We are members of the Student Assembly. We are also members of both the community of color and the community of women on the Dartmouth campus. As African-American women attempting to represent the interests of the greatest vision of a "Dartmouth community" we can imagine, we are, unfortunately, not strangers to disappointment.
Oftentimes, it is not the administration nor the faculty of this institution that have dissolved any attempts to realize a more utopian college experience, but fellow students.
While we are all intolerant and prejudiced in more ways than we will allow ourselves to admit in public, some of us are guilty of greater crimes than a disregard for egalitarian ideals. Our Student Assembly President, Jim Rich '96, the man we have served with throughout our time on-campus this academic year, is such an individual.
During the first week of this Spring term, a letter addressed to the "Student Government President" of Dartmouth College arrived. Inside this letter were documents including a pamphlet arguing that the "Gas Chambers" of the holocaust were fictional, a "scientific" diagram which proved that "Negro" persons were "closer" to apes than whites, a sheet of paper that first blamed the assassination of John F. Kennedy on Jews and then stated that "Jews are the children of Satan," a "statistical" analysis of the medical consequences of homosexual sex which concluded that a "Gay's Life span" is "drastically shortened" and pointed out that "violent death" amongst homosexuals was "more common."
To be fair, it is obvious that the envelope sent to the "Student Government President of Dartmouth College" did not bear Rich's name. It is also obvious that whomever sent the envelope did not know that the "Student Government" body of Dartmouth College is known as the Student Assembly. However, it is not the fact that racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic material was sent to Rich which bothers us, (such material could have been sent to anyone and at any time) it is what became of that material after its arrival to the Student Assembly's Hinman Box.
On March 5, 1996 the above material was found lying on the desk of the then Student Assembly office (211G Collis). The material was outside of its envelope and in a prominent position for all passers by to see. The material was discovered by Simone Swink '98 and Unai Montes-Irueste '98, both Assembly members. Montes-Irueste, perhaps motivated by concern over his campaign, or perhaps in a an attempt to avoid direct confrontation with Rich, decided that the best strategy would be to tell the former Vice-President of Academic Affairs, Shakari Cameron '96 and request her to ask Rich about the origins of the aforementioned propaganda. She was to ask him whether or not any such material had previously been sent to the Assembly office and more importantly, why it was left out on display for all to see.
In addition, she was to ask him to write to the senders of the material and request that no such material be sent to Dartmouth ever again.
According to the secondhand information we have received, Rich promised Cameron that he would dispose of the propaganda immediately and apologized for what he admitted to be a very embarrassing and irresponsible "move" on his behalf. Yet, three weeks later, during a meeting of the Membership and Internal Affairs Committee, Kelii Opulauoho '96 discovered the material sitting next to a computer. The material was neatly folded up in the envelope it was sent in, but as it was left leaning against the monitor, when Opulauoho moved the keyboard the contents slipped out of the envelope enough for him to read the horrendousness of one of the articles inside.
Again, according to secondhand information, Opulauoho requested Rich to remove the material from the office (as the envelope was addressed to the "President" Opulauoho did not feel he had the right to remove the envelope) as well as instructing him to write to whomever sent that material "ordering" them to never send anything similar again.
Unfortunately, the warnings and requests of Cameron and Opulauoho would go unheeded. It would not be until after April 14, 1996 that the material would be removed from the office. During another meeting of an Assembly subcommittee on Orthodox Easter (April 14) the material would be spotted once more leaning against the monitor of the Assembly computer.
Surely several more people, other than those already listed above saw this propaganda and did nothing about it. We cannot pretend as if this sort of information is not terribly offensive and absolutely unacceptable. We are offended and disgusted that those who discovered the material did not use it as a rallying cry to the student body of this college. Such material should serve to remind us that there are still organizations who preach and practice extreme and unconditional hate. We cannot pretend that we are immune to being targeted by such groups simply because we lock ourselves in this ivory tower known as Dartmouth for several months at a time.
Let it be known, however, that we have few words of understanding and sympathy that we can offer to Jim Rich. After being told several times of the urgency and severity of disposing of the propaganda, Rich sat on his hands. We all deserve to know what Rich was doing for a month when he wasn't listening to the advice of his peers. We deserve to know why he felt that blatantly homophobic, racist and anti-Semitic material were not worth his attention. Did he ever write to those who sent the "Student Government President" that hideous propaganda and ask them to never send any such material again? We doubt it.
We wish we had known about this sooner. We hope that a majority of the Dartmouth Student body would not ever believe that such hateful material has any basis in truth. However, we fear that many members of the student body would do as Rich did and ignore the power of the hate and irrationality embodied on but a few sheets of paper.
We urge all who read this to understand that this column is not about hateful or intolerant words, but about their ability to enter so easily to body of this institution and poison the minds of those who represent it. If Rich is capable of ignoring the members of his own executive committee, we worry that no member of the student body is capable of denouncing even the most blatant statements of hate in a private setting. There is, after all, nothing subtle about the death of 12 million people during the Holocaust (six million Jews), nor in the description of persons of African descent as sub-human, nor in the proclamation of homosexuals as persons who are necessarily condemned to violent death.
