Dartlog: 04/14/2002 - 04/21/2002

The Dartmouth Review

Saturday, April 20, 2002

Happenings: Event listings will return on Sunday night, with events for Monday. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Full post and comments below the fold.

Posted by Andrew Grossman at 10:05 AM (0 comments)

Friday, April 19, 2002

Cultural Expressions: This evening in Collis Commonground, prospective members of the class of 2006 were feted with Mexican, Chinese and South African Dance, as well as the such standbys as the Cords, Rockapellas, and Sheba dance troupe. However, there were highlights. The Occcum Pond Singers, "an intertribal drum group" consisting of six Native American males, one with very red hair and very white skin, sitting around a drum and beating it, while chanting "powwow" songs, mostly in a monotone. The best part of the show was when the MCs called up people from the audience, by name. These included Dean Furstenberg and other event organizers. Attendees were privileged to see Furstenberg gyrating around the dance floor, in time with the lively music. A sight not to missed. One is left to wonder what cultural impressions prospectives got from "Cultural Expressions."

Full post and comments below the fold.

Posted by JR at 10:51 PM (0 comments)

Bandow on the Middle East: Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and sydicated columnist, spoke yesterday at Dartmouth to a small group of students and members of the community. The Dartmouth Review and the Campus Libertarians sponsored the event.

A self-proclaimed policy wonk, Bandow gave his insights on how the U.S. could best handle the crisis in the Middle East. According to Bandow, the United States would be best served by disengaging its military from foriegn lands and by adopting a uniform foreign policy.

Saudi Arabia, Bandow said, is a "monstrous" nation which has funded, directly or indirectly, terrorism. Also, Saudi Arabia is a repressive regime�women, aside from those in the royal family, have few, if any, real rights. The U.S., then, would be best served by disengaging its troops from the country and severing friendly ties. The relationship between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. should be strictly business�the U.S. purchases the Saudis' oil.

Bandow pointed out the hypocritical stance the U.S. often takes in its foreign policy. The U.S. is very critical of Saddam Hussein for his treatment of the Kurds. At the same time, however, the U.S. has maintained a friendship with Turkey while the Turks have also been waging a war against the Kurds in their borders.

Bandow was often critical of the current administration. He expressed concern for the President's eagerness to attack Iraq. While acknowledging Hussein as a horrific villain, Bandow did not see Hussein as an immediate threat to our national security in terms of weapons of mass destruction. Also, if the U.S. did depose Hussein, who would take his place, Bandow asked. His answer: There would be not safe bet that the new leader would be any better than Hussein. Bandow also stressed that many of the Middle Eastern countries could be considered threats to the U.S. as fomenters of terrorist action�is it worthwhile to depose Hussein, when the Mullahs in Iran are just as bad?

While assuring the audience that he was in no way an isolationist, Bandow stressed that the U.S. should, first and foremost, protect the lives of its citizens in its borders. By providing military support to the world, we are sacrificing our security and also failing in our mission to make the world a safer place.

Full post and comments below the fold.

Posted by J. Lawrence at 3:29 PM (0 comments)

More Troubling: Alex, it's all true. I watched pro-Israeli protestor Daniel Bilar, a graduate student, being warned against heckling by an S&S officer, who explained that should he continue, he would be removed. Bilar is visible in the D's photo: he is the one waving an Israeli flag. His idea was simply to correct, vocally, factual inaccuracies made by speakers at the event and remain silent, otherwise. Unfortunately, he was stopped after only two or three brief outbursts; "Unfortunately" because there were many more statements that could have used his correction.

Also troubling is that the event's organizers, despite claiming to be non-partisan in their approach, declined to notify DIPAC or Hillel and ask for their participation. Additionally, the organizers turned down a request from DIPAC to include a debate as part of the event. Finally, one event organizer went so far as to contact S&S in an attempt to prevent DIPAC's dissenting response (I have been told, though I cannot confirm it, that this organizer was the one quoted in the D about DIPAC's "illegal" protest). This effort was not fruitless, of course, as seen by Mr. Bilar's silencing.

Maybe this is something in which FIRE should be involved...

Full post and comments below the fold.

Posted by Andrew Grossman at 3:11 PM (0 comments)

Troubling: The absurdities of Ms. Warren's legal analysis aside, I was a little concerned to read in the article about an S&S officer "hushing" a student who briefly heckled one of the rally speakers. I'm not much of a fan of that type of behavior, though judging from the quoted portions of the speeches, I can see how it would have been hard to resist. But either way, what the hell does S&S thinks it's doing silencing students at a public rally?

