I urge you to use your reason for a moment today and think about the recent outcry over the trend of the manifestation of hatred on our campus. I do not need to cite the facts. You know them. But now is the time for us to take what is tainting and hurting Dartmouth and use our common sense to put an end to this nonsense and heal our alma mater.
The argument for allowing the recent expressions of hatred is that it is protected under the First Amendment. If we want to get very technical about the matter, the First Amendment only refers to Congress, not private institutions or individuals, as being prohibited from restricting speech. And in a sense, Dartmouth can provide measures for curtailing hate speech.
I love the Constitution, what is stands for and what it provides. However, I do not believe that it condones speech that only has the pure intention of viciously putting other people's right to live a life free from terror in jeopardy. It is a just constitution to be respected and upheld, not one meant to be abused.
But let me concede to the First Amendment absolutists. Allow these people the freedom to exercise their "right" to expressions of hatred. Must not this campus react so that the seeds of hatred do not lead to uncontrollable and devastating catastrophes?
Dartmouth, as well as any other college, is ripe for acts of bigotry. The ground is set. Just look at Food Court throughout the day, for example. Although there is definitely mixing among groups, the self-segregation of many ethnic and racial groups are prevalent. Already, there is "us" and there is "them" conveniently set up. The next step is for someone to threaten the peace of our alma mater by committing an act of hatred -- threatening to kill, writing a racist and sexist poem, writing racial slurs on doors, what have you. Then what? Before the community truly acts to stop hate from growing, must we also have an act of violence as well? Must we see a shedding of blood? Must it come to that before definitive action is taken?
Under a set of circumstances, a thought grows. That thought leads to an action. If unchecked, it gains confidence and goes even further than it did before. And before you know it, we are caught in a spiraling effect that we cannot pull out of without horrible consequences. This trend of bigotry must be "nipped in the bud."
Just imagine for a moment that you are standing in front of the grave of our most famous alum, Daniel Webster. And as the legend goes, you shout, "Dan'l Webster-Dan'l Webster!" All of a sudden you hear a deep voice rumbling, "Neighbor, how stands the Union?" You answer, "It is well, but your beloved alma mater whom you defended before the Supreme Court is falling apart internally." I am sure Dartmouth's favorite son would shed a tear over the sad state of affairs at his alma mater and then would pop up out of his grave from anger. I am sure that if he could, he would urge us to stop this nonsense that is tearing us apart.
Bigotry is a fact of life and whether or not we see an end to it does not matter now. It is the struggle for peace and justice that matters. If Dartmouth is so divided against itself, it will not stand as the great institution that it is and once was. As sons and daughters of Dartmouth, we must not remain loyal just to our alma mater but to each other as well. We must end cowardice and uphold honesty and reason. We must act in ways which will prove that we will not tolerate bigotry. There is too much pain in the world. Let us at least have peace at Dartmouth.
