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Articles by Ryan Alahyari
Alahyari: For the College, Headlines Mean More Than Students
The College has prioritized policies that are marketable in the media over policies that help students. The result is an administration that has become detached from community-level accountability. When Dartmouth announced it was reinstating the SAT, the College was framed as a higher-ed leader by The New York Times. When Dartmouth pushed for a policy of institutional restraint, it was called a “green shoot in the higher-ed desert” in the pages of The Washington Post’s opinion section.
Alahyari: The Era of the Memeable Dictator
Last week, New York Times podcast host Mary Harrington spoke with author and columnist James Marriott about his new book “The New Dark Ages.” In it, Marriott argues that declining reading rates and the increasing use of social media is leading us into an era of post-literacy where rationality and context have been supplanted by emotional reaction.
Letter to the Editor: On Grade Inflation, Dartmouth Doesn’t Need to Be a Maverick
The College needs to combat grade inflation through collective action with its peer schools before independently implementing grade-deflationary policies. Re: Grading policies committee launches student survey to help draft new grading policies Grade inflation must be addressed, but I fear that the College believes combatting it is a race to the bottom that it needs to win. It doesn’t need to be.
Alahyari: Is Mamdani’s Honeymoon a Miracle or the Model?
In 2016, Barack Obama said of the grueling process of policymaking that his job was to “steer the ocean liner two degrees north or south so that 10 years from now we’re in a very different place from where we were.” New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani might not be steering an entire ocean liner. But he’s no doubt captaining a hefty cruiser, and, far from steering one degree at a time, he seems to be taking it wherever he pleases, without having to wait.
Alahyari: Greet the World from the Hills with a Hail?
This article is featured in the 2026 Freshman Special Issue. To the Class of 2030, This coming week, you’ll be made to sing the lyrics of your alma mater a good few times.
Editors’ Note: Dear Old Dartmouth
In this year’s Freshman special issue, the editors look at the history of Dartmouth’s alma mater and share pieces of advice for the incoming Class of 2030. This article is featured in the 2026 Freshman Special Issue. Dear Class of 2030, Welcome to Dartmouth! You’ve just joined a community with a very unique identity, and we’re sure you have a lot of questions: What’s with all these scooters everywhere? Why is New Hampshire called the Granite State?
Alahyari: Protection and Service Are Choices for the Public to Make
When Grafton County Sheriff Jill Myers first won her seat in 2024, she laid out a largely uncontroversial vision for the responsibilities of the county’s sheriff department with the hopes of mending a disconnect between the public and the police force after she observed that policing had become “frowned upon.” In her ideal, deputies would take on more diverse day-to-day responsibilities: stopping to help someone on the side of the road, assisting local police in domestic calls.
Alahyari: Dartmouth Only Hires Experts in their Field
The Dartmouth, America's oldest college newspaper. Founded 1799.
Alahyari: Dartmouth’s Growth Doesn’t Mean Losing Our Community
Last week, in the wake of a report that the College was considering expanding its undergraduate student body, Rohan Taneja ’28 wrote a well-crafted response in defense of the familiar spirit of the small college we know and love.
Alahyari: What Did Team Melli Mean this Year?
As the World Cup comes to a close and the impending battle between the two remaining heavyweights dominates the global consciousness, some of the stories from earlier on in the event are slowly being forgotten. Among them is the story of Iran’s national team, commonly known as Team Melli. Iran’s story in this World Cup was in many ways very familiar.
Alahyari: In Search of Lost Treasure
There was a fleeting period early in my time at Dartmouth when every space was novel to me, and my eyes at any moment drifted well beyond the direction of my destination. I would scan every door and hallway I passed, trying to make sense of every space’s purpose and log in my mind where I could and couldn’t go. That period passed fairly quickly, however, and now I — like most Dartmouth students — move like a drone between the spaces that are relevant to me.
Alahyari: Let’s Keep the Blue Book (Mostly) Closed
Most of the in-class essays I’ve had to write throughout my academic career have ended in a similar scene. With a cramped right hand, I frantically flip through my blue book reviewing my work, all the while nervously glancing back at the clock to check how many seconds I have left. As I try to read over my panicked, borderline-illegible handwriting, I make peace with an inevitable truth: The essay I just wrote sucks. It’s shallow.
