The passion and emotion surrounding the Trustees' Initiative hasmanifested itself in a student body split in two opposing directions, and this lack of a clear direction made itself apparent at the Student Assembly meeting last night. There were two distinct schools of thought - give them just enough so that they will allow the Greek system to stay, or give as little as possible in the hopes of holding out.
Sponsors of the resolution said they were excited about their proposal, but in its defense they argued more that students "must" except change than that they "should" except change. Instead of having a discussion over whether the working groups' ideas would make Dartmouth a better place, discussion at the Assembly meeting centered around what the Trustees might be willing to accept and when it is better to compromise instead of to fight.
What was demonstrated at the Assembly meeting is the wrong way for the student body to approach this Initiative. The Trustees have laid out a set of ideals - a set of ideals almost everyone on this campus claims to agree with in spirit.
Students must take those ideals, and with them in mind propose something we are legitimately excited about - something we believe can make Dartmouth a better place. We can ignore this opportunity and instead worry about what we can get away with. We can dig in our heels and say we can't try to think of anything better because if we give an inch the Trustees will take a mile. But if we do that then we are betraying ourselves and we are betraying the future students who will live with the model which will be created in the next year.
Maybe we want more houses, all of which are less residential, maybe we want no residential houses, but what are we doing trying to frame our model to what we think the Trustees will like?
We know what being an undergraduate at Dartmouth in 1999 is about, and we know what is important to us. It is our responsibility to make changes we want to make, keep things we want to keep and reject things we want to reject. If the Trustees decide they know better, then so be it. But it should not be the students themselves who say the Trustees know better, for then who will speak for the students?
The Trustees have asked the student body to trust them that no decisions have yet been made. Some would argue they have already made up their minds and student opinion will not be counted. But for Dartmouth's sake, for her present and her future, let's take them at their word for now.
Let's come up with the best proposal possible for what Dartmouth should be, without thinking of changes as concessions or proposals as acts of groveling, and if the bulldozers still come we will deal with that then. At least we'll know we were fighting for what we truly believed was best and not for something we think will pacify someone else.
