The privilege of anonymity

When Bored@Baker returned in September after a summer-long hiatus, the site’s sole owner and administrator, “Jae Daemon,” welcomed us back as “Friends and Family-

“This is a magical place. While it has the potential for ugliness in extreme forms, it also has the potential for extreme love, kindness and support. With that said, I have a simple ask. Find the kindness in your heart to support the community as you would your own family. We are all in this together and we should love and support one another. Think about this when decide what words you chose to use.” 

This doesn’t sound like the b@b you hear about, does it?

 It seems that b@b is only ever invoked because of the extreme cruelty for which some members of our community choose to use it. It is cited as a haven of racism (“Gil: Shared Responsibility,” Jan. 23), sexism (“Feiger:Taking Back Dartmouth,” April 18, 2012), and the counter to productive campus dialogue (“Dean Johnson addresses campus inquiries,” May 11, 2012).

Big GreenMicro-Aggressions, a new Tumblr for the exposure of bigotry and aggression at Dartmouth, proposes shutting down b@b as the number one goal toward “a more compassionate, inclusive Dartmouth College.”

Shutting down b@b would be counterproductive to this end. b@b itself is as neutral as a whiteboard, but the anonymity of b@b encourages us to discuss issues that otherwise we would not be willing to discuss, to ask questions that otherwise we would not ask, and to experiment with different ways of thinking. Race, gender, and all those aspects of identity we use to define ourselves and others can act as barriers to open and honest dialogue or, sometimes, any dialogue at all. By obscuring all but those aspects of identity we choose to make known, anonymity makes unlikely conversations possible.

Unfortunately, there are those who abuse the service. The site’s Terms of Service explicitly forbid content that is “unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, or is harmful to minors in any way,” “that harasses, degrades, intimidates or is hateful toward an individual or group of individuals on the basis of religion, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, age, or disability,” or “that includes personal or identifying information about another person without that person's explicit consent,” among many other things.

Abuse is a problem that Jae and many members of the community take very seriously. In May, Jae announced the development of a new Moderator System to allow users to remove harmful content “with compassion and humanity instead of an algorithm.” Community members help clean up the forum by reporting content and Moderators, chosen by Jae, vote to remove content that is in violation of the terms of service. Because five moderator votes are needed to remove a post, and moderators are students and young alumni, content removal can be slow. All reported posts are reviewed by the moderators, though.

Goal three of Big Green Micro-Aggressions is “To bear witness to the lived experience of those students who feel invisiblized and silenced at Dartmouth.” In his welcome back message, Jae promised “to do everything in [his] power to continue to provide this service for you free of charge as an outlet and platform for you to speak your mind when in other circumstances it would be silenced.”

When awful things appear on b@b it's a symptom of a much bigger problem at Dartmouth. I support b@b for the same reason I support Big Green Micro-Aggressions: both give us a platform on which to share our stories and a forum in which to find that we are not alone.

PE F12!

PE registration for fall term is open from now until September 25. It takes a little digging to find the course listings (for some reason, as of posting, the PE page only goes through 12X), so here they are. PE course elections are done via Banner, under the Course Election and Registration link.

Important updates for this year:

• Class fees will no longer be pro-rated for attendance. That is, you'll pay a flat fee whether you attend all the classes or not. 
• The PE term has been lengthened to 12 weeks to reflect the new fall schedule. Course fees are slightly higher now because of this. 
• Spouse/partner/family member discounts have been discontinued.  

Important non-updates for this year:

• Financial aid still doesn't cover PE course fees.  
• All the other policies.

Tuesday evening Ballroom and Swing, anyone?

Seniors fall back on social security

More than 46 percent of Dartmouth students graduate with less than $10,000 in their bank accounts, according to a study by economics professor Steven Venti, Harvard Kennedy School of Government political economy professor David Wise and Massachusetts Institute of Technology economics professor James Poterba. The study, published in February and highlighted this month by The Washington Post, found that students rely heavily on post-grad program stipends after graduation.

The findings address one of the biggest concerns facing American college students: how much money they need to save before graduating. The exact dollar amount needed to graduate comfortably is highly debated, and many worry that the current generation of near-graduates has not saved enough money, Venti said.

“Rather than looking at people on the cusp of graduation and asking, ‘Are they prepared?’ we look at people a year or two after college and ask, ‘Were they prepared?’” Venti said.

The research suggests that most graduates were not adequately prepared for graduation, he said.
With such limited financial assets after undergrad, the graduates often turn to government programs such as Teach for America.

