Every year, Dartmouth publishes its latest admissions statistics and each time, it seems that the College has admitted the "most diverse class ever." But that kind of statistics-driven diversity is an incomplete metric. The roughly 40 percent of students identifying as minorities is a sign of progress. But true diversity entails interaction, engagement, mutual respect, understanding and trust a diversity of spirit that this campus unfortunately still lacks.
Reading the stories and insights of fellow students in this week's series on race relations at Dartmouth ("Race discussion evolves at College," Nov. 10; "Students manage social lives amidst diversity," Nov.11; "Faculty diversity fails to match student stats," Nov. 12), we see that the problems of race exist under the surface of campus conversation and relationships. We have fewer brazenly racist barriers in our society, but this absence of open conflict also allows people to delude themselves into believing we live on a post-racial campus. And such thinking only allows the subtle problems with our system to continue.
In order to prevent conflict which is the only mark of racism most people perceive we as students have cultivated a culture of avoidance, where people self-segregate to remain within their own comfort zones and often decline to reach out to peers from a different background. Our first instinct may be to avoid the uncomfortable awkwardness of being the one person to participate in a "different" community. Our fear of offending prevents us from starting a candid conversation, even with friends ("The Need to Engage," Oct. 18), and our lack of courage in taking on issues that carry such considerable baggage keeps us waiting on the sidelines for someone else, finally, to perfect our unbalanced society.
Passively accepting the status quo suffices if all you desire is tolerance and if you just want to "appreciate" other cultures and backgrounds. But Dartmouth should be more than that an inclusive space where racial, cultural and class differences flow freely and productively through a campus built on open dialogue. Fostering a spirit of inclusiveness requires that we challenge ourselves to do more than coexist. We must create an environment in which students grow from interaction. Learning shouldn't just be about classes. Fellowship shouldn't come just within a particular brother- or sisterhood. Comfort shouldn't exist solely in places where you are surrounded by the familiar. Dartmouth should be a crash-test site, where a diverse set of beliefs and cultures and backgrounds can collide to synthesize more beautiful, more meaningful ideas and experiences. It should be a place where each person, and his or her unique story, converges on Dartmouth with their colleagues to learn and play and live together, rather than avoid each other and interact only with those of similar persuasions.
If Dartmouth is ever going to reach this state, every one of us has to step out of our comfort zones, without waiting for institutional changes or being afraid of causing offense. While campus organizations should hold more open events designed to fuel interaction, only when every individual is willing to take this initiative can we get anywhere as a group on the issues that clearly still exist on campus. We are the only ones who can fix racial stereotypes, inequality and pain.