Alahyari: A Tale of Two Methodologies
In the 1990s, as the field of economics almost universally rallied around globalization, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman went on a crusade against journalists and pundits who dared raise concerns about unrestricted trade. Through a series of books and articles, Krugman dismissed in scathing style any critique of globalization as being ignorant of well-established economic theory.
Alahyari: The Confused Nostalgia of Generation Z
Every time I return home after a term at college, I sit at our home PC and log on to be greeted by a familiar sight: A glowing, grassy hill rolling underneath a bright, blue sky lightly sprinkled with clouds. I chose this background deliberately: Bliss, the iconic wallpaper of Windows XP, is a warm reminder of a simpler time. For a moment, I don’t feel like I’m logging onto a modern computer to take on modern burdens. I feel like I’m at home in a past when technology was a source of comfort.
Alahyari: Dartmouth’s Fetish for the Modern
Over a year ago, I wrote a column arguing that many of Dartmouth’s recent buildings do not respect the campus’ historical fabric. Newer additions, as I stated, are often architecturally lazy, trying to find a middle ground between appearing modern and fitting in with the Georgian red-brick theme of the College’s older buildings. This results in an unsatisfying appearance that achieves neither goal.
Alahyari: Iran’s Story is Not Michael Rubin’s to Tell
Last week, I tuned into a John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding talk on Iran by Michael Rubin, a historian of Iran and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
Alahyari: Keep Kids On Crayons And Off AI
GPS made our lives easier by saving time spent tracing a map. Search engines made our lives easier by saving time spent searching for books at a library. Is artificial intelligence simply the next step in this sequence of helpful technologies? This year’s slate of Super Bowl commercials certainly tried to make the case. Many companies treated AI like a shiny new toy, showcasing how it could be used to create commercials themselves, including one featuring a dancing duo of AI robots drinking vodka.
Alahyari: The Case of Bari Weiss Is a Warning About Institutional Restraint
When the College announced its policy of institutional restraint in December 2024, it entered uncharted territory. There was no precedent for such a policy in Dartmouth’s history, which left room for much debate over its implications. Now, however, the policy has found its analogue in a surprising place — not at another university, but at the CBS headquarters in Midtown Manhattan.
Alahyari: Left-Wing Populism is Returning. Does the Working Class Know It?
Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer. Support independent student journalism. Support independent student journalism. Support independent student journalism. Mamdani’s formula might succeed in New York, but it’s unclear how much his populism is actually appealing to its primary target — the working class.
Alahyari: Revive Hanover, Implement Rent Control
Years before the age of DoorDash and Uber Eats, before the influx of boutiques and boba into downtown Hanover, a little pizza parlor stood on Lebanon Street. C&A Pizza — owned and operated by the Georgakopolous family since 1976 — had been a late-night favorite of Dartmouth students for years, known for their unique, Greek-style pizza.
Alahyari: Where Have the Trees Gone?
Last quarter, a stump on the corner of the Green at the intersection of Main Street and West Wheelock Street became a bit of a campus sensation after a student fixed a Lorax plushie to it. Above the stuffed toy, a sign read the iconic words: “I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees.” The stunt was a fun example of our student body’s humor, but it may also have been trying to tell us something more. If the Lorax could speak for the Dartmouth trees, what would he say?
Alahyari: Dartmouth Needs to Build Beautifully Again
Every other morning this past fall, as I started a long walk from the East Wheelock cluster to my 10 a.m. class, I had a lovely, peaceful view of the center of campus. I first passed by the quaint, quintessentially New England Dartmouth Hall. The building’s simple yet timeless design reminds us of the College’s humble origins. I then made my way toward Rauner Special Collections Library, with its enormous columns and vast windows bringing grandeur to the Green.
Alahyari: For Democrats, the Solution is in the Past
In the wake of the battering Democrats received on Nov. 5, party members can agree on one thing — they need to appeal to working-class voters again. What they cannot agree on is exactly how to do so.
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