The whole incident was described rather vaguely by the D. I know, I know, I'm shocked too. However, I'm sure some of my fellow posters were involved in the criminal conspiracy that produced the heckler, so if they could report on what happened it would be helpful to those of us outside the Hanover area.

Full post and comments below the fold.

Posted by Alexander at 3:02 PM (0 comments)

Unintentional Self-Parody: A quote given to the D by Shilyh Warren '98, the organizer of yesterday's pro-Palestinian rally:

"The [Dartmouth Israel Public Affairs Committee] illegally planned an event at the same time and place as the official rally."

Illegally? All of a sudden these people thinking that every action Israel takes is "illegal" doesn't seem so strange.

Full post and comments below the fold.

Posted by Alexander at 2:51 PM (0 comments)

Technology: "Dartmouth Student Invents a Carnivore Leash." Lead Wired News story from yesterday.

Slashdot Discussion

Full post and comments below the fold.

Posted by Andrew Grossman at 1:20 PM (0 comments)

Thursday, April 18, 2002

Proposed Alcohol Policy Revisions: At a meeting held Tuesday evening, the "Ad Hoc Working Group on Alcohol Policy" released its list of recommendations. Robert Binswanger pointed out that one of the impeti for the committee was that "Dartmouth students are good at game-playing. You had to play the game and beat the system to get in here, and it seems to be the same with the alcohol policy. Dartmouth is not a cafe but an academic institute." Another point which the committee emphasized was that nit-picking rules are bad, and generalizations are good. The student members of the committee did most of the talking; Binswanger, when he did speak, was very guarded in his words.

Most of what committee said was very general, however, when they started talking specifics, the concerns started. The proposed policy includes registration of all events with 10 or more people, alcoholic or not, to be registered with S & S. The present Tier system is to be abolished. All alcohol must be served by designated servers, students or otherwise, who have been trained in "risk management," how to recognize those who are drunk, and not provide them with drinks. However, the committee emphasized that they did not want to make "sweeping changes" to the present policy, merely to make it more understandable. The other concrete proposal was removing the one-time nature of the "Good Samaritan" policy, allowing it for multiple uses, but at the same time, implementing some form of parental notification. Another other, not so concrete, aspect was their emphasis on organizational responsibility, actually requiring organizations to see to the safety of participants of their events.

Here are the official committee proposals.

Full post and comments below the fold.

Posted by JR at 2:40 PM (0 comments)

Thursday Happenings: "Rally for the Human Rights of Exploded Israelis" noon, Collis--See below.

"Sexual Assault Community Hour" noon, Commonground--As the WRC is actively promoting a "Rally for the Human Rights of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories," one wonders that this event isn't some sort of shill to attract supporters.

"Poetry and Prose Reading" 4 P.M., Wren Room--Jeffrey Lent reads.

"Civil Liberties in Developing Countries: The Impact of the War on Terrorism" 4:30 P.M., 2 Rockefeller--Owais Aslam Ali, Chairman of Pakistan Press International and Harvard affiliate, speaks.

"Finding Our Way Out of the Mid-East Imbroglio" 6 P.M., 108 Reed--RECOMMENDED--Doug Bandow of the Cato Institute speaks on the U.S.'s role in the Middle East. Bandow is coauthor of the excellent Perpetuating Poverty: The World Bank, the IMF, and the Developing World. Dinner served.

"Invading Iraq and the Axis of Evil" 6 P.M.--Dinner with Professor Allan Stam of the government department. RSVP for location info to "World Affairs Council."

"Constructing the Virgin Martyr" 7 P.M., Mid-Fayer Basement--Subtitled "Sex, Gender, and Religion in the Early Latin Lives of Saints Agnes, Cecilia, Agatha, and Lucy." Senior Dana Polanichka presents her thesis.

"No Man's Land" (film) 7 P.M., Loew--"In this black comedy about the Bosnian conflict, a Bosnian and a Serb are stranded between enemy lines" ($5 Dartmouth students, $6 gen.admission).

"Charity, Justice and Social Action: Confronting Hunger in America" 7:30 P.M., Commonground--Janet Poppendieck, author of Sweet Charity? Emergency Food and the End of Entitlement, argues that voluntarism and private charity crowd government welfare dollars out of the market--the horror!

