Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
Support independent student journalism. Support independent student journalism. Support independent student journalism.
The Dartmouth
July 28, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth
Opinion
Opinion

Patriarchal Head Games

|

While I agree with Liza Williams' main point regarding the externality of binary service-based relationships as a hindrance to the overarching objective of equi-personal concomitant sexual relationships ("Sex, Solicitation and Sororities," The Dartmouth, October 26), I believe it is incumbent upon us to delve further into her conception of the nurturance of masculinist gratification rituals cast in the sorority "framework." Clearly it is not a point of anisotropic indifference that feminine "performance" from the fellatory perspective as judged by an omnipartial male "audience" (as it were) is a hampering factor toward the concomitance of relationships; indeed it has been instrumental in bringing untold numbers of otherwise flourishing partnerships to their knees. The "objective disorder" in Williams' thinking, however, is the fallacious notion that relationships constructed on a quid pro quo oral paradigm are therefore paradigmatically unsound -- or, to put it more succinctly, that they fail to pass a "global test" of paradigmatic functionality while instead perpetuating the trope of vicissitudinal subservience in the more female of the two partners.


Opinion

Dartmouth vs. Columbia

|

To the Editor: I couldn't agree more with Zachary Pfeiffer's column, "Vox Clamantis in Harlem" (The Dartmouth, October 22). Having experienced both Dartmouth and Columbia (Dartmouth as an undergraduate, and Columbia as a graduate student), I can't help but say that I would choose Dartmouth over Columbia in a flash. Rest easy, students at Dartmouth -- you have a good life in Hanover.


Opinion

Racism, the Redux

|

To the Editor: This Marks character ("A Racist School," The Dartmouth, October 26) is absolutely ridiculous to call Dartmouth a racist institution on account of an op-ed article ("Vox Clamantis in Harlem," The Dartmouth, October 22). The offending joke was apparently some reference to Columbia students falling "asleep to the sound of gunshots and sirens." There is no racist tone in this comment or any mention of Harlem's predominantly black population. Once again, political correctness has the panties of excitable nitpickers all in a bunch, causing them to misconstrue insults about their college as racist jokes.


Opinion

Exaggeration, not Bigotry

|

To the Editor: As a resident of New York City, I know that "Harlem gun battles" don't regularly occur outside of Columbia ("Vox Clamantis in Harlem," The Dartmouth, October 22). However, stating that Harlem is dangerous does not make one racist; it's disappointing that the "racist" card needed to be pulled on an exchange of obviously sarcastic, school-spirit letters.


Opinion

Is Dartmouth Racist?

|

To the Editor: I would simply like to remark that Timothy Mark's letter to the editor ("A Racist School," The Dartmouth, October 26) concerning Dartmouth being a "racist school" is completely ridiculous.


Opinion

A Racist School

|

To the Editor: While I agree that Kwame Spearman's column was really stupid, don't you think all the jokes about Columbia's location are a tad racist?


Opinion

Make Love, Not War

|

To The Editor: I must say, this whole rivalry thing seems pretty silly. We at Columbia really love you all up there, and welcome you to our neck of the woods -- or Harlem?



Opinion

I'm Transferring to Columbia

|

To the Editor: In his critique that recently appeared in The Columbia Daily Spectator (Wednesday, October 20), Kwame Spearman firmly establishes Columbia's superiority over Dartmouth by exposing new information about our college. Spearman reveals that Dartmouth "[is in the] middle of a forest in New Hampshire [is in a] forest in the Northeast [has] nothing there [has students] crying in the wilderness [has a] high cow population [is a] more desolate place [than New York City] [has] nothing for [students] to do [is a] tree in the forest." Though I was shocked to learn that Dartmouth is not in New York City, I believe Spearman overestimates our intelligence by comparing our isolated College to "a scene" from "The Shining." Spearman forgets that we "got electricity last year" and, as a result, are unfamiliar with "movies." After watching "The Shining" on our new communal Hi-Fi over the weekend, however, I now understand that Dartmouth, like the isolated Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubrick's (film director) masterpiece film, could be the setting of a cabin-fever-induced murder! In a panic after deciphering Spearman's cryptic reference, I ventured through the wilderness and found access to a new technology known as "the internet" in a nearby town so that I could uncover more scandalous information. While surfing in "cyberspace" I discovered that my "overalls and a straw hat " are not fashionable, technology may provide new methods of "cow-milking," and Green Day's hit album "Dookie," which has been in my 8-track player for the past five years, is no longer popular. Considering our cultural inferiority, there was no reason for the subtle use of "eh?" in Spearman's concluding rhetorical question (Dartmouth is "pretty lame, eh?"). Spearman should have concluded with the conviction displayed his prior assertions ("First off, I guarantee victory over Dartmouth in EVERY SPORT")! Though the "first off" phrasing was convincing, Spearman's (repeated) use of capital letters ("Columbia has a FAR more attractive student body") firmly established Columbia's superiority in my book. Thus, I am transferring. At Columbia, I hope to bask in the glory of intellectual and cultural sophistication as, according to Spearman, we will be able to "go two to three miles and end up at MTV [or] Bloomingdales." I am confident that afternoons screaming in front of the TRL window with Spearman will fade into wild nights spent writing endless newspaper articles in a sea of Twinkies.


Opinion

Lite on Literature

|

To the Editor: Whatever the substantive merits of Dan Belkin's recent article (The Dartmouth, October 20) may be, his literary allusion could use some work.




Opinion

Vox Clamantis in Harlem

|

I guess I have to start out with a confession: I'm fairly uninformed. I don't find newspapers that enjoyable, and I'm lucky if I can pick up The Dartmouth a couple times a week and give it a quick read.




Opinion

This is Leadership?

|

In their second debate, John Kerry called President Bush -- appropriately -- "Orwellian." He referred then to the cheery names the Bush administration has given its regressive environmental policies: The Clean Skies bill excludes the biggest greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, and has led to dirtier skies; the Healthy Forest Initiative actually injured forests by opening them up to logging.



Opinion

Blind to Blunders

|

What's the difference between Achilles, Antigone and President Bush? All three have hubris, but at least Achilles and Antigone would have had sense not to invite Iraqi insurgents to "bring it on." Last month, Bush proudly declared that he would do "everything" the same way in Iraq all over again -- just not in deciding to invade, but in the actual planning and execution of the war itself.