VOL. CLXXII NO. 70 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2015 HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
West Wheelock area may see zoning changes
Ross Virginia hopes to increase awareness of Arctic, climate issues
West Wheelock Street could play host to a denser, more walkable neighborhood of residential space if a zon-ing ordinance is approved at Hanover’s town meeting next month, town offi cials said. The proposed change to the zoning ordinance would replace the current gen-eral residence zoning with the “West Wheelock Gateway District” — a denser neighbor-hood with easy access to both
By PARKER RICHARDSThe Dartmouth Staff
downtown Hanover and Dart-mouth’s campus, according to Hanover planning documents. “The whole point of do-ing the new district is to allow increased density to provide an incentive for people to reinvest in their properties and to redevelop their properties,” Hanover’s senior planner Vicki Smith said. “It’s really up to landowners to decide if they want to do that.” The gateway district, which
Environmental studies pro-fessor Ross Virginia unexpect-edly celebrated the birthday of Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia while in Greenland con-ducting fi eldwork with graduate students, environmental studies professor Matt Ayres said. Ayres said that Virginia con-nected the Grateful Dead with his academic motto, noting the band was the fi rst “open-source rock’ n roll band” and that those involved with science must in-
By HANNAH HYE MIN CHUNGThe Dartmouth Staff
creasingly bring “that sense of community spirit” to their work. Virginia, who began work at the College in 1992 as a chair of the environmental studies program, said his initial aca-demic interests focused on the ecosystem’s response to climate change. Ross looked at the effect of various organisms on soil’s nutrient cycle. He conducted his fi eldwork in hot deserts in the southwestern United States and in Alaska’s Arctic tundra. While studying which ele-ments of soil determine which organisms can live, Virginia
said he became interested in ecosystems with soil but without plants. Upon hearing this, one of his colleagues recommended he look at Antarctica. Since then, Virginia’s aca-demic focus shifted to cold and icy regions, and he spent two years in Antarctica from 1989 to 1990. Virginia said that 2007, the International Polar Year, was a landmark year for him because he began conceiving ways to apply academic knowledge to
SEE VIRGINIA PAGE 5SEE ZONING PAGE 3
IFC president Gilmore steps down, Macomber will replace
Sam Macomber ’16 will take over as Interfraternity Council president following a vote by IFC members and fraternity presidents on Tuesday night, according to a statement released by the IFC. He will replace Chase Gilmore ’16, who chose to step down follow-ing the derecognition of Alpha Delta fraternity, of which he was a member. AD was derecognized as a student organization by the Organizational Adjudication Committee in relation to the branding of new members last fall while the fraternity was under suspension. Gilmore, who wrote in an email that he supports Macomber’s election, will continue to serve the IFC in an advisory capacity and attend meetings. Macomber, a member of Beta Alpha Omega fraternity, served as IFC’s treasurer for the first four weeks of spring term. “I have the utmost confidence in his ability to steer the fraternity system on the right course and to leave the system better than he found it,” Gilmore wrote of Macomber’s election. A full story will run in tomorrow’s edition of The Dartmouth.
By PARKER RICHARDSThe Dartmouth Staff
In the wake of Monday’s meeting of the faculty of arts and sciences, faculty and stu-dents expressed mixed senti-ments about possible changes to distributive requirements, grade infl ation and course schedule changes. These pro-
By NOAH GOLDSTEINThe Dartmouth Staff
posals come following calls to increase “academic rigor” by College President Phil Han-lon as a part of his “Moving Dartmouth Forward” policy initiative. These proposed ideas will potentially be put to a vote at the next faculty meeting on June 1. In the meeting, dean of the faculty Michael Mastand-
uno proposed a reexamination of the of the current distribu-tive requirements to make them more fl exible. In an interview following the meeting, Mastu-anduno referenced the system prior to 1992, when students were required to take three courses each in social sciences,
SEE ACADEMICS PAGE 2
CHERRY HUANG/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
The Digital Arts Workshop shocases student artwork incorporati ng digital and technological advancements.
Campus reacts to academic proposals
THE ART OF TECHNOLOGY
PAGE 2 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2015THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
DAily debriefingApril 24, 3:35 p.m., Murdough Center: Safety and Security officers, Hanover Police and Hanover Fire Department responded to a report of an unconscious person in Murdough Center at the Tuck School of Business. The individual was located and transported to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center via ambulance. April 25, 12 p.m., Sachem Field: Safety and Security officers and Dartmouth EMS responded to several reported injuries related to a soccer tournament at Sachem soccer fields. Two individuals were transported to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center via private ve-hicle, and the remaining injured individuals were treated at the scene. April 25, 10:47 p.m., Occom Ridge: Safety and Security officers, Hanover Police and Hanover Fire Department responded to a report of an intoxicated individual at Occom Ridge. The individual was evaluated and transported to DHMC via ambulance. April 25, 11:26 p.m., Phi Tau coeducational fraterni-ty: Safety and Security officers, Dartmouth EMS, Hanover Police and Hanover Fire Department responded to a Good Samaritan Call at Phi Tau. Upon arrival, Safety and Security officers discovered two intoxicated individuals. One of the individuals was transported to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center via ambulance, and the other was transported to Dick’s House and admitted for the night. April 26, 11:45 a.m., McCormack Courtyard: Safety and Security officers and Hanover Fire Department responded to a report of a fire in McCormack Courtyard at Tuck. Safety and Security officers discovered several large bags of charcoal burning under a table and immediately extinguished the fire. There were no injuries or property damage reported. April 27, 11:50 a.m., Oak Hill Touring Center: Safety and Security officers responded to a report of several missing items from the Oak Hill Touring Center. Safety and Security and Hanover Police are still investigating the incident.
