To the Editor:
As I pulled The Dartmouth out of my HB yesterday morning, I had to laugh at the irony of the whole situation. "Poster removal results in debate" the headline read. As I read the story I learned of the tale of a couple of Student Assembly candidates who decided to remove the signs of those running against them and left only their own signs posted.
Now throughout this whole Student Assembly debate, we have heard probably every candidate use the word "tolerance" many more times than ever thought possible. Tolerance, eh? Acts such as this don't sound too tolerant to me.
Now I wasn't here last term when the racial incidents occurred on campus or to witness the ensuing debate. But I do know that much was said about promoting diversity and understanding around campus and that issue is the one that I have been hearing the most about from the Student Assembly candidates. But how do these candidates expect us to vote for them on the basis of this issue when even they are not allowing diversity within the election system or tolerance of other candidate's ideas? By taking down the signs of those running against them, they are denying us as the student body the opportunity to get to know the viewpoints of the candidates. True, these signs cannot define for us each candidate's full platform and they are primarily for name recognition, but they also provide for us the basis to ask questions of the candidates and to get to know their platforms better. Now that I know that Jon wants to make pre-med a minor can I ask him why? And how will he implement that? I can ask Steve what specific recommendations he will make to change the Dartmouth course guide. I can visit Bill's homepage or realize that Scott has been on Assembly since his freshman year and decide whether that is a benefit or a drawback. These signs provide for us the initial information about the candidate and then allow us to dig deeper into their beliefs and ask them exactly what they will do for us as our Student Assembly leaders. This is the key to understanding.
So these Student Assembly candidates can play these childish pranks if they want to. But they must realize that they are going against the very ideas that they are running on. Diversity does not come from leaving only your signs standing. Tolerance does not come from trying to make only your ideas known. In these next few days, I urge you all to get to know the candidates better, where they stand on issues, and how they will make change on our campus. Attend the debate in the Fayerweathers on Monday or blitz the candidates about your concerns. Try and determine which ones are truly committed to changing things on our campus and which ones are using the issue solely to get elected. Understanding comes from knowing where these candidates stand and making an informed choice about who we want our student leaders to be.