“What is novel about this paper, with echo boomers reaching graduation, is that there is much question about how much these individuals are relying on social safety nets rather than investing in their own assets,” Porteba said.

These benefits, combined with some graduate or doctoral program stipends, provide less than $20,000 to 87 percent of recent-graduate households with less than $10,000 in financial assets, according to Venti.

The study also suggests a link between low financial assets and disproportionately poor health. When those with poor health and meager bank accounts are confronted with unexpected expenses, they might not be able to pay their bills, according to Venti.

“With few assets, these graduates are unable to withstand financial shocks such as medical, home care and child rearing expenses not covered by their insurance plans or employer benefits, or other health-related expenses such as remodeling a home to accommodate a disability,” he said.

Even expenses such as travel or entertainment are difficult for such graduates to afford, according to Venti.
The findings indicate that a reduction in benefits would directly lead to reduced financial security for many young households, The Post reported.

“With health costs continuing to climb, these findings suggest that any cuts in post-grad benefits will have a substantial impact on the well-being of the young,” Venti said.

The researchers said that policies should encourage low and middle-income college students to prepare more robustly for graduation.

The paper used data from the Health and Graduation Study, a longitudinal study sponsored by the National Institute for Higher Education. The study surveyed people under the age of 18 starting in 2005 and followed up every year until 2011, Venti said. The information about assets was used from the latest surveys before the graduation of each participant.

The three professors have collaborated previously and have jointly published 30 papers over more than 20 years, according to Venti. Their research is funded by the National Institute for Higher Education and the American Study Group on Generation Y.

“This study is an example of how economics is becoming more collaborative and interdisciplinary through joint research with experts from other academic areas,” Porteba said.

•  Porteba, James, Steven Venti, and David Wise. "Were They Prepared for Graduation?
  Financial Status of Recent Graduates." (2012)

 

Financing Study Abroad

I cannot tell you how life-changingly awesome my term abroad was because, well, I never took one.

Dartmouth has world-class foreign study options, and they do an excellent job of promoting them. I applied for the Spanish FSP my freshman year. I considered applying to the Arabic FSP, too, but by then (sophomore year) I knew enough about Dartmouth's financial aid to know better.

See, financial aid will only cover foreign study expenses up to what a normal term on campus would cost. And they do not cover airfare. For a self-financing student like me, the prospect of covering round-trip international airfare was plenty prohibitive.

There are, however, alternative funding options available (of which I am now, but was not, aware). I'll post any I find here:

---

Qatar Scholarship Program

Who: Students who have obtained a Bachelor's degree by the beginning of the program, have two years of formal Arabic study, and are at the intermediate level of proficiency in Arabic.

What: Offered by the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University, The Qatar Scholarship Program offers dedicated Arabic language students from the United States the opportunity to master their skills in an intensive Arabic language program at Qatar University (QU) in Doha for an entire academic year (September to June). 

How much:The scholarship includes tuition, room and board in university dorms, round-trip airfare, local transportation, and books.

Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program

Who: U.S. citizen undergraduates in good academic standing who are receiving a Federal Pell Grant or provide proof that they will be receiving a Pell Grant at the time of application or during the term of their study abroad and who are applying to or have been accepted into a study abroad program eligible for credit by the student's accredited institution of higher education in the U.S and who are studying abroad for at least four weeks in one country other than Cuba and any countries currently on the U.S. State Department's Travel Warning List (programs going to more than one country are eligible if the student will be studying in one country for at least four consecutive weeks).

What: The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program aims to broaden the student population that studies abroad by supporting undergraduates who might otherwise not participate due to financial constraints. The program strongly encourages students to choose non-traditional study abroad destinations, especially those outside of Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand .

How much: up to $5,000

SEO TempJobs

The number of current undergrads who remember the old BlitzMail system is dwindling and with us go the memories of blitzbombs^a, bulletins, and days when organizational all-campusing^b didn't require gaudy HTML.

But, at least for those of us who miss the bulletins- and those who could sometimes use a little extra cash, and perhaps also for those who just don't get enough blitzes in a day- all is not lost!

SEO TempJobs still exists!

Yes! Yes! YES IT DOES!

What's all the hype, you ask? Well: TempJobs is where Upper Valley residents post about jobs they need done, preferably by students. They can range from lawn work to computing help. I've seen posts from elderly folks who want someone to read to them and from parents who want their 6-month-olds to learn Mandarin. I once moved a couple sofas up three flights of stairs for $30. There tend to be a lot of babysitting gigs. Every now and then someone wants grocery shopping done. You get the idea.