— COMPILED BY MAY MANSOUR
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Faculty, students mixed on grade inflationhumanities and natural sciences. Biology professor and chair of the ad hoc committee on grading practices Mark McPeek also spoke about his concerns over grade inflation at the College and noted that the current rate of inflation is not sustainable. A change to the weekly schedule to include earlier class times and a revamped upperclassmen advising system were also proposed. While many students first heard of potential changes in these areas as a part of Hanlon’s “Moving Dartmouth Forward” initiative, the majority of the work of the Curricular Review Committee was done in the 2012-2013 academic year, before Hanlon took office in June 2013, according to a report by the committee in the meeting’s agenda and attached materials. The committee’s recommendations on distributive requirements and the weekly class scheduled were reviewed by the Committee on In-struction, the Committee on Policy and the Committee of Chairs in the 2013-2014 academic year. The agenda and attached mate-rials were first posted on Dartblog on Monday. College spokesperson Diana Lawrence confirmed the authenticity of the materials. Biology professor Roger Sloboda said that he disagreed with chang-ing the distributive requirements, but added that it is always good to examine whether current policy fits the needs of students. Sloboda said he thought the quantitative requirement should not be removed because he thinks all students should be able to interpret data and statistics, such as patterns of global warming or regression analyses. Native American studies profes-sor Sergei Kan, on the other hand, said that he approved of changing the distributive requirements for the most part, although he said that the non-Western requirement should not be discarded. “If we don’t encourage that kind of education, I think we are elimi-nating one opportunity to expose [students] to other cultural worlds,” Kan said. In response to the potential changes in distributive require-ments, John Damianos ’16, who was on the “Moving Dartmouth Forward” presidential steering com-mittee, said he was a huge proponent of a liberal arts education, and that students should be required to take courses out of their speciality or major. “With the distribs, I really do think that students need to be exposed to other fields and have the urgings to do so,” he said. On the topic of grade infla-
tion, Sloboda said he thought the standards in his department were appropriate for students, citing that introductory biology lecture courses have a median grade of a B. He did say, however, that grade inflation should be addressed as a whole, as some students are receiving disproportionately high grades. “I think there is a lot to be said to doing something about giving everyone As, if everyone comes here and can get As then why are they coming here? They are already perfect,” Sloboda said. He said that the quarter system has also contributed to academic rigor. He noted that when he started teaching “Cell Structure and Func-tion,” the textbook was 400 pages in length and now it extends over 1,000 pages, but under the same time constraints of a 10-week term. He said that the faculty would continue to discuss academic rigor over the next few meetings over the term. Women and gender studies pro-fessor Michael Bronski said that, while Dartmouth should always be looking to improve its academics and that students can always be doing better work, he does not think contrast today’s grades to those of the past is a fair comparison. “I would say that, on the whole, all of my students are harder workers, better critical thinkers and better writers than my friends were in college 40 years ago,” he said. “I think people are doing better work frankly.” Bronski attributed the difference to factors such as the internet, the media and changes in teaching methods. He said that he thinks that as long as students are thinking and growing, grades are meaningless in the context of learning. The new focus on academic rigor will also move the College’s image as a “party school” to a more “pres-tigious academic profile,” Bronski said, thus partially functioning as a public relations move. Bronski said that Dartmouth has come a long way from the academic work of the 1970s and said that comparatively the College is much stronger. Kan said that he supports curbing grade inflation. “At an Ivy League college of this caliber, students should work hard to receive As, an A, A minus or even B plus should be worked hard for,” Kan said. McPeek said that, if grade infla-tion were to continue at its current rate, by 2064 the average grade point average would be a 4.0, with it having increased by 0.5 in the last 50 years. He did say, however, that the grades themselves are not the is-sue, but rather that faculty members are not holding their students to the
proper standards. Professors have incentives to not offer hard courses, such as student evaluations and course enrollment, McPeek said. McPeek said that the proposal is the first step toward decreasing grade inflation. If students were all achieving “excellent mastery” in a class, then that class is not pushing the students hard enough, McPeek said. A result of grade inflation, McPeek said, is that students cannot get a sense of in which subject areas they excel. Student Assembly president Frank Cunningham ’16, who also served on the presidential steering committee, said that while he sup-ports the idea of making a more intellectual Dartmouth, the concept of increasing academic rigor makes him concerned for students’ mental health. While he believes that the College could have a more academic environment, the solution is not to increase coursework to the point where students spend all their time in the library. Damianos said that issues such as grade inflation are hard to address as they are not unique to Dartmouth nor are the solutions easy to imple-ment. He highlighted the Princeton University model of active grade deflation as an imperfect solution to this issue. Damianos further said that in order for Dartmouth to address the problem of grade disparities between departments, the faculty of each department should recon-sider what effort and work a student produces merits what grade. “I think each department needs to have a serious conversation about what excellence looks like,” he said. Of nine students interviewed by The Dartmouth, seven said they disapproved of any changes to grade inflation, and one said that students should wait to see the effects of the changes before making judgements. These students said that classes are already demanding and require a lot of work. Tatiana Saunders ’15 also cast doubt on the effectiveness of the proposed schedule changes. “I know students who purpose-fully don’t take classes because of the time period, so people are not going to take these classes if they don’t want to,” she said. Damianos also addressed the con-cept of academic rigor, as first used in Hanlon’s “Moving Dartmouth Forward” speech, calling the use of the specific term flawed as it failed to be taken completely seriously by the student body. “It’s a joke that a lot of people make, because everyone knows that Dartmouth classes are challenging,” he said.