"Club of Dartmouth Entrepreneurs" 8 P.M., 218 Collis--Executive summaries and Mobius Audio's business plan. Free pizza.

"GreenPrint Info Session" 10 P.M., Mid-Fayer Basement--Let ECO coax you to use the new environmentally-friendly but otherwise inconvenient printing system. Ben & Jerry's ice cream to be served, not that any inducement to attend is necessary, of course.

Full post and comments below the fold.

Posted by Andrew Grossman at 9:36 AM (0 comments)

Wednesday, April 17, 2002

Exploding Israelis: An event in which readers may be interested (Thursday, noon to 1:30, in front of Collis):

All,

in response to the "Rally for the Human Rights of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories," the Dartmouth CRs, the Review, and other interested students will be holding something along the lines of a "Rally for the Human Rights of Exploded Israelis." It's crude, yes, but it does get the point across.

So, if you believe in the Bush doctrine (no matter how tepid Colin Powell is about enforcing it) and you believe that the U.S. should stand with countries that support its key values of democracy, human rights, and the free market before it stands with countries or groups that explicitly reject those values and you believe that Israel has a right and obligation to defend its people from terrorist attack and you believe that terrorism is neither glamorous nor romantic and that people who wear Che Guevara silkscreened t-shirts are, at best, silly and ignorant, then you should join us for us much time as you can spare between noon and 1:30 on Thursday at the front of Collis.

-----------------Forward this to email anyone you know who might be interested.-----------------------

We're not organized, we don't have a list of speakers (how we're going to counter Mohamad Bydon and Hillary Miller I'll never know), and we're just doing the best that we can at the last minute. But we're right. So come out for a half-hour or an hour and help us fight back against shoddy moral relativism, misinformation, and the naivety and plain stupidity of those would connect homicide bombings with a "Rally for Peace." I will bring posterboard and markers for those who wish to create signs; other worthwhile props are U.S. flags, Israeli flags, Arafat effigies, etc.

And, if you made it this far: P.J. O'Rourke (being serious) about why the press (and others) are biased pro-Palestinian.

Thank you.

Full post and comments below the fold.

Posted by Andrew Grossman at 10:43 PM (0 comments)

Wednesday Happenings: "Sexual Assault and Communities of Color" 6:30 P.M., Cutter-Shabazz.

"Who made your shoes???" 6:30 P.M., 105 Dartmouth--"An up to date and honest picture of Nike's sweatshop practices." Join the Greens for senseless bashing of a company that actually has one of the best human rights records in the developing world and has proven willing to work with (and even fund) the groups that harass it the most. Expect the spirit of Michael Moore: grand pronouncements, factual inaccuracies, deliberate misleading, and, when all else fails, bash the rich/successful.

"Vaughan Recital Series" 12:30 P.M., Faulkner Recital Hall, Hopkins Center--"Dartmouth College students Theodore Siegel, Class of '02, Kyle Polite, Class of '05, and Danielle Derocher and Lauren Hendrickson, both Class of '04, perform works by Eccles, Saint-Saens and others for double-reed instruments."

"Storytelling" (film) 6:45 & 8:45 P.M., Spaulding Auditorium--"Divided into Fiction and Non-Fiction, Solondz's new film is an autocritique on topics varying from censorship and suburban toxicity to the hypocrisy and dishonesty of filmmaking" ($5 Dartmouth Students, $6 gen. admission).

"War and Ethnic Cleansing in the Balkans" 4 P.M., 3 Rockefeller--Robert Hayden speaks.

"Dartmouth Contemporary" 8 P.M., 101 Collis--The formerly exclusively-bookish publication plans its next issue.

"GSA Meeting" 9 P.M., 204 Robinson--Plan an upcoming "the upcoming gay-greek discussion." 'Nuff said.

At the Nugget: The Rookie, Ice Age, E.T., LOTR, and Kissing Jessica Stein.

Full post and comments below the fold.

Posted by Andrew Grossman at 10:36 AM (0 comments)

Tuesday, April 16, 2002

Misinformation: In a column in today's D, Tanisha Keshava '05 recycles the same bogus statistics on sexual assault that have been repeated ad nauseum since they were actually put forth in 1988. These numbers, particularly the ever popular "one woman in four will be a victim of rape or attempted rape in college," were debunked almost a decade ago now, yet they continue to thrive at Dartmouth.

