When the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Stephen Bosworth, rejected the Student Assembly's request to grant students the right to vote in trustee elections, he justified his rejection by stating, "We're aware of student views and student opinions." According to The Dartmouth, he furthermore cited that such an initiative would involve changes in the Charter of the College (actually the Alumni Association constitution) -- which is an "arduous process."
This is going to sound extreme, but when I heard this I couldn't help but be reminded of a black and white gangster movie I watched at two in the morning while eating EBAs breadsticks. In one murder scene on a boat deck, the victim pitifully lamented the potential lack of buoyancy of his concrete shoes. The chief hitman, who tired of his whining, said, "We are aware you don't like to get wet," as he shoved him overboard.
Ooh, the irony. So what is my point aside from libelously drawing parallels betwixt the Chairman of the Trustees and Al Capone's nephew?
There are individuals who have never even received a Dartmouth degree who have the right to vote in trustee elections. According to the constitution of the Alumni Association, "Every person who has ever matriculated as a full-time student ... become[s] a member [of the Alumni Association] for life on the normal Commencement date for his or her class." Students who spend one term here, and then drop out, have earned the privilege to vote in trustee elections once their "class" graduates. Does the Board of Trustees really contend that such dropouts have a greater sense of responsibility to the College than current students?
At the time the charter was written, the administration and trustees of the College were missionaries, and the students were Indians subject to religious conversion. Chairman Bosworth, by citing the need to maintain the Charter, do you honestly intend to argue that the relationship established between imperialist Colonists and exploited Indians is a relationship that promotes a healthy environment on the plains of Hanover today? The charter should be seen as a living document like the Constitution of the United States. Otherwise the power dynamic which insists that students are second rate citizens of this community will persist, and the little flea of student voice will continually be brushed aside by the enormous bureaucracy of the small College.
It is through the filter of this bureaucracy that Chairman Bosworth becomes "aware" of the opinions of students -- he and the other Trustees do, after all, have eyes and ears. They can see 72,000 pennies if you stack them high enough. I'm not going to pretend though that this is a burning student issue. People aren't going to hold a candlelight vigil over it, much less transport another ton of copper from Fort Knox.
The request of the Student Assembly, however, never even received a serious deliberation from the rest of the board. It would take 75% of the members at the annual Alumni Association meeting, or roughly 25 people, to vote in favor of amending the constitution. Instead of throwing his considerable weight in favor of the rightful change, Chairman Bosworth shoveled the entire issue off onto the College's legal counsel Cary Clark -- who promptly photocopied 15 pages of the student handbook to more fully delineate students' roles in the committee structure of the College. It barely took Chairman Bosworth's pinky finger to flick off that little Student Assembly flea.
The problem is, I'm not a flea -- and neither is the Student Assembly. If anything, I'm more like a tick. Anyone in Parkhurst will tell you I like to get under your skin. I find an open sore spot, and I dig and dig on behalf of my peers, until all of my fellow student "ticks" can be nestled comfortably in the debaucherous sanguinity which we have been denied for two centuries. Oooh -- you've got to love that imagery (c'mon, please?). I hope you think of us the next time you scratch that sore on your gluteus Chairman Bosworth. Students deserve the right to vote for those who govern their lives. It is a simple, fundamental human right.