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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2015 PAGE 3THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
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Proposed zoning change will allow for walkable neighborhoodFROM ZONING PAGE 1
is set to run from the entrance of Tuck Drive near the Ledyard Bridge up to School Street, is currently inhabited by many undergraduates, graduate students, Dartmouth faculty and Col-lege staff, Griffin said. The Upper Val-ley is currently experiencing a housing shortage, which “is particularly acute in Hanover,” Smith said. If private owners in the new district redevelop their property, more housing could be provided, she said. Buildings of up to four stories would be permitted if the ordinance passes at the town meeting on May 12. The ordinance would also permit the ad-dition of a restaurant, a laundromat and a retail store in the area for the convenience of residents, according to meeting documents. “When you drive up that corridor, you see a fair number of fairly old buildings, many of which have reached the end of their useful life, and given its proximity to campus, we’ve often thought we could, as a community, make better use of the residential op-portunities in that corridor and spiff it up at the same time,” Hanover town manager Julia Griffin said. Smith declined to speculate on the likelihood of the zoning ordinance amendment’s passage at the town meet-ing. “I’m a planner, I’m not a fortune teller, so I don’t do betting,” she said. Hanover planning board chair Judith Esmay said that increased development of the downtown area is conducive to the desire of many residents to be able to walk rather than drive including Dartmouth-affiliated residents of the West Wheelock area. Additionally, current zoning bylaws impede Hanover from addressing its housing needs issues with increased rural development since they require larger
lots in the town’s rural fringe, Esmay said. Any new housing built in the area would be within walking distance of both the College and downtown Ha-nover, which could also allow modifi-cations of current parking restrictions, Griffin said. “We’re looking to reduce the park-ing requirements somewhat because our experience in this corridor now is that many of the folks who live in this corridor are undergraduate students or graduate students or faculty and staff who walk to campus every day,” Griffin said. Another major goal of the proposed change is the regulation of traffic flow from the Ledyard Bridge into downtown Hanover and vice versa, Griffin said. “We’re hoping to enhance the smooth flow of traffic through that corridor because we get a lot of bottle-necks,” she said. While the development of new housing or retail space could take a number of years to come to fruition, the town intends to begin working with the College and other abutters to handle traffic issues in the near future if the ordinance amendment passes at town meeting, Griffin said. Esmay said that slowing the speed of traffic was a major goal for the neighbor-hood. In addition to the zoning ordinance amendment that will appear at the May meeting, some modifications will also be made to Hanover’s site plan regula-tions, changes that the planning board is empowered to make after holding public hearings, Griffin said. The idea for the West Wheelock Gateway District was first broached in 2003 as part of the Hanover town master plan, which called for increased housing density in the area, Smith said. More recently, Hanover applied and was selected to be one of about a half dozen
GABRIELLE KIRLER/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
Students and faculty members met to discuss Nepal relief efforts.
A CALL TO ACTION
communities each year to receive a design charrette — an intense period of design or planning activity — hosted by Plan New Hampshire, a statewide group that assists municipalities with planning issues, Griffin said. Planners, architects, traffic engineers, local residents and others came together through Plan New Hampshire to create a concept for the new district, Griffin said.
“It’s a neat way to get professional expertise when you’re looking at tackling something in your community that you’d like to overhaul,” she said. Thereafter, the West Wheelock Working Group formed to bring togeth-er interested parties to create a proposal for the zoning ordinance amendment, Griffin said. The group involved plan-ners, architects and affordable housing
specialists, in addition to residents and College planners, she said. Dartmouth personnel were closely involved in the process due to the College’s ownership of numerous properties along West Wheelock Street, Esmay said. “Most of the properties along the north side, which would be properties abutting the campus, are owned by Dartmouth College,” she said.
