working draft of a student Bill of Rights in a campus wide email. Along with a link to a website that presents the Bill in detail, the Assembly invited students to a town hall meeting on Thursday evening. Although we recognize the fact that the Bill is a working document that can and probably will change before it sees any kind of ratification, the form in which it exists now highlights some important aspects of the student relationship with Safety and Security. This document reflects the broad mistrust of Safety and Security among the student body.

Opinion

Szuhaj: The Tragedy of Comedy

By Ben Szuhaj | February 25, 2016

After going on Reddit this past week to promote “The Nightly Show,” Larry Wilmore, who occupies the time-slot once filled by Stephen Colbert, was bombarded by angry Redditors. One third of the comments focused on a segment from September wherein host Wilmore and a panel of comedians cracked jokes at the expense of celebrity scientist Bill Nye. In response to one Redditor’s accusation that “The Nightly Show” “has done nothing but pander to the lowest common racial tensions denominator,” Wilmore emphasized his desire of he and his staff to focus on issues of “race, class and gender.”

Opinion

Hsu: Gluten-Free Isn't the Answer

By Caroline Hsu | February 24, 2016

Nowadays, the term “gluten-free” is thrown around all the time. Health gurus swear that a gluten-free diet is the key to a long and healthy life and “foodies” avoid gluten-heavy foods at all costs. Huge corporations have been milking this trend and capitalizing on the opportunity to boost their profits. Since 2008, General Mills has added 600 gluten-free products to its inventory. Clearly, companies like General Mills are catering to a growing market. Over the past four years, sales of gluten-free foods in the United States have increased from $11.5 billion to more than $23 billion.

Opinion

Ghavri: Misguided Foreign Policy

By Anmol Ghavri | February 24, 2016

The race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination is reaching a fever pitch with March looming right around the corner. Donald Trump won the Nevada caucus two days ago and leads the GOP primary delegate count, although establishment support is beginning to coalesce around Marco Rubio. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has dropped out while Sen. Ted Cruz is still in the race. The candidates’ vague policies on a whole range of issues have warranted criticism on many fronts. Republican foreign policy stances in particular have revealed the candidates’ delusional world views and national security stances. Specifically, the GOP presidential candidates advocate for the repetition of uninformed, jingoistic and unilateral national security and Middle East policies that have failed in the past and sowed the seeds of present day instability.

Opinion

Bach: Tweeted Folly

By Jinsung Bach | February 23, 2016

On Feb. 9, one of the supposed great champions of the internet struck a terrible blow to free speech. Twitter announced the adoption of a Trust and Safety Council to, in its own words, “ensure that people feel safe expressing themselves on Twitter.” Twitter empowered this body with the role of not only overseeing Twitter’s products and policies, but also enforcing them for the sake of creating what they no doubt believe to be a better Twitter. It seeks to set guidelines for language or commentary that might be considered hateful and potentially purge them from Twitter altogether.

Opinion

Beechert: Cry Out for the Future

By Michael Beechert | February 23, 2016

One of the most beautiful aspects of this beautiful school is something often given little thought. The College’s motto — “Vox clamantis in deserto,” or “a voice crying out in the wilderness” — naturally holds meaning with respect to Hanover’s geographical location; everyone visiting Dartmouth for the first time, provided that he or she hails from actual civilization, is immediately struck by the seemingly never-ending sea of trees that surrounds campus. But we cheat ourselves by believing that this motto, which has roots in the Gospels, is simply a literal reference to the College’s place in the vast northern woods. It should serve, rather, as a poignant reminder that we have a duty as students to use our intellectual capabilities, as expressed by our literal and figurative voices, to speak out in times that demand the presence of forceful and well-reasoned opinions to protest an unacceptable status quo.

Opinion

Fishbein: The Importance of You Time

By Dan Fishbein | February 22, 2016

This term has been rough. As a ’19, a lot of upperclassmen have told me that while freshman fall is all fun and games, things get serious come winter. Now, as a Massachusetts native, the cold weather hasn’t really bothered me (although I wish there were more snow so I could actually use the ski equipment I rented). I’m doing well in all my classes, so that’s not the issue either. They can stress me out to the extreme, but I’ve been able to cope with that pretty effectively.

Opinion

Chun: Carpe Domus

By Steven Chun | February 21, 2016

I recently ate dinner with an ’84. During out dinner, he hearkened back to older, less regulated times. One comment stuck out in our conversation. Back then, he told me, dorms had their own identities. There was no freshman housing, and people rarely moved around. Intramural sports had a Greek league and a dorm league whose champions played each other. Dorms had the power and funding from the College to host their own parties. Freshmen knew the sophomores, juniors and seniors in their dorms and dorms existed alongside a vibrant Greek scene. In many ways, it was exactly what the new house system intends to create.

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