This isn't intended as a criticism of Ms. Keshava. She is obviously quite sincere in her belief in these numbers, and is trying to focus some attention on an issue that is of the utmost importance. What seems obvious, given that she is a SAPA who recently attended the Sexual Abuse Awareness Month events, is that these numbers are coming from either her training or the events themselves. In either case, the College's administration is endorsing a set of highly inflammatory statistics that no longer stand up under even the faintest hint of academic scrutiny. By absurdly inflating the scope of a problem whose actual extent is more than serious enough to begin with, it encourages reasonable people to dismiss the credibility of the cause of sexual abuse awareness. It also makes it quite clear that Dartmouth can be more concerned with a particular agenda than the accuracy of its statements.

Full post and comments below the fold.

Posted by Alexander at 1:30 PM (0 comments)

Elsewhere: Dartmouth prof. of economics William Fischel: You get what you pay for in the housing market, including differences in school quality.

Former Dartmouth prof. Arthur Hertzberg in the LA Times: "What's coming out of Washington is sheer hypocrisy... You cannot be spending lives and treasure uprooting Al Qaeda and preparing to kill Saddam Hussein and then say to Israel, 'You've got to stay still.'"

The Mellon Foundation has given a grant to the Dartmouth College Library and the Council on Library and Information Resources to develop a "Scholarly Communication Institute." Three annual institutes will be held at Dartmouth, bringing together "pioneers and innovators in scholarly communication" to advance the cutting edge in their disciplines.

AP: "Maya Angelou speaks at Dartmouth" "Angelou apologized to Dartmouth College students on behalf of her generation for 'handing you a world so full of hate.'"

Globe: "Dartmouth killings left prosecutor with a void."

Bob Smith brings home the bacon for Dartmouth, says the Globe. Too bad Judd Greg's not running for reelection.

AP: "Studies find surgical experience matters in the operating room." More on DMS's Dr. John D. Birkmeyer's research.

Globe: Are there too many MBA school rankings?. Tuck cite.

"Investors are waking up and realizing that Wall Street research is merely a marketing tool used for selling stocks," says Tuck prof. Kent Womack to BusinessWeek.

Full post and comments below the fold.

Posted by Andrew Grossman at 12:20 PM (0 comments)

An Uncivil Award: Dartmouth professor of religion Ifi Amadiume's book Male Daughters, Female Husbands, has been selected as one of the best 100 books by African authors in the 20th century, says this Dartmouth press release. "I am delighted and honored to receive this award," said Amadiume. "I feel particularly pleased with this wide expression of happiness and solidarity across borders, cultures and gender."

The awards for "Africa's 100 Best Books" were given out by the Zimbabwe International Book Fare, which, though it describes itself as an NGO, has, necessarily, ties with Zimbabwe's government. The ZIBF's board, for example, includes a governor, the director of Zimbabwe's National Gallery (an appointed position), and several academics from state-run schools. The ZIBF's independence is to be questioned, as is that, unfortunately, of any successful enterprise in the country.

Given the recent elections in Zimbabwe and the state of civil rights in that country, Amadiume's statement above is troubling for what it omits. Acceptance of an award from a para-statal entity like the ZIBF is tantamount to endorsing its government, many officials of which will be on hand at the ceremony in August, no doubt. Given the Pan-Africanism evident in Amadiume's writing (moreover, she was editor of "Pan-African Liberation Platform"), perhaps her tacit support of the Mugabe dictatorship is unsurprising, but that still doesn't make this a thing the College ought to be publicizing.

Full post and comments below the fold.

Posted by Andrew Grossman at 10:13 AM (0 comments)

Tuesday Happenings: "What Matters to Me and Why" noon, Tucker--Lunch with sociology professor Misagh Parsa.

"Aporia Philosophical Discussion: The Good Person" noon, Thornton Lounge--"What is a good person?" and "What makes them come about?" "Thrilling discussion catered by Panda House, complete with vegetarian option."

"ECO Meeting" 1 P.M., 212 Collis--Do you find facts inconvenient? Does recycling make you feel good even if it doesn't always help the environment? Do you skip laundry to reduce phosphorous effluents? If so then, unfortunately, this meeting's for you.

"Picture Books, Gender, and Leadership Styles" 5:30 P.M., 218 Collis--"Does gender impact your leadership style? Are certain leadership traits more masculine and feminine? How does this all relate to you? We'll explore this through the use of children's literature and conversation." Children's literature?

"Savitri" 7 P.M., Spaulding Auditorium--The Nrityagram Dance Ensemble of India performs with a discussion to follow ($5 Dartmouth students, $20 gen. admission).