TIFFANY ZHAI/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
The Town of Hanover is considering zoning changes to allow for development on West Wheelock Street.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2015THE DARTMOUTH OPINIONPAGE 4
Staff Columnist ANDRES SMITH ’17
Food, Fun and Community Saturdays in Hanover are quite nice. It’s a chance to recover from the previous night’s revelry, go grab some brunch at Lou’s Res-taurant or Market Table and maybe go for a hike if the weather is decent. In many other college towns across the country, however, Saturdays exist for one reason and one reason only — game day. The entire town seem-ingly shuts down as everyone makes their way toward the stadium for a day of grilled food, tailgates and watching their team while screaming their heads off. Unfortunately, this culture doesn’t seem to exist at Dartmouth or in the Upper Valley, although we have all the necessary ingredients. Though this culture of apathy extends to just about all the sports teams, the most egregious case comes with Dartmouth football. We have a stadium conveniently located on campus, a storied football pro-gram with more than a century of history and a skilled team that is highly competitive in the Ivy League. This past year, we were one win away from winning the entire Ivy League Football Championship for the first time since 1996 — yet student presence at the games was meager at best. We were out-attended by our opponents in 2014 by an average of about 2,000 fans per game. Yale’s home game against Army brought in a whopping 34,142 fans — more than the combined number of fans that attended all of the Big Green’s home games this year. Yale is bigger than Dartmouth, to be sure, but that does not justify this massive disparity in attendance numbers. Yet, the issue extends beyond football. We have a school full of great teams and multimillion dollar athletics facilities, but our sporting events are still often woefully under-attended, especially by students. With more support from student organizations and the school, however, as well as increased community outreach, athletics can become a more integral part of the Dartmouth ex-perience and the Upper Valley culture as a whole.
As I mentioned above, many other college towns come together on game days for tail-gates. What’s not to like about them? There’s food, drink and fun to get you excited about the upcoming sports game. At many other schools, such as Texas A&M University or Pennsylvania State University, the students attend tailgates hosted by Greek houses, which are a staple of the game day social scene. Because these events promote a safe and fun social space — while also getting people excited about Dartmouth sports, the College should work with Greek houses and other social groups to put on larger and more frequent game day tailgates. Doing so would both provide a daylight use for Greek social spaces and increase support for Dartmouth athletics. If you go to the tailgate, the natural progression is to then go to the game. Just like that, the student presence and enthusiasm at sport-ing events increases dramatically. This also provides a potential safety benefit — if people spend their Saturday tailgating and going to sporting events, they may end up more tired by the evening, possibly leading to tamer Saturday nights for those in charge of managing risk at houses and Safety and Security alike. Though affiliated students would still be in charge of managing risk at tailgates, students are less likely to engage in high-risk drinking in broad daylight, surrounded by adults in the community and potentially even television cameras. Greek houses and other organizations would probably need some school funding to host these events on a regular basis, but a small amount of money can go a long way toward improving campus culture. I know that there are many things that people will argue are more worthy of time and resources than increasing support for Dartmouth athletics. Yet, as great as Dart-mouth is, strong support for our athletic teams could bring us all closer together and get the Upper Valley even more involved in the Dartmouth community.
CONTRIBUTING Columnist MICHAEL MCDAVID’15
Just a Popularity ContestThe College should encourage Greek houses to throw safe tailgate parties. David Brooks’ selection as our commencement speaker does not mean much.
At the Class of 2015’s commencement in June, New York Times columnist David Brooks will receive an honorary degree from the College and deliver the address. Student reactions have been mixed in the days since the news broke. In fact, there have been some strong reactions against Brooks, who some see as an unpalatably conservative voice. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and I would never say that this opposition is necessarily wrong or unwarranted, but we should not react disproportionately. A commencement speaker is but a relatively powerful symbol, and the selection of Brooks does not deserve the same level of attention as more substantive issues at the College or in the world. In many ways, these strong nega-tive reactions are u n d e r s t a n d a b l e — especially those from graduat ing seniors. Commencement is the culmination of four years of aspirations, hard work and sacrifice. We want to be able to sit in those little folding chairs on the Green and have nothing but good feelings. On that Sunday — which we pray is sunny and warm, but with Hanover, you never know — many want to be happy, without the complication of disagreeing or feeling uncomfortable. If you disagree with Brooks’ opinions, I still do not believe that your commencement will be ruined by his speech — but another speaker, a figure who is more likely to cham-pion the values that matter to you, might have actively enhanced your experience. People who voice strong opposition to the selection of Brooks are missing the point. A commencement speaker is, with few exceptions, window dressing. To begin, it would be impossible to secure a speaker who everyone wel-comed with enthusi-asm. People disagree on many things. Being exposed to a multitude of opinions is a staple of the liberal arts experience, and hearing people with varied viewpoints and beliefs is integral to learning of any kind. Second, the College has no obligation present its students with agreeable ideas. On the contrary, the College would be doing its students a disservice to isolate them from opposing opinions. Third, and perhaps most importantly, the College is not necessarily endorsing Brooks or any of his specific opinions. No one is stamping a seal of approval on his speech or any of his writing. The substance of his honorary degree is minimal. Yet, I must admit that David Brooks as commencement speaker does not excite me. I am neither a fan nor a supporter of his work. I do not particularly care for his
brand of politics and I find aspects of his support of the early days of the war in Iraq troubling. I would undoubtedly be happier with one of his more liberal colleagues. Of course, I would be happiest with the public figure I nominated — my favorite contemporary novelist, Zadie Smith. Of course, that was never going to happen. Who has ever heard of Zadie Smith outside of the English department — maybe even outside the faculty lounge of the English department? Similar words could be said for many nominated figures. David Brooks is a major contributor for the
New York Times, and his words reach millions of people each week. Choos-ing a commence-ment speaker i s essentially a popu-larity contest writ large. They are the institutional equiva-lent of posting your
Derby photos on Facebook — the substance matters very little, if at all. Just being there is what counts. Nothing about commencement besides our emotions are substantial — and that is okay. Most days, we want to be chal-lenged, and we need to have our opinions and beliefs questioned. Graduating from the College, however, means that we have been challenged for the past four years. On commencement day, it’s okay to want to feel good instead of challenged. Sure, every once in a while, a commencement speech has substance. It outlines a plan for post-war Europe or stretches out an olive branch to Nikita Krushchev, but those are the exceptions and not the rules.
