Geisel School of Medicine professor H. Gilbert Welch published an op-ed in CNN last Saturday weighing in on Angelina Jolie’s recent preventive double mastectomy. Jolie published an op-ed in The New York Times last week, revealing that she opted for the surgery after discovering that she carried the BRCA1 gene and has an estimated 87 percent risk of developing breast cancer. Welch’s piece examined the notion that Jolie’s operation could inspire health-conscious American women to seek similar procedures to prevent breast cancer. Welch argued that Jolie’s surgery is irrelevant to 99 percent of American women, as the rare BRCA1 mutation put her at abnormally high risk for developing the disease. Less than one percent of American women carry this gene, Welch said. Women with the BRCA1 mutation or other risk factors for breast cancer could stand to gain from a procedure like Jolie’s. Women at average risk, however, are less likely to benefit from a preventive double mastectomy, and the risks of surgery could outweigh their risks of getting cancer, Welch wrote. “The vast majority of women don’t have the BRCA1 mutation. They are at average risk for breast cancer,” Welch wrote. “They are not Angelina Jolie. They should not… Read more »
BROWN: Brown University announced a 60 percent yield for the Class of 2017, an increase of nearly five percent from last year’s yield of 55.8 percent, according to the Brown Daily Herald. The yield rate is higher than the University’s anticipated rate of about 57 percent. The Admission Office expects to admit “a handful” of students from the waitlist. COLUMBIA: A football player at Columbia University was charged with aggravated harassment as a hate crime last Tuesday, according to the Columbia Spectator. The student, Chad Washington, allegedly heckled an Asian student with racial slurs and shoved him against a wall. Washington and his teammates were also criticized for posting “racist and homophobic tweets” online. Columbia administrators and student leaders released statements condemning the language used in the Twitter posts. CORNELL: Cornell University’s current faculty renewal initiative aims to replace half of the University’s faculty in the next 10 years, as over half of current faculty members over age 55 prepare to retire, according to the Cornell Daily Sun. The University, currently facing the most substantial wave of faculty retirements in its history, intends to hire about 67 new faculty members each year in the next decade. Cornell will finance this initiative through donations… Read more »
The Huffington Post featured an opinion piece by Justin Maffett ’16 on HuffPost College last Friday. In the piece, Maffett suggested that Dartmouth should create residential communities that would remain constant throughout students’ time at Dartmouth. This would alleviate the lack of residential continuity fostered by the Dartmouth Plan. “This system would produce a more vibrant social network with time no longer as the enemy,” Maffett wrote. Maffett proposed that the Office of Residential Life place first-year students in residential communities exclusive to freshmen, and subsequently assign them to a residential house in which they would remain for the next three years. Students would be guaranteed housing in their assigned community (the Fayerweathers or McLaughlin residential clusters, for example) after returning from an off-term. Maffett’s proposed system would expand the gender-neutral affinity program, allowing for at least one gender-neutral floor in each residential house. Residences would also have a common area in which the house’s residents or other students could study or socialize. Maffett suggested that this residential housing system could exist in conjunction with the Greek system. The system would aim to complement the social spheres fostered by fraternities and sororities rather than replace them. “Overall, I would hope… Read more »
This Sunday, May 5th, the Dartmouth Women’s Rugby Club will present the fifth annual Cully’s Run in memory of former team member Katy “Cully” Cullinan ’08. The 5K Trail Event will honor the memory of Cully, who struggled with an eating disorder while at Dartmouth and took her own life in the summer of 2008. Proceeds from the run will benefit the National Eating Disorders Association and Headrest, Inc, which provides crisis and addiction support services in the Upper Valley. Cully’s Run began contributing proceeds to Headrest in addition to NEDA last year. Dartmouth Women’s Rugby Club member Michaela Conway ‘15 cited the team’s interest in increasing community involvement as the reason for bringing in Headrest. “One of the things we wanted to do in particular this year was encourage a lot more participation, not just from the campus but from the local community,” Conway said. The event has raised about $23,000 for the two organizations within its first four years. The run will begin and end at the Corey Ford Rugby Clubhouse and follow a route around Storrs Pond. “Storrs Pond is an incredible resource in town that a lot of students don’t know about,” said… Read more »
This May, Panhellenic Council presents the Strong Women Series, an events program focusing on the development of skills beneficial to young women entering the workplace. The series, sponsored by a $5,000 grant from Confidence U, will feature three workshops for affiliated women over the course of the month, each emphasizing a different skill necessary for young professionals. The first part of the series, called “Creating Connections,” will take place on Thursday. The event will focus on the practice of networking in a business environment and include a mini-workshop run by Career Services. The evening will also give women the opportunity to practice networking by interacting with various Dartmouth employees invited to the event. “We hoped to have the dual purpose of also providing a platform where women and faculty, staff and professors can interact outside the classroom in a more casual setting,” Panhell president Eliana Piper ’14 said. The event will take place at the Top of the Hop from 5 to 7 p.m. The series’ second event, to be held on May 14, will focus on the development of “real world” skills necessary for living on one’s own. A representative from Career Services will give a workshop on the practical aspects of… Read more »
Andrew Lohse ’12 commented on his experiences with Greek life and hazing at Dartmouth in an interview for the Huffington Post’s HuffPost Live College Week on Wednesday. The Huffington Post will feature special programming this week discussing aspects of college life including academics, residential life and the Greek system. Students nationwide are encouraged to participate by contributing video or text comments throughout the week. Lohse was one of several students taking part in a group video chat interview titled “A Greek Tragedy?” Lohse, along with students from Hobart College, NYU, and American University, shared his personal experiences and commented on the Greek system generally. “It’s a pretty disgusting, abusive experience, you know, marked by exclusivity and all sorts of kind of traumatic hazing events,” Lohse said of his own experience with Dartmouth’s Greek system. “A culture of misogyny and sexual assault and classism as well.” Lohse said that while much of Greek life’s problems are specific to Dartmouth, other colleges across the country experience similar issues as well. He pointed to schools like Cornell where students have died in incidents involving hazing. “In many cases it’s worse,” he commented. Lohse also shared his perspective on… Read more »