The Week in Review

The Office of Residential Life has punished Chi Heorot fraternity with three terms of social restrictions for failure to meet two of six Minimum Standards. Initially, the review board suggested that Heorot be derecognized for failure to meet four Minimum Standards. The ensuing appeal found Heorot in violation of only two standards: behavior and leadership. "Through our reconsideration we were able to refute many of the points outlined in the original report," said Michael Salice '02, president of Chi Heorot.

In addition to social restrictions, Heorot must pay off its debt to the College by the winter of 2002 and face a Minimum Standards review each term during that period.

Salice still feels that the punishment is unfair. "I just still feel that a lot of points that we made during our reconsideration were not well received and were not taken into consideration as much as they should have been," he said.

Construction workers at Baker-Berry library recently took time off their job to relax and attend an art lecture. The lecture, given by Kellen Haak, registrar of the Hood Museum, stressed the importance of taking special care of the murals during construction in the reserves. "I've never been involved in a project in the past 26 years where everybody on the job was told to stop, sit down, and have an art lecture," said Shawn Donovan, Project Manager. Donovan did not say whether construction workers enjoyed learning about the murals that tell the mythological story of Latin America or whether they left with a deeper appreciation of Jose Clemente Orozco as an artist. "It's important for everyone to understand not only what the object is made of in terms of materials, but its importance as a representative of Orozco's work and a unique piece of art," said Haak.

The murals are said to be worth several hundred million dollars. There are only three Orozco works in North America.

Workers have also installed a seismometer which will trigger flashing lights and alarms if vibration in the Reserves rises to levels that are harmful to the murals. Yet despite these precautions, Haak remains concerned. "I had tremendous anxiety about this, and I still do," he said.

According to a College press release, "powerful, cement-crushing robots" will demolish walls only feet away from the murals. According to Donovan, the robots, imported from Sweden, are "very efficient and, surprisingly, very quiet."

Dartmouth College President James Wright was recently chosen to join the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation's most exclusive scholarly societies. The current American Academy President is former Dartmouth College President, James O. Freedman. Freedman commented that Wright's election to the Academy "is the result of a highly competitive selection process that recognizes those who have made preeminent contributions to all scholarly fields and professions." As an historian, Wright's additions to the intellectual landscape include such titles as Progressive Yankees: Republican Reformers in New Hampshire (1987) and The Politics of Populism: Dissent in Colorado (1974).

Wright was born in Madison, Wisconsin. He attended Wisconsin State University-Platteville for his undergraduate degree. He received his master's and doctoral degrees in history from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Wright came to Dartmouth as an Assistant Professor of History in 1969. He has served in various administrative capacities since 1980 before becoming President of the College in 1998. Recently, Wright also became a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellow and a Charles Warren fellow at Harvard University. He also serves on the board of the Sherman Fairchild Foundation of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences was founded in 1780 with the intent "to cultivate every art and science, which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent and virtuous people." 3,600 Fellows and 600 Foreign Honorary Members presently belong to the elite organization. At a ceremony on October 13, 2001, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Academy will induct Wright along with 206 others, including Dartmouth's 2001 commencement speaker, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Wendy Adamson, a 58-year-old librarian in Minneapolis, has recently accused the public library system in that city of sexual harassment. The crime? Patrons of the city's public libraries can access pornography on public computer terminals; this, Ms. Adamson claims, creates a hostile work environment for her and other female workers at the library.

On May 23, the office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission-a federal agency-sided with Ms. Adamson, The EEOC is attempting to sponsor negotiations between Ms. Adamson and the libraries, but if those negotiations fail, the Minneapolis library system could face prosecution from the Department of Justice.

The politics of this case have put the library system in a tricky situation. On the one hand, civil liberty groups like the ACLU have already criticized the decision, calling it an assault on free speech. On the other hand, a sexual harassment charge can be extremely damaging to the reputation of an institution, regardless of the merits of the case. According to Eugene Volokh, a professor of law at the University of California, "sexual harassment claims usually come with six zeroes attached to them. It has a real chilling effect."

Yet this case has not yet reached the 'six-zero' level of outrageousness. Rather, Ms. Adamson and 11 of her colleagues would settle for a mere five zeroes-$75,000 each, for a total of $900,000.

The EEOC has received much criticism about its recent decision. Wendy McElroy, editor of ifeminists.com, criticizes what she calls "second-hand harassment," where intent plays no role whatsoever in determining whether or not someone has been harassed. "An example of second-hand harassment is the downloading of 'offensive'-usually adult-material onto a computer screen that someone else might glimpse. Or reading an 'offensive' book that someone standing over your shoulder might see."

Should the miffed librarians pursue their case, they may face trouble ahead. Over the past two years, the Supreme Court and many federal courts have greatly restricted the scope of discrimination suits (sexual harassment is prosecuted as an example of sexual discrimination). In particular, they have contended that the question of intent is central to understanding whether or not a person has been harassed. Since library patrons no doubt download objectionable material for their own use, it is unlikely that a federal court would find that these librarians had been 'unintentionally' harassed.

Dean Larimore has reversed his decision regarding who would be allowed to speak at commencement ceremonies. Brian Stults '02 had asked for the right to speak at commencement; despite not being a member of the graduating class, Mr. Stults has the highest grade point average of all students graduating, and is therefore this year's valedictorian. On May 2, however, Dean Larimore notified Mr. Stults that, despite receiving valedictory honors, he would not be allowed to speak because he was not a member of the graduating class.

