The Week in Review

This year's first installment of the Dartmouth Free Press was typically bizarre. Dartmouth's earnestly progressive "journalists," on their front page, accused that bastion of reactionary campus racism, the Tucker Foundation, of "Bigotery," whatever that is. And they sometimes lapsed into ebonics: On the cover, the paper advertised an article, "Questionin' the Unearned Privilages [sic] of the Greek System."

But the latest DFP was most conspicuous for what it did not include. The table of contents claims that an article entitled "Looking with Palestinian Eyes" appears on page 24. But that page — instead of boasting the perspicacious, staid commentary for which the Free Press is known— contains the following disclaimer: "The terrible tragedy of September 11 has forced the Dartmouth Free Press to reconsider the timing of an article that was originally to appear on this page. We leave this spot empty in memory of those who lost their lives an in support of their families."

We are certain that the victims of terrorism appreciate the blank page — less of the Dartmouth Free Press is always a welcome gift — but The Week in Review can't help but wonder, what editorial position of the Free Press has been rendered unspeakable by recent events?

Perhaps the folks at the DFP now realize that terrorizing and killing civilians (even Israelis) is immoral — even when you have a trendy ideology to justify it. Common decency, not to mention sense, is a welcome innovation at the Dartmouth Free Press. Too bad it comes at such a price.

Yahoo! Internet Life released its rankings of "Most Wired" colleges this week. The rankings, which appear in the magazine’s October issue, have attracted controversy for including schools that declined to return the survey. Gregory Jackson, the University of Chicago’s chief information officer, describes the magazine’s inclusion of such colleges as "unbelievably stupid."

Dartmouth ranked fourth on the list, after Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, and Georgia Tech. According to Yahoo!, the College "offers the best student services in the nation" but is "soft on weekend and late-night tech support."

When a Dartmouth Review reporter contacted Dean Martin Redmond to obtain facts and figures for his story on Dartmouth’s housing, the Dean responded via email, writing that he will not speak to the Review. Redman considers the Review to be (gasp!) "an opinion paper" and has some qualms about sharing information with those who disagree with him. Remember all that talk about diversity and different points of view? He doesn’t.

Redman adds, "I do not grant interviews to the Review as a matter of practice," except of course for that one published in the April 23, 2001, issue of TDR. Forgot about that one, we reckon.

"I appreciate your request very much," writes Redman, "and am sorry that I am thwarting your attempts to get information." No need to feel sorry, Dean. Though your underlings may share your aversion to talking with us, they bit the bullet, anyhow (page 11). And bravo; intellectual diversity and all that, right?

The Dartmouth College Campus Greens and a new group called Peaceful Justice at Dartmouth formed a coalition that organized a trip down to Washington D.C. last weekend to protest an armed response against Afghanistan. According to the blitz, which was posted on numerous bulletins, the group wanted to "Rise like Yeast in the Bread of Peace." They hoped to achieve this by raising their voices and through the "folding of a thousand paper cranes."

The list of items to bring to the event called for the usual sleeping bag and food but also for an American flag (presumably for burning) and "$10 for teach-in admission;" obviously these "teacher’s" motives are not entirely idealistic. However, on a brighter, more socialist note, the group is using a sliding scale for the payment for the trip:

If you can pay $20 or $25, pay 20 or 25.

If you can pay the requested $45, pay $45.

If you can pay $50 or $60, pay 50 or 60.

The blitz ended with a rousing peace cry the kept with the bread analogy, "BREAD for ALL, PEACE for ALL, These are JUSTICE.(sic)" On Saturday CNN was reporting that the protests in Washington were being tear-gassed by police and numerous arrests had been made. We can only hope.

Members of the Ohio State University student government were recently caught in a blatant misuse of school funds. According to the school’s daily paper, The Lantern, the group treated it self to a $2,250 dinner and then tried to steal 10,000 copies of the paper after it went to press with the story. Eight members of the student government have resigned or have been removed from office. On the bright side, they’re all looking forward to long and successful careers with the Democratic Party.

In the left’s latest attack on organization, the Dewey Decimal System has been accused of being phallocentric. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society recently published an article attacking the rather archaic system as being violently male.

Hope Olson, the author and a professor in the University of Alberta’s School of Library and Information Studies, went on to make similar claims about the Library of Congress system and criticized the gender of the LOC’s subject headings. "Giftedness" she complains, is presented as a male category, since "gifted women " appears as a separate category. Because the last thing radical feminists want is to single women out for being gifted.

The College has named Russian Professor Barry Scherr as the new Provost of Dartmouth. The decision comes after their first choice, Robert Schnabel ’71, declined the position for personal reasons. President Wright said that this appointment has his "unanimous support."

Professor Scherr identified his main goals for Dartmouth in a recent Daily D story. The mostly quoteless story reported that Scherr’s main goals for the College were "integrating various parts of campus, increasing diversity, supporting academic student life initiatives." He also indicated his support for the CIDE and SLI reports.

Professor Scherr has previously served as chairman of the Russian Language Department and as Associate Dean of the Faculty for the Humanities. The former Provost, Susan Prager, left last year for a position at UCLA.

