In its house editorial of Jan. 13, 1995, The Dartmouth editorial board implied that the Student Assembly had been imprudent in its informational campaign regarding Webster Hall, saying that the issue cannot be "decided in five minutes" or through an informational campaign such as the Assembly's. However, in this statement, The Dartmouth proved its own failure to look beyond the bold-printed slogan "Save Webster Hall" on the SA's posters.
I am a member of the Student Assembly's Webster Hall campaign team. The discussion and planning for this pursuit came out of the Student Assembly's retreat two weekends ago and continues to the present. The Student Assembly never intended to run a myopic campaign to stubbornly insist on the maintenance of Webster Hall as a space for student programming. Indeed, from the outset all members involved acknowledged that the transformation of Webster Hall into the new home of the College's Special Collections was nearly inevitable and that pushing for an additional facility was a likely alternative.
More importantly, this sentiment was expressed in the Webster Hall Resolution passed by the Student Assembly on Jan. 10, which explicitly called for the College to "find alternative housing for the library's special collections or to provide adequate funding to create a new programming space of comparable size and quality." Subsequently, this resolution has been the guiding mandate of the efforts of the Student Assembly to resolve this heated issue. Throughout the period of time that the Student Assembly has been working on this issue, SA members have been meeting with various administrators to determine the feasibility of the options available to Dartmouth and the steps necessary to achieve these goals.
However, The Dartmouth ignored the language of the SA resolution and the actions of the Student Assembly, focusing only on the most surface elements of our effort to stop the elimination of a vital type of student space, ironically criticizing the SA for superficially and unrealistically tackling a complex issue. The Student Assembly intended for the informational campaign to raise the understanding that the College intended to remove a vital student space without providing for a replacement. The College sees programming space as a zero-sum game. The only problem is that the students are the ones who are losing out.
The Dartmouth said that the time to address this issue was two years ago. The Student Assembly of today will not be hampered by any failure to act on the part of the SA of two years ago, especially when the future of student intellectual and social life is at stake. The question of whether the College ought to build a new facility is nearly moot. Student Assembly members have spoken with a number of administrators and students in charge of programming, and the vital role that Webster Hall has played over the years is unquestionable. Webster Hall has several unique features which range from architectural benefits to security benefits. Most importantly, its unique size makes it a perfect venue for acts such as Natalie Merchant and speakers such as Jean-Bertrand Aristide; Leede Arena and Spaulding Auditorium are eminently unsuitable for such programming. Furthermore, acts are often booked for Spaulding up to two years in advance. Director of Facilities and Planning Gordon DeWitt admitted to me that Webster had the benefit of being available for student productions which were often organized in a much shorter time frame than those at the Hopkins Center. Thus, students were spared a great deal of red tape and bureaucracy in finding a space for their performances.
The benefits of a Webster-sized venue are innumerable, and it is the Student Assembly's goal to make sure that the College takes student interests into account. The administration cannot continue to ignore student needs. The Dartmouth community clearly has a vital need for a structure such as Webster Hall.
The Student Assembly is making sure that in the big business of fund-raising, alumni relations and image building in which the College administration engages, that student interests do not fall between the cracks.