This past Tuesday, however, Dean Larimore contacted Mr. Stults to tell him that he would, in fact, allow him to speak. According to Mr. Stults, Dean Larimore based his new decision on "the opportunity to reconsider all of the relevant facts and to reflect on the issue." He decided that both Mr. Stults and the highest-ranking member of the class of 2001 shall be given time to address the graduates and guests.

When asked about the rarity of a sound and reasonable decision coming from a College administrator's office, Dean Larimore commented "Yeah, I was pretty surprised, too."

A judge in California issued a ruling that may set the stage for the eradication of that state's three-year-old ban on smoking in bars.

The case involved a tavern named Lucky John's, in Fullerton, California. The bar had openly defied the state's law by allowing its patrons to smoke on the premises. State prosecutors filed charges against the owners of Lucky John's, but the court sided with the tavern owners, agreeing with their argument that, since the bar employed fewer than five people, it was exempt from the restriction. This argument was based on a provision of California's labor law, which exempts many small businesses from the smoking ban.

This decision is the second time an Orange County judge has ruled against the state regarding the smoking ban, leading many opponents of the ban to believe that a challenge to the constitutionality of the law may not be too far off.

A commercial for Hyundai has been named the "Gayest Commercial of All Time" by PlanetOut.com and Gay.com, both of which are run by PlanetOut Partners in San Francisco.

The advertisement depicts an elderly woman driving with a younger male friend. As she comes to an intersection, she sees her husband through the intersection in another car, and quickly reclines her companion's seat so that her husband doesn't see him. The two cars pass, and the husband then pulls up his own passenger seat, where his own boy-toy had been hiding.

The distinction comes from an online poll conducted by PlanetOut, in which 31% of 15,700 votes went for the Hyundai spot.

"This is a commercial that has made its way through the Internet and has generated enormous enthusiasm," said Bryce Eberhart, spokesman for PlanetOut. "As advertisers become more aware of the strength of the gay and lesbian market and as our culture as a whole becomes more accepting of gay and lesbian people, mainstream advertisers are feeling much more comfortable [with gay themes]."

Runners-up included commercials for Federal Express, MTV, and Ikea.

The valedictorian of an Atlanta high school was denied his diploma for three days after using profane language in his valedictory address. In his speech to the graduates of Riverdale High School, Runjan Jain, 17, said that it was "about damn time" they received their diplomas. He also stated that his four-year stint in high school was "one helluva long time."

The use of the words "damn" and "helluva" so peeved the school's principal, Ms. Margie Smith, that she refused to give him his diploma. Three days later, after what Mr. Jain described as a "calm and polite" meeting with the principal, he was finally awarded his diploma.

Mr. Jain is the president of the student government, his class, and two honor societies. He is also the captain of his school's state championship Mock Trial team. The enterprising student has received $150,000 in scholarship funds, and looks to attend law school after college.

With regards to the predicament over his uncouth language, Mr. Jain noted: "it'll be a helluva story to tell."

Yet another example of PC baboonery, once more from the state of its birth - California. The state is considering changing the foreign-language requirement in its public high schools. Adding important languages like Chinese or Japanese? Not at all; instead, they are seeking to rename it the "world languages requirement." Why the change? Apparently, according to State Senator Betty Karnette, a Democrat, the word 'foreign' "has a connotation that can be perceived as inappropriate in this day and age of a world economy."

Bills suggesting that the name be changed to "the un-American language requirement" or "the crazy moon-man language requirement" were both defeated.

In what may come as a fatal dose of reality to those who believe that sexual gossip only comes from fraternity basements, two seniors at Horace Greeley High School in New Castle, New York, have been charged with second-degree harassment for running a web site in which the sexual careers of forty fellow female students were chronicled.

"It was a rather secret endeavor accessible to only a select group of people," said New Castle Detective Sgt. James Carroll, explaining how the students' actions, however tasteless, qualified as harassment. Authorities further explained that only fourteen other boys had access to the website.

David Herbert, spokesman for the Westchester District Attorney's Office, added, "we've certainly seen situations in which students have used the Internet to communicate threats, and that's not that dissimilar from what may have occurred right here."

The students involved dispute the claim that a website for internal consumption only can actually harass a student who is ignorant to its very existence. Junior Sean Baumgold commented, "Greeley's a great place where students can really express themselves, and this computer thing put an end to that."

The 'Reverend' Al Sharpton has been attempting to galvanize New York City's minority community behind him by going on a hunger strike. Despite pleas from supporters and his mother, the activist insists on continuing his hunger strike in protest of his recent imprisonment.

It turns out, however, that the Good Reverend is not on a hunger strike at all. He has been eating soup, and although he has been on his anti-food crusade for a week and a half, he has lost only eight pounds. His lawyers now argue that he is simply "fasting", and that he never was on a "hunger strike" in the first place.

Mr. Sharpton was imprisoned for ninety days for trespassing on Navy property on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. He was there on May 1 with many Puerto Rican activists protesting the missile tests that the Navy conducts there. Although three others were imprisoned for only forty days, Mr. Sharpton received a harsher penalty because he was arrested for a similar incident on the Brooklyn Bridge a few years ago.