As Experience Dartmouth (the College's week for introducing prospectives to our school) nears, I begin to wonder what qualities of Dartmouth will remain in the heads of prospectives. Will it be the friendly people, the challenging classes, the inspiring professors, the intense school spirit, the beautiful campus or the food? Whatever they take away with them, I hope they do not encounter the side of Dartmouth that I have witnessed with absolute disgust -- Harvard bashing.
It is natural for colleges to make fun of one another. For example, on April Fool's Day, publications at Columbia and Yale announced that the University of Pennsylvania had been kicked out of the Ivy League. And during sports events, rivals insult each other but in good taste. All of this is in good humor.
The only problem is when a college (in this case, Dartmouth) continually bashes another college (Harvard) for absolutely no reason.
It is disturbing to hear one's classmates look down upon Harvard with so much enthusiasm. Why? Is there an inferiority complex? Is it because they are people who had applied and did not get in and to feel better, they have to say that Harvard "sucks?" Do we bash Yale? Princeton? Any of the other Ivies? No.
It is not uncommon to hear people say, "Why would you want to go to Harvard?" "They're all nerds." "They're all SO snobby at Harvard." "Harvard is for losers." There has even been a cartoon in this paper that made fun of Harvard students, implying that they are really pathetic partygoers and drinkers.
Students are not the only ones at fault, though. I have been in classes where even the professors make fun of Harvard. One professor joked that the Crimson's library had to close because its only book was taken out. This joke is quite funny especially when the Harvard library system holds six times as many volumes as Dartmouth's does. I have not seen one professor make fun of the other Ivies; Harvard gets special status. Now, granted, I have not been in every class with every professor on campus. But seriously, why target Harvard?
During the first week of spring term, I saw the movie "Quiz Show" at the Hopkins Center. There was a scene in the film when Charles Van Doren (the Columbia professor who was one of the corrupted contestants for the quiz show "Twenty-One") professed concern to the producers of the show over the Washington investigator who was asking too many questions. Van Doren mentioned that he (the investigator) was first in his class at Harvard Law School and therefore, was not a fool. At this point, one of the producers exclaimed "Harvard!" and proceeded to make an obscene gesture with his hand.
Now, sure, this gesture was slightly humorous, especially to college students. However, the Dartmouth crowd roared, clapped, and cheered so much that no one could hear the dialogue after that gesture. Did anyone realize that this was Harvard Law School? I don't think so. For the future lawyers here at Dartmouth, Harvard Law School would be a dream come true.
The fact is, the students were not making fun of the law school. They were making fun of anything that had to do with "Hah-vahd." The question is not only why Dartmouth students consistently make fun of Harvard, but also what do they get out of it? Do they get some sort of high out of it? Some sort of utter bliss that cannot be felt when making fun of, say, Rice University? Or is it because deep down inside, people feel that Dartmouth is inferior to Harvard and, therefore, they must vocalize their rejection of the Crimson as much as they can in order to make the Big Green appear superior?
The facts are simple. Dartmouth is in no way inferior to Harvard. Sure, we're not as prestigious. We're not as large. We don't have the graduate schoolresource power that larger universities have.
But in other ways, we're better. We have incredible access to our professors. Our professors are teachers first. They don't alienate their students so that they can conduct research for a Nobel Prize.
The opportunities for growth here are numerous if we only search for them. The safety of Hanover and the concern that the College has for us are wonderful. We have tremendous alumni support that makes other schools envious.
So why are we wasting our time bashing Harvard? Sure, during sports events, bash whoever you want, but in the classroom, in the cafeteria, in the dorms, why bother insulting the Crimson? We're better than that, aren't we?
