If Daniel Webster had been alive two hundred years later and living on-campus, his now-famous speech would probably have been something to the effect of, "As I have said, sir, it is a small college, but there are those who...wait, what the heck happened to my shampoo?"
The fact is that while I'd like to remember sophomore summer as the term when I may have skipped class a little too much, played a lot of disc and got a pretty uneven tan in the process, I'll also remember it as the term that I discovered, for better or worse, what some students take to be the meaning of the term "community" at Dartmouth.
One of the obvious benefits of on-campus living is a person's proximity to so many fellow undergraduates. At the beginning of each term it usually takes students in a new dorm a while to get accustomed to their surroundings and to begin recognizing many of their neighbors, but after that period the arrangement can prove very satisfying.
The Administration's plan for a tightly knit residential College community becomes a few steps closer to reality. People get together and order food on those nights when studying, although necessary, is out of the question. A friend from across the hall comes by to borrow some amenity instead of going to Topside or Grand Union, or just comes over to shoot the breeze. Everyone begins to feel warm and fuzzy on the inside, and usually happy to be home.
This has always been the case for me. I tried living off-campus last winter, but quickly discovered that there is no substitute for a computer with convenient blitzmail hook-up and a hallway that never goes to sleep. I will always be more than eager to share my advice, extra food and even some of my toiletries if need be. If I am asked, that is.
Back in the Fall when I lived in Topliff, for my convenience I left a bottle of shampoo in the bathroom, on top of the shower, just to watch it disappear from that spot in a matter of days. I was a little upset, but I dismissed the incident as an act of desperation by someone who on a regular basis more than likely had very dirty hair and no shampoo. Even so, he could have just left it there and shared it with me without my knowledge, instead of removing it entirely. I got over it, though. It was only shampoo.
I returned to Topliff at the beginning of the summer to once again try my hand at community living after spending the winter in an apartment and spring term in the Lodge. I quickly discovered, to my dismay, that it wasn't "only shampoo." After I went shopping during the first week of the term, I left a half-gallon of milk in the refrigerator in the kitchen, because it wouldn't fit in mine. A few days later the seal had been broken and half of it was gone.
One day a couple of weeks ago I was having trouble locking my cabinet in the kitchen, so I left it unlocked, but closed. I went back the next afternoon to find most of my cookware and some of my food missing. Still I remained unmoved, until the other morning when I went down to the laundry room to pick up some clothes I had left there only overnight. Everything was fine, unless you count those two pairs of new khaki shorts that were missing.
Simply because we live in a community does not mean that an individual's provisions belong to everyone else; in that respect, belongings are a lot like ideas. I don't mean to condemn everyone in Topliff for what were probably the acts of a few, but remember that it only takes one act of treason to turn the tide of an entire war. A community is a lot like a nation during wartime, or a machine; in order for the whole to be most successful, all of its parts should be in working order and doing what is proper.
I prefer not to believe that this trend is indicative of a widespread degeneration in public morality. It could be that I am missing something here. It could be the heat. However, I give everyone at such an elite school credit for simple things like recognizing and honoring property rights. Leaving perishables in a public refrigerator or doing laundry should not be worrisome tasks, and they do not have to be.
As a student body, if we ever want to help achieve a true "community" at Dartmouth in the these next two years, respect for other people and their property by everyone involved should be a primary ideal. It's less about eating someone else's leftovers than it is the precedent that it tacitly sets.
Remember that the next time you toss someone else's clean laundry aside, turn your radio up to an insane level at a strange hour or trivially gossip about someone else's misfortune, if nothing else you're unraveling the trust of one person, one thoughtless act at a time. By the way, keep the milk and the cookware. Just give me back the shorts.
