The Dartmouth Lawyer's Association called for immediate action by the United States government and the United Nations to alleviate the suffering of displaced persons in Darfur in a recently released study. Copies of the study, published two weeks ago, were sent to congressional leaders, members of the Bush administration and the United Nations.
From the friendly Larry James of Food Court to the janitors of Facilities, Operations and Management who clean up vomit-soaked toilets, College staff members assist students every day at Dartmouth.
In 1996 "The Simpsons" became TV's longest running prime-time cartoon show. For ten points -- whose record run of six years did the Simpsons break? Answer: "The Flinstones." Members of Dartmouth's college bowl team traveled to New Orleans this weekend to answer questions like this one and many others in the National College Quiz Tournament Division II National Championship. Dartmouth finished 6-7, good for 19th place overall in the competition.
After college, Joanna Giordano '04 went to Japan to teach. But even halfway around the world from Hanover, Giordano managed to find other Dartmouth alumni nearby through InCircle, the College's new online social network. "Hooray for exclusive Dartmouth facebook!" Giordano wrote online to three other alumni in Japan. The Office of Alumni Relations unveiled InCircle, an online network available exclusively to Dartmouth alumni and students, last week.
College President James Wright distanced himself from Harvard University President Lawrence Summers' controversial remarks about women in the sciences but declined to criticize the embattled academic leader in an interview with The Dartmouth on Tuesday. Last week, Summers released a transcript of his comments, which he made at a January conference, amid growing criticism over his leadership at Harvard. Although he dismissed the notion that biological factors make women unable to pursue careers in the sciences, Wright stopped short of chastising the Harvard president for his comments. Summers was trying to "encourage conversation and he clearly has done that," Wright said, adding that focus should now shift from Summers to "factors that militate against women pursuing careers in the sciences." "There certainly are not any innate biological factors that prevent women from pursuing careers in the sciences," Wright said. The presidents of Princeton and Stanford Universities and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have all openly criticized Summers' remarks.
Gov. John Lynch tapped David Ruedig '70 to be the new chairman of the New Hampshire State Board of Education last week.
Award-winning writer Jewelle Gomez, one of the founding members of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, railed at men and the stifling of sexuality by conservatives during a Monday afternoon speech "Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll and Revolution." Gomez began her remarks by sharing her key secret. "If you put sex in the title, people will come," Gomez said among repeated laughter from the crowd, which numbered some 75 members of the Dartmouth community. From there, her words focused on female sexuality, describing today's culture as one "constructed to pave over female sexuality." Gomez referred to her own upbringing as one that taught her to embrace sexuality as a significant part of life and something not to be "demonized." Gomez said rock and roll and blues music brought an "end to western civilization as we know it," in that the music of the 1960s was revolutionary in addressing questions of sexuality to a younger generation. Gomez also described the irony of what she called today's "homo-societal" culture, which is marked by activities like fraternities, sororities, football, baseball and basketball, and countered by America's widespread trouble with homosexual behavior. She argued that part of the reason for this is "erotophobia" manifested in a country "founded by religious purists." Gomez said she believes homosexuality is threatening to so many because it circumvents typical definitions of sexual relations. "Men are raised to believe that they deserve sex, especially if they are paying the rent," Gomez said as she extolled females to resist being objectified while at the same time asserting their rights to sexual activity. Explaining why female sexuality is particularly threatening, Gomez said it constitutes a "disruption of patriarchal capitalist culture." Women who represent independent breadwinners and decision makers, Gomez said, are threatening to most men. In response to this fear, the gay rights activist said that society has characterized lesbians as hating men, when in actuality "straight women hate men more" for insisting on their domestic roles. Gomez, a litigant in an American Civil Liberties Union suit attempting to legalize same-sex unions in California, ended her remarks on the subject of gay marriage. Although Gomez said she believes the institution of marriage has fundamental flaws, Gomez still supports the right of same-sex couples to marry. Gomez currently lives in San Francisco, where she most recently served as the executive director of the Poetry Center and American Poetry Archives at San Francisco State University. Religion department chair Susan Ackerman introduced Gomez's speech. Ackerman is also a member of the women and gender studies program and the chair of the curriculum committee on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender studies. The lecture, the fifth annual Stonewall Fund lecture in gay studies, was part of the College's ongoing celebration of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. The choice of Dorothy Allison, a white lesbian activist and writer, to give the keynote speech on Martin Luther King, Jr.
Family members, friends and colleagues gathered to celebrate and remember the life of longtime Dartmouth English professor and author Noel Perrin Saturday afternoon at Rollins Chapel. Perrin, known to his friends as Ned, was a professor emeritus of English and an adjunct professor of environmental studies.
Student works with Eco, PB and Green Key
With more students enrolled this fall, undergraduate students are feeling the effects of the stress on College resources as they wait in long lines throughout campus. "Fall term is a real crunch," said Director of Dartmouth Dining Services Tucker Rossiter.