Commencement is about style, not substance. As far as win-dow dressing goes, Brooks is a good choice. He shows that the College has enough clout
to attract a commencement speaker whose name you have heard. Might he have something interesting to say? Certainly. I would cautiously posit, however, that many writers or critics of less renown would be able to offer just as much in their actual commencement address. If we are honest with ourselves about the purpose of a commencement speaker, then Brooks is a fine choice. He is palatable to many and enticing to some. He will most likely deliver a perfectly serviceable — if standard — commencement address. I do not applaud the selection, but I hardly shout it down. If after four years we need desperately to learn some inescapable, beautiful truth in our last moments as un-dergraduates, then the College has failed us in a more meaningful way than picking a speaker we do not like.
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“A commencement speaker is but a relatively powerful symbol, and the selection of Brooks does not deserve the same level of attention as more substantive issues at the College or in the world.”
“If we are honest with ourselves about the purpose of a commencement speaker, then Brooks is a fine choice. He is palatable to many and enticing to some.”
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2015 PAGE 5THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
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political decisions and the policymaking process, which he noted aligns with the slogan for the International Polar Year was “from knowledge to action.” Aware of the considerable level of interest in polar studies at the College, Virginia said that he wanted to fi nd ways that the College could become more involved with the International Polar Year. He helped organize various conferences and programs, which he
noted inspired him to focus his efforts on connecting academia to the practical world. Virginia began working with various education and outreach programs to foster interest in the arctic region among younger generations. Virginia said that the Dartmouth Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Ph.D. program, an interdisciplinary program that pro-vides opportunities to graduate students for research in polar studies, came from
quickly built a rapport, as they shared similar interests and a similar philosophy towards researching and teaching. She said that working with people like Ross is one of her favorite parts of being a Dartmouth professor. He emphasized that Virginia, in addition to being brilliant, is meticulous and possesses a great work ethic. Earth sciences professor Meredith Kelly said that Virginia is an outgoing and welcoming colleague. She said that upon learning that her specialty also lies in Arctic studies, Virginia emailed her immediately and invited her to join the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship. Outside his academic work, Virginia said that he has passion for music, de-claring himself a “Deadhead,” a term used to describe a fan of the Grateful Dead. He enjoys learning about history, he said, and is fascinated by what easily accessible places today looked like to the people who arrived there for the fi rst time. “I try to bring some personal part of me into the classroom because it is an important way to empower students to bring what they have to class,” Virginia said. “We are talking about science but still talk about art and history because it’s all connected — that’s what [a] liberal [arts] education is all about.”
these efforts. “I can infl uence science through my research and articles, but a big part of having a legacy and having this continue is to get younger people interested,” he said. Currently his team works with high school students in Greenland, Denmark and the United States during a three-week-long summer camp on the Arctic environment. He noted the importance of fi nding ways to share scientifi c knowl-edge with different audiences. His dedication to translate schol-arly fi ndings into practical changes culminated with his participation in the United States’ 1998-2000 chairmanship on the Arctic Council, an international forum to address environmental issues in the Arctic regions. Virginia will be co-leading the Ful-bright Arctic Initiative, which aims to engage in research to produce fi ndings that policymakers could use in making important decisions regarding Arctic regions. He said that the Fulbright Arctic Initiative seeks to increase awareness of the Arctic within the United States, as the public does not generally know that the United States contains a relatively large region of the Arctic. In addition, Virginia noted that the initiative aims to improve awareness of climate change and plans to reach out to institutions
across the nation, organize exhibitions and publish articles to inform the public. The initiative will tackle the issue of fresh water supply in communities in northern regions as it is directly related to the wellness of both human and animals, he said. The initiative also plans to address exploration of natural resource sites, development of sustain-able options for renewable energy and the establishment of policies and regulations for large-scale petroleum operations. Virginia’s team published an article that proves the existence of groundwa-ter in the subsurface level of ice in the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica, yesterday in the international science journal Nature. He noted that the fi nding is signifi cant in part because Antarctica’s environment has been deemed to be most similar to that of Mars. Therefore, the possibility of groundwater and existence of bacteria in this region will shed more light on our understanding of Mars’ ecosystem. He also noted that the work would expand our knowledge of the marine biology system in Antarctica’s shores. “It also causes us to rethink how the Dry Valleys and Antarctica form as a habitat,” he said. “New science can derive from the study trying to fi gure out how the Dry Valleys operate.” Ayres said that he and Virginia
COURTESY OF ROSS VIRGINIA
Virginia has spent ti me performing fi eld research in Arcti c regions.
