To the Editor:
Each fall, just after Thanksgiving and before the end of classes, someone gets a big tree and places it in the center of the green. The tree is strung with lights, a sound system is set up, and a lighting ceremony happens. Then there is a party.
Each year, at least for the past several years, there has also been a series of questions asked by members of the community: What is the name of this tree? Who sets it up? Who pays for the tree and the lights and the sound system? Who determines who sings and what is sung? Because the tree itself appears only near the end of the term and the questions are asked even closer to the beginning of exams, the conversation usually ends without answers, to be revived again the following year.
During the winter and spring terms of 1997, a small of group of people met to discuss these questions, research some of the answers and make suggestions to the Dartmouth community. Convened by Scott Brown, Dean of the Tucker Foundation, the "Committee on the Tree" was chaired by Daniel Siegel (only at Dartmouth could a rabbi chair such a committee!) and included three students, three chaplains and a representative from the Office of Public Programs who helped us with our research. The text of our report is available from the Student Assembly and the Tucker Foundation.
What struck us repeatedly is the complexity of the issues involved and the difficulty of finding a solution that would be satisfying to all. For example, can one particular religion's celebration truly be open to, and accommodating of, others? Some suggest that this can be accomplished by seeking the "lowest common denominator," stressing only the universal in the religion's celebration in hopes that it will welcome "outsiders." This, we believe, is what happened when the name of the December celebrations changed from "Christmas" to "Holiday."
Another example of the complexity of this issue is the music sung at the lighting ceremony. For many Christians on campus, it is imperative that Christmas (i.e. explicitly Christian) music be included in the lighting ceremony, since this is their groups' only opportunity to celebrate Christmas before students head home for the holidays. At the same time, other Christians note that Christmas music should not be included because the season on the church calendar is Advent, a time of waiting and preparation for Christmas, and not yet Christmas. Thus, opinions vary even among Christians.
Finally, we wrestled with issues of power, specifically the significance that the tree originates in the dominant, most populous religion's tradition and thus can feel like an inappropriate imposition on those of other, smaller religious traditions. Christmas, it seems to us, is categorically different than the celebration of any other religious time because it represents the most prominent, most visible religious holiday of the year and it comes from the most powerful, largest religious group. All these issues deserve careful consideration.
Our report does contain some specific recommendations which represent the consensus of the committee. These are:
(1) The tree is a Christmas tree and that is its name.
(2)The singing of Christian religious music at the lighting ceremony is appropriate and encouraged.
(3) The final choice of songs should be left to the Glee Club or whichever group is singing. The program should continue to be a Dartmouth event and the funding should remain as it is.
The purpose of making these public is only to help begin a larger discussion. We believe that the most important result of having this committee meet when it did is the possibility of engaging the campus in a thoughtful process starting now and concluding before Thanksgiving. The conclusions of that conversation could result in a policy around the tree which would be public, understandable and acceptable. In order for that to happen, however, both individuals and groups with a strong interest in this issue need to become active in that discussion. While the follow-up efforts to be initiated by the Tucker Foundation will concentrate on finding the people with whom such consultation will be most significant, we also realize that not all the interested parties are easy to identify and locate. We therefore urge readers to volunteer to participate by contacting the Tucker Dean's office or the Student Assembly and to share this invitation with those (few) Dartmouth students who might have missed today's issue.
Finally, we have one personal contribution to make. We believe that the full name of the tree is the "Christmas Tree." We do believe that the Christmas Tree should remain on the green, representing as it does a holiday celebration observed by the very large majority of both the Dartmouth and local communities. At the same time, we think that its placement at the very center of the green, the symbolic center of our lives in Hanover, implies that everyone celebrates Christmas. Our suggestion is that, in coming years, the Christmas Tree be moved some distance off the center, symbolically announcing that this is a holiday for the majority of the community, but not its totality.
