Last week, Tom Atwood ‘08 lamented the absence of intellectualism at Dartmouth outside of the classroom (“In Search of Intellectualism,” April 12). He claims this is especially problematic given that most admissions brochures claim that a significant share of the learning at Dartmouth is done outside of the classroom. I agree with this assessment; however, it is even more disheartening that intellectualism is slipping away from the classroom as well as the campus at large in favor of election-year rhetoric and special interest talking points.
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“Nationals.”
No, the word’s got nothing to do with a hilariously terrible national baseball team from D.C., or how far I got each year in the Matzah Eating Championships until my paralyzing peristalsis injury during my first kiss.
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Recently, the organization Sustainable Dartmouth sent out a campus-wide BlitzMail message titled “A Clarification and an Apology.” The e-mail responded to criticism and apologized for a previous campus-wide e-mail that referenced “hav[ing] a drum circle and smok[ing] lots of pot” on the Green in celebration of Earth Day. The author of the blitz apologized after certain members of the Dartmouth community brought to his attention that members of the Native American community deemed the remarks insensitive because drum circles serve an integral role in Native American spiritual tradition. Furthermore, they found offensive what they assumed to be an insinuation that ritual drum circles include marijuana use.
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Shaun Stewart ‘10 recently attacked trustee candidate Stephen Smith ‘88 for dishonest and vitriolic writing (“Smith, Creationism and Frats. Oh my.” April 16), yet he seems all too eager to employ the very same tactics in support of his own agenda. As an environmental and evolutionary biology major, I would have been thrilled to read a well-researched, well-reasoned rebuttal to Smith’s glib characterization of evolution as the unsubstantiated emergence of a “material Adam and Eve” from the chance confluence of “slop” and “stuff.” Instead I was treated to an embarrassing collection of half-truths, unsubstantiated insinuations and quotations taken out of context that undermined the few legitimate arguments the author saw fit to include.
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To the Editor:
The recent opinion piece by Zachary Pfeiffer ‘05 about alcohol policy enforcement at Dartmouth (“Real Discrepancies Exist in Alcohol Policy Violations,” April 13) gives me an opportunity to clarify something about the comparison to Yale. Pfeiffer says “from 2003 to 2005, Dartmouth punished 754 students for alcohol violations. The number at Yale … was 131.” The numbers referred to are actually liquor law violations referred for disciplinary action (meaning that they are violations of law, that must be reported for purposes of the Jeanne Clery Campus Crime Act). The numbers differ primarily because the laws of New Hampshire are different from the laws of Connecticut, as are the venues where many of the students socialize. For example, in New Hampshire, it is illegal for a minor to possess alcohol anywhere, rather than only in public places. Until recently, Connecticut law did not prohibit underage possession or consumption of alcohol on private property (i.e., the Yale campus). Staff at both schools confront violations when they encounter them.
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To the Editor:
I am a member of the Zeta Psi fraternity, and I cannot help but think
that I speak for the other brothers in my house when I say that Shaun Stewart’s op-ed (“Smith, Creationism and Frats. Oh My.” April 16) angers me greatly.
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