Colleagues praise Ross Virginia’s work ethic and energy
PAGE 6 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29. 2015THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS
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DARTMOUTH EVENTSTODAY4:00 p.m.“Trillion Dollar Economists,” lecture with Robert Litan of the Brookings Insti tuti on, Haldeman 125
4:15 p.m.“Theory in Dispute,” comparati ve literature lecture with Neil Larsen of the University of California at Davis, Reed Hall, Room 108 4:30 p.m.“World Without Order,” lecture with former Defense Intelligence Agency director Michael Flynn, Moore Hall, Filene Auditorium
TOMORROW12:00 p.m.“Mesa Portuguesa,” weekly lunch meeti ng discussion in Portuguese, Class of 1953 Commons
4:30 p.m.“Dark Money and Shadow Parti es: The Real Problem in Campaign Finance,” Rockefeller Center, Room 003
4:45 p.m.“The Lati n American Oil Industry Aft er the Boom: Is Resource Nati onalism Fading?” Tuck School of Business, Borelli Classroom
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2015 PAGE 7THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
Landscaping brings aesthetic value to campus
Beyond trying to grab the swinging platform of “X-Delta” as a study space on the nicer days and complaining about the strange propor t ions of the Baker-Berry Library w i n d o w s , m o s t s t u -dents do not spend a lot of time thinking about campus landscaping, an aspect of the Col lege t h a t h a s a daily impact on their lives. Director of campus de-sign and con-struction John Scherding said that the College’s planning division is mostly tasked with optimizing the use of various spaces on campus. The campus planning and facilities division is also in charge of maintaining the campus’s physical environment for the long term. “A large part of work has to do with monitoring usage of space on campus and trying to be as efficient
as we can because, needless to say, new buildings are very expensive and you don’t want to build them if you don’t need them,” Scherding said. Cornell University planner Leslie Schill said that a major
component of campus p lan -n ing invo l ve s h i g h l i g h t i n g and understand-ing its aesthetic strengths during the preparation and landscaping process. “It’s really pull-ing together sys-tems and struc-tu re s , ” Sch i l l said. “You have to look at the bal-ance of natural beauty and man-made structures.
You have to see how systems con-nect.” In addition to structuring new buildings and grounds to comple-ment and balance the existing spaces, campus planning takes into account how inclement weather can impact appearance and safety. “[Snow] is a real factor, and we certainly have buildings on cam-pus that were designed and built
without sufficient knowledge of snow,” Scherding said. “The Hood Museum is a good example. Every winter there is scaffolding set up in many locations around the Hood Museum to protect pedestrians from snow sliding off of the roof.” Snow does not just cause a visual and safety issue for campus plan-ning — Scherding said that campus landscaping at the College is also concerned with the difficulty and cost of moving snow as well as simply clearing it off of walkways. “Loading docks and snow re-moval are two topics that we seem to spend a lot of time talking about in the design phase of projects because they’re really important concerns,” he said. Ben Geithner ’16, last year’s snow sculpture chair, said that he appreciates the effort that goes into maintaining clean and visu-ally pleasing pathways during the winter. “As soon as snow is falling, they’ll have those tiny little plows out making the sidewalks clear,” he said. In addition to the maintenance building, walkways and lawns, campus landscaping also includes handling the College’s public art collection. Dartmouth currently has over 20 works of public art placed around campus. The collection includes the piece “X-Delta” by Mark di Suvero, which is behind Baker-Berry Library, “Dartmouth Panels” by Ellsworth Kelly on the Hood Museum of Art and “D2D” by Charles Perry, which is located in front of Fairchild Hall.
