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The Dartmouth
June 21, 2026
The Dartmouth
Opinion
Opinion

VERBUM ULTIMUM: Wrongful Termination

By The Dartmouth Editorial Board | April 17, 2009

We were dismayed to learn of the Board of Trustees' decision not to reelect Trustee Todd Zywicki '88 for a second term ("Board votes not to reelect Zywicki '88," April 7). Even in the wake of Zywicki's open letter to the Dartmouth community on Tuesday ("Zywicki '88 criticizes Board in open letter," April 15), the Board has yet to provide the Dartmouth community with a sufficient explanation for the removal. Since 1990, when the power to reelect alumni trustees was transferred from alumni to the Board itself, reappointment to the Board for a second term has generally been routine; Zywicki is the first trustee in recent history to be denied reelection. Unless Zywicki, a petition trustee elected by alumni to the Board in 2005, committed an as yet undisclosed but egregious act, we believe that he deserves to retain the seat that the College's alumni elected him to fill. Zywicki said in his letter that comments he made during an address at the John William Pope Center in October 2007 "might have been" one of the reasons behind the Board's decision.

Opinion

A Small-Town Bookstore

By Kevin Niparko | April 16, 2009

Imagine Dartmouth without the town of Hanover. No EBAs, no Wheelock Books, no Gap. Just the New Hampshire granite, and lots and lots of pine trees.

Opinion

Channeling Anger

By Sam Buntz | April 16, 2009

Over Easter weekend, as everybody knows by now, the Navy SEALS rescued the captain of the Maersk Alabama after Somali pirates kidnapped him.

Opinion

A Spending SPEC-tacle

By Zachary Gottlieb | April 15, 2009

The student group Active Minds recently invited Frank Warren, the creator of PostSecret, an online "community," to speak in Spaulding Auditorium on April 23.

Opinion

Learn Free or Die

By Tom Mandel | April 15, 2009

According to a recent article in The New York Times, three states (Indiana, Utah and Minnesota) are starting a pilot program known as the Lumina project to make sure that degrees offered by certain universities and colleges in the state "reflect a consensus about what specific knowledge and skills should be taught" ("Colleges in 3 States to Set Basics for Degrees," April 8). The basic idea is to ensure that earning a particular degree will entail acquiring certain skills, such that degrees would be awarded based on comparable standards around the world.

Opinion

Talk of the Town

By Brian Solomon | April 14, 2009

The inimitable specter of the "town hall meeting" has, over the course of the past few years, overrun anyone with even a modicum of interest in politics.

Opinion

Missing Pieces

By Michaela Yule | April 14, 2009

The conflict in the Middle East is an issue plagued by misconceptions. It is a debate about which everyone has an opinion, and one in which both sides love to hate the other.

Opinion

Short Answer: Oversight Reforms

By The Opinion Staff | April 13, 2009

Friday's Verbum Ultimum discussed the case of Mohammad Usman and its implications for life at Dartmouth. Has the incident diminished your faith in the College's systems of oversight, and if so, what reforms should the College and/or the Tucker Foundation consider implementing?

Opinion

The Truth About Twitter

By Brendan Scully | April 13, 2009

In her recent critique of Twitter, Emily Johnson '12 appropriately laments the narcissistic nature of most posts ("Twitter Me This," April 6). She complains that Twitter is "like a Facebook where all you can do is update your status -- no wall posts, photo albums, bumper stickers or poking." OMG Emily, you are completely right.

Opinion

VOX CLAMANTIS: The Tenth Pioneer

By Dona L. Heller | April 10, 2009

To the Editor: I am writing about the article about the "Pioneering Nine" -- Dartmouth's first coeds ("College welcomes back the 'Pioneering Nine,'" April 2). The nine women were drama students who enrolled for the 1968-1969 year to act in theater productions. Without any intent to self-call, and in the interest of accuracy, I would point out that the '68-'69 Dartmouth women pioneers actually numbered 10, and that I am, indeed, the 10th. On leave from Bryn Mawr College, I spent the 1968-1969 academic year enrolled in Dartmouth as a special student, taking a full academic load.

Opinion

An Overdue Return

By Jacob Batchelor | April 10, 2009

As each term draws to a close, many Dartmouth students experience the sickening realization that they have yet again fallen victim to the Wheelock Books buyback scam.

Opinion

VERBUM ULTIMUM: With Trust and Conviction

By The Dartmouth Editorial Board | April 10, 2009

We, like many in the Dartmouth community, were stunned by the news that former member of the Class of 2010 Mohammad Usman had pled guilty to fraudulently claiming $18,615 in College grants and federal work study funding ("Former Dartmouth student pleads guilty to financial aid fraud," April 3). Although the full details of the case have yet to emerge, it is clear that Usman lied, forged the signature of former Dean of the Tucker Foundation and current Associate Provost Stuart Lord, and may have falsified time sheets in order to avoid detection during a period of fraudulent activity spanning from winter 2007 to fall 2008. In the words of Hanover Police Captain Francis Moran, Usman "manipulated the system and manipulated people to get what he wanted" ("Usman pled guilty to separate charge in 2007," April 9). No matter how distasteful, however, the actions of a single student should not be interpreted as a referendum on the culture of our college, nor on the level of oversight currently exercised by its administration. Dartmouth is defined by the sense of trust shared by the members of its community, and has long been a place where students feel comfortable leaving their dorm rooms unlocked, where professors trust their students to take exams unattended and where administrators have confidence that applicants will make appropriate use of awarded grant and scholarship money. We cannot allow that sense of trust -- one of the things that makes Dartmouth the place that it is today -- to be undermined by an isolated, if unpleasant, occurrence. Clearly, Usman's recent actions represent the exception, not the rule, when it comes to student integrity at the College.

Opinion

Political Ties

By Raza Rasheed | April 9, 2009

In case you missed it last Tuesday while you were out, say, having a life, the residents of New York's 20th congressional district held a special election to fill the seat of congresswoman-turned-Senator Kirsten Gillibrand '88.

Opinion

Wake Up, Speak Up

By Mei-Mei Zhao | April 7, 2009

Despite the job-hunting anxieties and mounting college loans that currently plague American students, it is still staggering to see that we may be the first generation in our nation's history to face the real prospect of having a lower standard of living than the previous generation.

Opinion

Escaping the Black Box

By Joe Kardon | April 7, 2009

When was the last time your professor sent you back an essay or test with comments? It most likely wasn't when you received your most recent final paper or exam.

Opinion

Short Answer

By The Opinion Staff | April 6, 2009

Friday's Verbum Ultimum discussed the proposed amendment to the Association of Alumni constitution.What single reform (if any) do you think the trustee election process needs most?

Opinion

Twitter Me This

By Emily Johnson | April 6, 2009

The other night, I wincingly answered a phone call from my mother, expecting to be chastised yet again for neglecting summer job applications, or questioned for the hundredth time about Parent's Weekend.

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