Cries of Dartmouth being a racist institution have rung out loudly in my time as a student here. Open acts of racism have certainly occurred and cannot be ignored, but there are some who respond to these incidents by accusing the whole campus of being complacent in the mistreatment of students of color. This has left many well-intentioned white students confused about their role in the oppression that certain students feel, as well as confused about what they can actually do to help.
As a black man on campus, I present my viewpoint on these issues, but I want to be clear that in no way is my viewpoint the only one or even necessarily the dominant one. However, I speak from my own experiences and the numerous conversations I have had about these issues with other black men and women on campus.
It would be unfair to label Dartmouth a racist institution. Now, it is true that Eleazar Wheelock had slaves, as did other staff members, faculty and students in the 1700s. And honestly, I wouldn’t have expected otherwise, given that slavery was a common practice at the time. However, compared to other institutions, Dartmouth has actually been very progressive in its treatment of black people. Dartmouth had its first black graduate in 1828, well before most institutions were admitting black students and even before the end of slavery in America. As the civil rights movement got underway, Dartmouth was again a leader in its treatment of black people. In 1954, a campus-wide referendum was held on the issue of the desegregation of fraternities and the majority of the student body voted to mandate that campus fraternities accept black students as brothers by the year 1960. This led several fraternities to dissociate from their national organizations because of the racist policies their headquarters enforced. So while the history of our country has certainly been marred by racism — and Dartmouth is no exception — the College has often been at the forefront of change toward more positive racial attitudes.
This is not to say that there is no racism at Dartmouth today. I myself have never experienced anything I would call overt racism at Dartmouth, but I do personally know several black female students who have, on several different occasions, had racial slurs shouted at them by white, male students driving by them at night. These and other incidents clearly indicate that racism is not completely gone from this campus, but I honestly do not believe there is any evidence that it involves the majority of the white students here.
In the United States there are definitely still systems and mindsets in place that negatively affect black people. Some studies have shown that most people have implicit prejudices against blacks that make all of us — blacks as well as whites — more likely to associate negative words with black faces than with white faces. Our social commentary is laced with this subconscious bias, which can produce all sorts of racially-based, unfair treatment that people may not consciously know they are engaging in against others. This is undoubtedly the case for many Dartmouth students as well.
We cannot pretend that racial prejudice does not exist at Dartmouth. But we also should not accuse those who are trying to be welcoming of being racist bigots. There are racist people at Dartmouth, and they know who they are, but the majority of the students here really do want to create an environment that welcomes everyone. So if you fall into that category, here’s my advice: acknowledge that people can have different life experiences based on their culture or the color of their skin, and acknowledge that you probably have implicit biases against certain people based on aspects of themselves that they cannot control. Now with that knowledge do what you can to not allow those biases to affect your actions. Instead, counteract them as best you can by consciously reminding yourself to look past these minor differences that have so often divided us, and speak up when someone else engages in prejudiced behavior against others. Only when we all strive to do this will our campus continue to become a more welcoming place for all.
Shaw is a guest columnist.