"Men's Dinner and Discussion" 7 P.M., 218 Collis--Scott Stokoe, Organic Farm Manager, is the man of the week.

"New alcohol policy" 7:30 P.M., 105 Dartmouth--The Student Assembly Committee on Alcohol Policy announces its recommendations for Dartmouth's new alcohol policy. Open bar (correction: no open bar).

"Deep Banana Blackout" tickets on-sale now, Collis Info Desk--Concert will be Saturday, April 20, 10 P.M. (free for Dartmouth students, $5 gen. admission).

"Innovative Leadership in a Global Society" RSVP through wednesday--Saturday, May 4, conference at the Alden Inn held by the Rockefeller Center. Email "Society Conference" to RSVP.

At the Nugget: The Rookie, Ice Age, E.T., LOTR, and Kissing Jessica Stein.

Full post and comments below the fold.

Posted by Andrew Grossman at 9:44 AM (0 comments)

Monday, April 15, 2002

West Update: Princeton-bound Cornel West called Harvard President Larry Summers, ''the Ariel Sharon of American higher education'' today on NPR. Well, as long as we're all keeping things in proportion. More importantly, does this make West the Yasser Arafat of American higher education? Both do have pretty goofy looking beards, after all...

Full post and comments below the fold.

Posted by Ryan at 6:14 PM (0 comments)

Monday Happenings: "Betrayal of Trust" 4 P.M., 3 Rockefeller--No, the Trustees aren't speaking. Laurie Garrett, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author, discusses "the collapse of global public health," conveniently the subtitle of her most recent book.

"World Week in Review" 6:30 P.M., 206 Baker--It's not TW3 ("That was the week that was"), but close enough. Dinner served.

"Nrityagram Dance Ensemble" 7 P.M., Amarna--Dine with the Indian dance ensemble that will perform in Spaulding on Tuesday. "Nrityagram:" try saying that five times fast; or once, even.

"The Language and History of Indian Dance" 5:30 P.M., Hopkins Center Faculty Lounge--Register at the Hop box office or call 646-2422.

"Fungal biofilm-development, architecture and drug resistance" 4 P.M., 658W Borwell.

"'Without'--Reflection on Working Visual Culture" 4 P.M., 201C Carpenter--The University of London professor and author Irit Rogoff speaks.

"Beyond The Last Village" 7:30 P.M., Filene Auditorium--Speaker Alan Rabinowitz is the Director of Science and Exploration of the Wildlife Conservation Society. Part of the environmental awareness lecture series (awareness? This posting is about as much publicity as this thing's gotten).

At the Nugget: The Rookie, Ice Age, E.T., LOTR, and Kissing Jessica Stein.

Full post and comments below the fold.

Posted by Andrew Grossman at 5:30 AM (0 comments)

New Mailing List: We've replaced our old mailing list with one that actually works. To receive a once-daily compedium of everything posted on Dartlog.net in your email box, subscribe here.

Full post and comments below the fold.

Posted by Andrew Grossman at 5:17 AM (0 comments)

Sunday, April 14, 2002

Sunday Happenings: "Help Plan a demonstration against war" 5 P.M., Women's Resource Center--"It's time for all those who believe in and still cherish democracy, freedom and equality to demand accountability from government officials and Stop the War, at Home and Abroad!" Volunteers are needed to teach protestors grammar and basic fact-checking skills.

"BBQ at Amarna" 2-5 P.M., Amarna--"burgers, hot dogs, veggie burgers, etc... the weather is supposed to be beautiful, so we'll have the volleyball net set up, along with other games."

"Vaughan Recital Series" 4 P.M., Faulkner Recital Hall, Hopkins Center--"Steve Marchena and John Mason, guitar duo, perform solos, duets and trios by Franz Schubert, Fernando Sor, Leo Brouwer, John Duarte and others."

"DFS double feature" 8:35 P.M., Spaulding Auditorium--"A Real Young Girl" and "". Both explore the vulgar sexuality of exaggerated youth. "Une Vraie Jeune Fille" was banned in France in 1976 for its explicit content.

Sign up for the "Core Experience Retreat"--"During this retreat, we aim to develop skills in understanding our own needs and how to take care of them. We aim to discuss and even discover our passions and learn tools to help us realize them." No men. Blitz "Djahane Salehabadi."

Full post and comments below the fold.

Posted by Andrew Grossman at 12:57 PM (0 comments)