The public art committee, which is chaired by the Hood Museum and also includes faculty members and representative from
the Provost’s Office and the Hop-kins Center, chooses public art for campus, Scherding said. Scherding said that he and the campus planning office work with the public art committee to coor-dinate the location of new public works. “My role is helping to coordi-nate with some of the different facilities organizations on campus just be sure art is placed in areas that are appropriate,” he said. Art is just one way for the campus planning to improve the aesthetic appeal of a space. The goal of campus spaces, however, is not purely based on the beauty
of its art. “You want the public realm to be activated,” Schill said. “It needs to be welcoming and speak to people in order to create gathering areas, as well as focused spots.” She also said that central and open spaces are key to maintaining a campus’ aesthetic while serving other key functions. “They have a huge social function and an environmental function,” Schill said. “They are doing things while looking beau-tiful. They allow us to commune with nature and help with mental health. They’re timeless and look-ing at them can take us back to our past. They are beautiful and social, which makes them a place where people can cross over.” Geithner also said that he be-lieves that nature is integral to the aesthetic appeal of campus. “It’s nice to have a mix of open space and trees,” he said. “If the Green were just a flat plane of grass, it wouldn’t be nearly as nice as it with the trees.” Campus landscaping and main-tenance is supported by a variety of college departments including facilities operations and manage-ment, which also runs custodial, parking and Hinman mail services, and the office of planning, design and construction, Scherding said. “There are a lot of people responsible for maintain and car-ing for the facilities, and there is a tremendous amount of pride in the campus among those work-ers, and I think it’s part of what make Dartmouth a special place to work,” Scherding said.
By maya poddarThe Dartmouth Staff
CHERRY HUANG/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
Students had the chance to show off clothes at the Digital Arts Workshop.
SEW LOVELY
ELIZA MCDONOUGH/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
Public sculptures such as “X-Delta” help add interest to the College’s landscape design.
“It’s really pulling together systems and structures. You have to look at the balance of natural beauty and man-made structures. You have to see how the systems connect.”
-leslie schill, cornell university planner on the importance of campus landscaping
“A large part of work has to do with monitoring usage of space on campus and trying to be as efficient as we can.”
-john scherding, director of campus design and construction
PAGE 8 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29. 2015THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS
SPORTS WEDNESDAY LINEUP
No athletic events scheduled
Men’s and women’s track and � eld teams excel at Penn Relays
Members of the men’s and women’s track and fi eld teams took part in the University of Pennsylvania’s 121st Penn Relays this past weekend at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. The contest — among the oldest and most decorated events in competitive track — brings together some of the country’s best athletes, including professional, col-legiate and high school competitors. “To be in the atmosphere of the Penn Relays is unreal,” women’s head coach Sandy Ford-Centonze said. “It’s sometimes tough as a coach since you might not even get into the stadium to watch the athletes compete, but to be a part of it is amazing.” The Big Green received strong performances from both the men’s and women’s teams. On Friday, the women’s 4x1,500-meter relay team placed fourth in the Championship of America divi-sion against some of the best women’s distance programs in the country. The
team of Elizabeth Markowitz ’16 , Helen Schlachtenhaufen ’17 , Reid Watson ’16 and Dana Giordano ’16 fi nished in 18:00.22. “Penn Relays is the only meet with the women’s [4x1,500-meter relay] and the men’s [4xmile relay], so this is the meet they had to run it at,” men’s head coach Barry Harwick said. The action, however, began on Thursday. In the 3,000-meter steeple-chase, Sarah DeLozier ’15 ran a 10:32.93 to place fourth , while Sarah Bennett ’16 placed 16th. In the hep-tagonal section of the women’s 4x400-meter relay, which is limited to the Ivy League, the Big Green took third in the pool of fi ve, fi nishing after Cornell and Princeton Universities. In the 400-meter hurdles, Erica Hendershot ’15 claimed 17th in 1:02.14, while Katy Sprout ’17 fi nished tenths of a second later to take 25th overall in a fi eld of nearly 60 runners. Alison Lanois ’15 fi nished the fi rst day of the contest for the women by placing 18th in the 5,000-meter with a time of 17:09.19.
On the fi rst day of competition for the men, captain Anthony Anzivino ’16 fi nished ninth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:22.17. Dylan O’Sullivan ’15 ran a 30:37.28 in the 10,000-meter under the lights to claim 18th in the fi nal event of the day. As the meet continued into the night, dropping temperatures may have af-fected athlete performance. “The [10,000-meter] did not fi nish until midnight, and at that point it was 35 degrees,” Harwick said. On Friday, the women’s team re-ceived strong performances from Kaitlin Whitehorn ’16 , who placed sixth in the championship section of the high jump by clearing 5-8.5/1.74m, and Molly Shapiro ’16 , who placed 33rd in the triple jump with a 37-10.75/11.55m. Action for the men’s team started off early with the 400-meter hurdles in which Edward Wagner ’16 ran a 54.52, good for 20th in the fi eld of 50 competitors. The men’s team also received strong performances from relay teams in the
distance medley relay and the heptago-nal section of the 4x400-meter relay. The distance medley relay quartet of Pat Gregory ’18 , Phil Gomez ’17 , Will Callan ’15 and Julian Heninger ’17 ran a cumulative 10:24.01 to fi nish 24th. In the Big Green’s second relay team of the day, Zachary Plante ’18 , Amos Cariati ’18 , Wagner and Gomez combined to run a 3:16.16 to take third in the heptagonal section of the 4x400-meter relay. “We had a good performance against the Ivy League schools, and that gives us an extra incentive and confi dence going into [Ivy League Heptagonal Championships] in two weeks,” Ford-Centonze said. Wrapping up competition on Sat-urday, Bridget O’Neill ’18 , Elizabeth Markowitz ’16 , Bridget Flynn ’18 and Meghan Grela ’17 fi nished eighth in the Championship of America section of the women’s 4x800-meter relay. On the men’s side, Corey Muggler ’17 placed seventh in the triple jump with a jump of 48-9.0/14.86m. Harwick
noted that Muggler’s performance was a lifetime best, and as a native of Phila-delphia, this was a special one for him given it was in front of his hometown crowd. Connor Clark ’17 , Silas Talbot ’15 , Joe Chapin ’16 and Curtis King ’16 ran a 16:54.22 in the Championship of America Invitational section of the men’s 4xmile, good for 12th overall. Chapin was recovering from an injury that affected his performance, King said. The energy of 40,000 fans makes the Penn Relays an incredible experience for the athletes. The coaches, however, are often outside of the stadium because of the crowds, Harwick said. “The atmosphere is pretty incred-ible,” King said. “But 40,000 people are yelling at you, and coaches aren’t allowed on the infi eld. So even if [the coaches] are yelling splits from the stands, we can’t really hear anything.” The teams will return to Hanover to fi ne-tune for two weeks before the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships at Penn on May 9 and 10.