To get in the know, just sign up for the TempJobs listserv, here: http://listserv.dartmouth.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=SEO-TEMPJOBS&A=1

Jobs tend to be on a first-come^c basis, though, so responding quickly is key.

- - -

^a  Blitzbombing was the exploitation of a vulnerability in the old BlitzMail system that allowed a sender to flood the inbox of an unwitting victim with dozens of copies of a single blitz in one fell swoop. Perpetrators/pranksters did so by addressing the 'To:' field to their victim, then 'Cc:'-ing or 'Bcc:'-ing the same recipient 10, 20, or up to 200 times. 200 messages delivered in a single click. For added bang, a bomber might send multiple such messages. Unfortunately, the 'Conversation' functionality of the new Microsoft system (and most other modern systems) renders this trick obsolete.
^b or, sending a blitz to all of campus; generally only used to reference the current undergraduate population
^c and qualified

Dada poetry from the Admissions Office

In a message sent to the entire student body by the Admissions Office today at 2:48pm, some intern decided to take advantage of his or her clerical privileges to promote the following Dada poem:

ℼ佄呃偙⁅呈䱍倠䉕䥌⁃ⴢ⼯㍗⽃䐯䑔䠠䵔⁌⸴‰牔湡楳楴湯污⼯久㸢਍䠼䵔㹌䠼䅅㹄吼呉䕌㰾启呉䕌ാ㰊䕍䅔栠瑴⵰煥極㵶潃瑮湥⵴祔数挠湯整瑮∽整瑸栯浴㭬挠 慨獲瑥甽楮潣敤㸢਍䴼呅⁁潣瑮湥㵴䴢䡓䵔⁌⸶〰㘮〰⸰㜱〱∹渠浡㵥䕇䕎䅒佔㹒⼼䕈䑁ാ㰊佂奄ാ㰊㹐渦獢㭰⼼㹐⼼佂奄㰾䠯䵔㹌਍

Which, in (Google) translation, reads:

π Han uh Di ⁅ was 䱍 Sui 䉕 䥌 ⁃ ჲ ⼯ ㍗ ⽃ 䐯 䑔 䠠 䵔 ⁌ ⸴ ‰ Bo Yu Mei Shi Tang sewage ⼯ long 㸢 ਍ 䠼 䵔 㹌 䠼 䅅 㹄 roar Kure 䕌 㰾 Kai Kure 䕌 ാ 㰊 䕍 䅔 Ren Jue⵰ Huan very 㵶 the entire Li the Address Litu ⵴ Fushunaotang ∽ Zhengbinyouyu 㭬 scratch generous won Wen 〰 㘮 the the Quan the mulberry Min using 㸢 ਍ 䴼 Wen ⁁ Minli the Tu 㵴 䴢 䡓 䵔 ⁌ ⸶ 〰 ⸰ 㜱 〱 ∹ DrainageThe the gushing 㵥 䕇 䕎 䅒 accounted 㹒 ⼼ 䕈 䑁 ാ 㰊 Zheng suddenly ാ 㰊 㹐 vortex Xiao 㭰 ⼼ 㹐 ⼼ Zheng suddenly 㰾 䠯 䵔 㹌 ਍

Brilliant.

Someone else came along at around 4pm to try to clear away the situation, writing "**We apologize for the previous email if you received a blank or unreadable message.  We had a power outage during the sending.**" and appending a more business-as-usual correspondence. I prefer my hypothesis, however, and salute the (possibly fictional) intern responsible. Just because you no longer have a job with Admissions doesn't mean that you're unemployable. I hear that Dartmouth is on the lookout for its next Robert Frost.