The Crimson, Harvard’s daily newspaper and a vehement supporter of Harvard’s recent "living wage" campaign, is launching a new website by the end of the year. The website will eventually feature articles from all 128 years of the papers existence. Two dozen Cambodians were hired by the paper to typeset all of the paper’s issues for the site. The forty cents per hour the paper is paying the workers is quite at odds with the endorsement by the paper of an above-market wage for Harvard employees. The paper says they are merely taking advantage of "wage differentials." How capitalist.

Kay O'Connor, a Republican state senator in Kansas, recently confirmed that she told the local League of Women Voters leadership that she regrets the 1920 ratification of the 19th Amendment, granting women suffrage. "The 19th Amendment is around because men weren't doing their jobs, and I think that's sad," she said. "I believe the man should be the head of the family. The woman should be the heart of the family." O’Connor says she votes herself and believes women should continue to have the right to vote, but sadly quipped, "We have a society that does tear families apart," O’Connor said. "I think the 19th Amendment, while it’s not an evil in and of itself, is a symptom of something I don’t approve of."

A Planned Parenthood clinic in Roanoke, Virginia is selling red, white, and blue condoms to out of an office drive-through window as a fundraiser for the September Eleventh Fund, created by the New York Community Trust and the United Way of New York City following the September 11 attacks. David Nova, president and CEO of the regional office says, "The incidence of unintended pregnancy rises dramatically in the weeks and months following a death or tragic loss," and that "offering patriotic condoms will hopefully stem the increase of unintended pregnancies while letting Americans to display their colors proudly."

After the events of September 11th one professor at Henry Ford Community College in Florida, John Azar, felt it appropriate to have his students read the book, "Why I am not a Muslim."

A Muslim student in the class, Ahmed Kassem thought that the book was critical of the Islamic faith and proceeded to say so. The professor then told the student to remain silent for the remainder of class. When the student refused the professor picked the student up by the collar and removed him from the classroom, throwing his books out in the hallway after him. The college is currently reviewing the incident, which could lead to the professor’s dismissal. The president of the college released this statement: "In no way was there any defamation, or criticism of any belief system in that class. There was nothing said that would be considered an insult."

Last week the Harvard Republican Club staged a "Rally for Patriotism and American Unity." Approximately fifty students attended the rally. The students started the event with the singing of "My Country ‘Tis of Thee" and "God Bless America." Participants then gave speeches calling for US military action to keep America "a place where the mighty, pure, worth, and free dwell in safety." The Harvard Democrat Club declined to participate in the event because they were not prepared to support war. The previous week a peace protest at Harvard attracted 500 students.

Forbes Magazine ranked the Amos Tuck School of Business fourth in its second annual ranking of MBA programs.

Forbes ranked 25 national business schools, 25 regional business schools and 12 international schools on the return on investment that students can expect at each. Twenty-thousand questionnaires were sent out to the alumni of 104 different business schools. The alums were asked to provide salary information from the year before they entered the MBA program, the year they graduated, and for this past year. Forbes then compared the students’ post-MBA salary to the projected salary had the students not pursued an MBA.

The top 10 schools of 2001 are: Harvard, UPenn, Columbia, Dartmouth, Chicago, Yale, Cornell, MIT, Northwestern, and Stanford.

The Tuck School was ranked the #1 business school by the Wall Street Journal in their 2001 rankings of MBA programs.

A woman who is currently banned from the University of Florida campus is suing saying that her freedom of religion was violated after being banned from the campus of the University of Florida.

The ban arose from an incident in December at the campus hospital. Security guards were alerted to Jensen standing in the atrium of the hospital holding a sign that said Jesus on it and quoting Bible verses to passers-by. After being asked to leave and not responding Jensen was arrested. Jensen claims that she was merely praying quietly and was never asked to leave.

Although the criminal case was settled Jensen is now suing for the right to visit a friend in the hospital who is recovering from a stroke. The hospital administrators claim that they "are not aware of a patient in the hospital who has requested to have Ms. Jensen as a visitor. But if a patient does wish to see Ms. Jensen, we would certainly honor the request."

The Dartmouth Institute for Security Technology Studies, established in 2000, recently released a report on the threat of the cyber-attacks in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks. The report is titled "Cyber Attacks During the War on Terrorism." Providing a fact-based analysis of potential attacks, the report is geared towards the government, private companies, and other organizations whose electronic infrastructure might be at risk.

The report uses cases studies to manifest three major lessons: A cyber-attack typically occurs during the aftermath of a physical attack, the attacks are increasingly dangerous due to the proliferation of technology and enhanced coordination among cyber-attackers, and cyber-attackers will try to attack targets of high-value or strategic importance.

Possible dangers to websites include web defacement, denial of service, and the disabling of infrastructure. The Institute recommends that websites update software regularly and maintain good password security. According to DISTS Director Michael Vatis, "The potential for cyber attacks is real, and our defense against them must be part of our overall strategy during our war on terrorism."