By CHRIS SHIMThe Dartmouth Staff
Softball to take on Penn in pursuit of back-to-back Ivy titles
This weekend, the Big Green softball team (23-16, 16-4 Ivy) will face the University of Pennsylvania (22-18, 13-7 Ivy) in the Ivy League Championship Series for the third consecutive year. The three-year tug-of-war between the Big Green and the Quakers began in Phila-delphia in 2013, where Penn defeated Dartmouth in a 2-1 series, winning their second championship since the Ivy League softball program began in 1980. Dartmouth managed to exact revenge the following year as the team won the school’s fi rst championship in program history by taking down the Quakers in another 2-1 series in Hanover. Now, after two championship series that have gone the distance, Dartmouth is hosting Penn with a chance to solidify the Big Green’s claim as the premier program in the Ivy League. Of the 18 players on the team, 12 have already experienced what it is like to win a championship. Seven of those know what it is like to be on the losing end as well. The team’s increased confi dence will be key to its performance in the championship series, star pitcher Kris-
ten Rumley ’15 said. “Two years ago we just wanted to make it to the Ivy Championships. We had no expectations for winning or losing,” she said. Once in the title game, the Big Green was caught off-guard by nerves, Rumley said. “Last year we got there and we were all ready to compete, it wasn’t our fi rst time being there and we were ready to go,” Rumley said. The team’s six freshmen will be called upon to deliver on the champion-ship stage for the fi rst time this weekend, something for which the team feels confi dent that they will be prepared. “They’ve made some huge strides since they came in day one of their freshman year. After being here only a year, they’re ready. As long as they have the confi dence in that, they’re going to do what they’ve always done,” Rumley said. During the regular season, Dart-mouth and of Penn have only been matched up twice. The doubleheader during the fi nal week of March was split as the Big Green won the fi rst game with a score of 3-2, but lost the second game 5-4. Penn, Harvard University and Brown University were the only
schools in the Ivy League that managed to defeat Dartmouth this season. Much like Dartmouth, Penn has a very productive offense. Quaker batters Jurie Joyner, Vanessa Weaver, Lauren Li and Sydney Turchin each have a batting average of over .300 and an on-base percentage of over .400 while ace pitcher Alexis Borden holds a 3.09 ERA with 140 strikeouts this season. “You know [Borden] is going to throw you strikes since she’s a strikeout pitcher, so we’re going to go at her early and stay on her and get some hits,” Katie McEachern ’16 said. During the two games that the teams played against each other, McEachern went 5-6, scored three times, drew a walk, collected two RBIs and hit a home run. On the mound, Rumley pitched 5.1 innings and struck out four batters in the fi rst game and was relieved by Morgan McCalmon ’16 , who earned the save. In the second game, McCalmon was called on to start and pitched fi ve solid innings. Rumley came on in relief to pitch the sixth inning. In the sixth, the defense committed three errors that led to two unearned runs, one of which was the tie-breaking run. The loss would be the last the team would see in quite
some time as they proceeded to run off an 11-game win streak. “I think our team has since then really worked on our hitting and as a team we’ve gotten a lot better and more aggressive,” McEachern said. “I think this time around we’re defi nitely going to be hitting the ball better than we were the fi rst time, since it was our fi rst weekend out.” McCalmon credited the team’s preparation for its success and expected that preparation to continue to pay off in the title series. “Penn is a great team and we can’t
take them lightly at all, but if we play the way we’ve prepared throughout the entire season and even starting back in the fall, we’ve set ourselves up pretty well to achieve success,” McCalmon said. “If we go in and approach the game as if it’s another day to play softball and just perform the way we’ve been performing [all season], I think we should be just fi ne.” Softball Park will host the Ivy League Championship series with a double-header on Saturday at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. and, if necessary, a third game on Sunday at 1 p.m.
By DANIEL LEEThe Dartmouth Staff
ELIZA MCDONOUGH/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
For the third straight year, Dartmouth will take on Penn for the Ivy League crown.