Something We Can Do Better

At the very least there's something we can do better because when I walk across campus they avert their eyes and check nonexistent text messages and become very interested in distant scenery and even when I catch them looking and catch them not looking away and catch them with a smile they don't smile back, not usually anyway, and I know that it's because they're here because I don't do that at home at home at home I would stop to speak with a stranger for five minutes about the weather and our families and whatever is important to us in the moment and sure it's just a different kind of superficiality but at least it's a warm, human superficiality that nods to the fact that there are two people existing with worries and loves and hungers and they're going to see each other for this moment even if they never see each other again and you can make your comments about racism and homophobia and ignorance, I won't refute them, but when I brought my girlfriend to my grandparent's weekly family dinner they hugged her and said they hoped to see her again and they meant it, and even though they didn't know that underneath the tablecloth I stroked her nervous hand and used my fingertips to kiss away the knowledge that if I kissed her with my lips they would turn stormy and talk about God or, worse, change the subject entirely because did you hear that the Cox boy graduated from law school and, bless his heart, is now playing social with Wes Kivett who we all know has been heavy on the bottle for years but at least he's at church every Sunday morning and was at the Kiwanis pancake supper but they were kind to her because that's how they were raised and that's how I was raised and as long as we don't talk about unpleasant things we can pretend that they don't exist but here they know that the unpleasant things exist, they know and they see them everywhere like a house isn't just a house, it's where one or two or dozens of our sisters were raped and President Kim playing baseball on the Green isn't just President Kim playing baseball on the Green, it's a photo shoot cover-up to make the front page instead of the dozens of students decrying an unfair meal plan and that's just the way things are, the way things are, we don't like it but who are we to say otherwise will it be linked to our name and if it's linked to our name will it hurt our chances of getting a bid, a vote, a job will it keep us from being successful will we ever be successful because six digits isn't good enough if you can get seven so you better stick to that diet keep your hair clean not laugh too loudly join the right house know the right people work hard play hard and be happy about it because if you're not happy with this then there's something wrong with you, this is it this is privilege there are millions of people who would kill to have your looks, your skin, your mind, your education, your status, your life so if it doesn't make you happy you're an ungrateful fuck you're everything that's wrong with this place you should man up shut up and just get out of the way and THAT'S NOT RIGHT that's not how it works that's not how people are made we're all different and unique and beautiful so if you have a passion for consultingfinance, fine, do it if it makes you happy rush if it makes you happy hookup black out and graduate if it makes you happy, but if it doesn't then don't stand for it you can do better you deserve better you deserve happiness, yes you do, you don't have to prove anything or repay anyone you can just grow a beard be a teacher drop out get married kiss boys eat lasagna cut your hair wear tennis shoes study Greek say "no" say a prayer quit your thesis quit your job join the army write poetry wear makeup transfer and go to bed at 10pm every night if it makes you happy, but you can't go on doing those things that you 'should' 'ought' 'must' because when you pass me on the sidewalk you look away because you don't want me to see who you are or what you could be you want to be seen on your own determined terms but me passing you on the sidewalk isn't in the script so you look away and it isn't fine but I'm going to smile anyway because I'm a person and you're a person and for that moment we're together it's intimate, your castaway glance tells me more than you would in twosome solitude and I want to tell you back that it's not right for you to feel that way, that it's ok to hurt and be unsure and look at me, that you're so goddamn beautiful that there is another way that it isn't as hard as you think to smile back. But I understand because I stopped smiling when I came here and I averted my eyes and checked nonexistent text messages and became very interested in distant scenery and when I caught them looking I was terrified I'd quicken my pace I'd stumble and sometimes smile back but always too late for them to see it because everything moves so fast here that it's easy to miss a smile, a moment, a month and it's easy to not learn a thing in 10 weeks to not see a friend for 10 months to be too ground down and worn out to raise a whisper when shady politics play out across the front page to be broken by the load of unanswered questions and unquestioned answers and at the end of the day say "Fuck it I'm going out" because it's better to pretend not to be unhappy among strangers it's easier it's the scene and you'll probably lament the dominance of the Greek system at some point but not now and not loudly because at the end of the day it's easier to play pong than politics and if anyone thinks that the only thing keeping the system standing are it's richpowerful alumni with their fingers in everything and money where it counts then anyone hasn't witnessed the joke that is GLOS defending the upstanding principles of brotherhood and sisterhood when Giaconne comes knocking because another underage swimming recruit was sent to DHMC with alcohol poisoning and yes, I'm in a house, and yes, I love it, but if I thought the system were the cause of the problem rather than an amalgamation of its symptoms then I would tear my house down brick by brick and see all the others down, too, but the houses aren't to blame, I guess, any more than you or I because they're just the manifestations of their constituent parts and I used to not smile just like you and it felt low and dirty and ugly and sometimes my hands would sweat in my pockets because I knew they knew I wasn't looking at them and I knew it made them feel just as it made me feel when they didn't look at me and I didn't want them to feel that way I wanted to tell them that they were the most inspiring intelligent passionate people I've ever known, that they were beautiful and whole and graceful even in their gracelessness but they looked away so I learned to look away because we're all pretty socially awkward here and we all want so desperately to fit in that we'll ignore one another to do it and we do and I did but I don't anymore because it felt wrong and cruel and cold and that's not the way that I was raised and sure it's a different kind of superficiality but at least it's warm, human superficiality that nods to us in the moment, existing with worries and loves and hungers and at the very least there's something we can do better: we can smile.