The Week in Review

Randy Makes the Indian Cry

Randy Testa litters. A Dartmouth freshman was privy to his disregard for the protection of the environment. Testa was seen walking alongside the green with a companion, conversing quite rapidly. He casually tossed his rubbish in the general direction of the trashcan where it glanced off the rim and fell to the ground. At the time, Testa was a footstep from the waste receptacle.

Accomplice in tow, Testa stopped, pointed at the litter, and made an off-color comment about his blunder before walking away,

Distressed by this scene, the freshman properly disposed of Testa’s waste.

Not Sheryl Crow

Lech Walesa, Nobel laureate, former Polish President, and current Montgomery Fellow gave what he termed an "encounter" rather than a speech entitled "Democracy: The Neverending Battle" before a full audience in Spaulding Auditorium on April 23. Appearing with a translator, Walesa said that his Solidarity movement was necessary because communist systems had murdered one hundred million people. The nonviolent strike method was efficient and prudent, for surrounding Soviet soldiers and nuclear weapons created an environment where "a single shot could lead to an explosion."

Democracy must be redefined in this era that is both "new" and "peculiar," said Walesa. He questioned the United States as a sound model for democracy because of the financial expenses required to become President. Americans have rights to democracy and participation, but they are unable to take advantage of these rights.

Walesa quipped that as a result of the United States’ failure to eradicate communism in Cuba, our communist neighbor is like a small mosquito biting our nose and it seems we "want to retain a Jurassic Park of communism."

Walesa endorsed a global manifesto, a sort of nouveau Kellog-Briand Pact to call for an end to anti-Semitism, racism, and military aggression, to be signed by everyone living in the 21st century. Walesa suggested that it could cost less for the United States to invest in Mexican businesses than to continue patrolling the border. In response to a question about required high school graduation for suffrage, Walesa spoke of prioritizing issues and said that he approves of different electorates for different issues.

Walesa went on to label the end of the Cold War "a long chain of coincidences" and chided friend Mikhail Gorbachev for winning the Nobel Peace Prize only by failing at communist reform.

Wah-Hoo-Wah

A strong Dartmouth women's lacrosse team clinched a share of the Ivy League title on Saturday by absolutely scalping Princeton 13-5. The win also gave Dartmouth a berth in the NCAA tournament.

Princeton was ranked third in the nation going into the game, Dartmouth tenth. Over the last four years, however, the Indians have had a 4-0 record with the Princeton Tigers. Dartmouth finishes the season with a record of 6-1 in the Ivy League, the only loss coming from Yale.

Princeton would have benefited from a mercy rule. Dartmouth dominated the entire game Saturday, leading by as much as 10 points during the pounding. A series of seven unanswered goals eased the Lady Indians into victory. Senior Suzy Gibbons led the team with five goals and one assist. After the game the Princeton squad stuck around for a ten minute tailgate party. One of the Princeton players said, "We just didn't have it today. I don't know what happened." Princeton still has one more game versus Brown, whose sport teams are as bad as their academics. Barring a miracle win by Brown, Princeton will end the season 6-1 as well.

Dartmouth's next opponents are sixth ranked North Carolina and fourth ranked Duke. The senior Lady Indians have never finished a season without the Ivy League Crown.

Woodsmen Compete

Woodsmen from the Northeast and Canada met April 20-21 for the Outing Club’s 55th annual Dartmouth Woodsmen Meet. Woodsmen compete in traditional logging skills including the axe throw, the vertical chop, and the fire build. Dartmouth fielded a strong team as did Colby, Penn State, and several Canadian colleges. The participants included not only current college students, but also alumni from various colleges.

The events brought a large crowd to the Green, and they were not disappointed by the constant activity. The only lull in the action occurred during the first heat of the fire build. The woodsmen initially struggled with bad wood and wet kindling, but eventually prevailed.

All groups but one, from Colby, managed to set their kindling ablaze.

Let’s All Hug

The Women's Resource Center, in conjunction with other campus groups, sponsored an art exhibition on April 20 to celebrate Sexual Assault Awareness Week. The exhibition features the work of Costa Rican artist Patricia Erickson, and is entitled, "Making Their Own Way: The Struggles and Triumphs of Costa Rican Women."

Never before has Erickson's work been shown in the United States. She is at Dartmouth to open the exhibition and share the stories that inspired each work. Following the opening, a 15 minute film on Costa Rican women was presented.

The event was intended to educate the community about sexual awareness issues in a developing Central American country. Gail Nystrom, director of the Costa Rican Humanitarian Foundation, accompanied Erickson. Nystrom, who has written six books about women's issues, shared her experiences working with Costa Rican women in support groups.

Spare Change?

Activist members of the Dartmouth community assembled for a discussion on change last Monday night. Presiding over the ceremonies was Giavanna Munafo of the Women’s Resource Center. Ms. Munafo began by encouraging the audience to suggest possible goals, for which they would seek solutions. These goals ranged from refocusing "to the positive" (rather than the negative), inaugurating a "pro-human, pro-Dartmouth student movement", and, in the words of one student, supporting "anti-discriminatoriness".

Some suggested solutions involved making all Greek houses co-ed, instituting "re-education" for those who espouse racist, sexist, or homophobic views, and (according to a professor in the audience) the creation of "mandatory, for-credit seminars" that address questions of race, gender, sexual orientation, and class on the Dartmouth campus. One student suggested that all student organizations "show how they are furthering diversity on campus"; if they do not contribute to this goal, she continued, they should be made to justify their continued existence.

Despite the "energy" that many attendees felt during the discussion, they were unable to agree on many solutions by the end of the two hour session. However, they did agree on one thing: to meet again next Monday and continue discussing ‘change’.

Say What?

Some quotes from the WRC's discussion group:

- "Greeks are discriminatory by nature."

- "We go to the rallies, we don't really know what we're protesting."

- "I feel like a campus therapist."

- [On sexism and the Zetemouth:] "It doesn't really matter if you tell them not to print it, because someone's still thinking it." [Another student:] "How do we stop that?"

- "I have learned most of my information about privilege and gender from the Education Department."

- "Think about why white guys are trapped by the things that they do."

Kudos

Bruce Randall Donald and Marianne Hirsch, both Dartmouth professors, were recently awarded Guggenheim Fellowships. A Guggenheim Fellowship is given on the basis of distinguished achievement and considerable promise for future performance.

Famous recipients of the prestigious award include Ansel Adams, Aaron Copeland, Henry Kissinger, Vladimir Nabokov, Linus Pauling, and Eudora Welty, as well as many Dartmouth faculty members.

Bruce Randall Donald is a Professor of Computer Science. He intends to use his fellowship to research structural proteomics, which is the study of the geometric structures of proteins. Professor Donald hopes his work will help expedite the development of better pharmaceuticals.

Marianne Hirsch is a Professor of French, Italian, and Comparative Literature. She will use her fellowship to complete her book, Czernowtiz, which follows the lives of four Jewish families from the town of Czernowitz during the Holocaust and beyond. The book is co-authored by Hirsch and Leo Spitzer, the Kathe Tappe Vernon Professor of History. The two have also received a joint grant from the American Council of Learned Societies.