As last night's forum came to a close, the steering committee co-chairs assured the audience they were open to discussion as they complete their deliberations over the course of Fall term. They offered that students could e-mail them with their suggestions, input and advice to contribute to the process.
Thanks, but that is not a discussion. A discussion should comprise debate and a presentation of real ideas for criticism and suggestion. The Initiative up until this point has had none of this.
The vague outlining of principles and a range of broad possibilities made it so that no real discussion of issues was possible last night. Some possible changes were raised, including common houses, first-year housing and the option of decentralized dining, but no proposals of any detail were put up for debate.
If last night was an example of the discussion that the Trustees have in mind, it does not bode well for the influence that the Dartmouth community will exert on the final decision, and it likely does not bode well for the reaction students will have to the decision.
If the Trustees and the steering committee want the community to accept the decision, they must at some point put their favorite ideas out in the open and convince the community that they are the right ideas.
They must be willing to hear criticism and actually engage the Dartmouth community in real discussion about the merits of their proposals, and they must be willing to do this before they present a report to the Board which will inevitably be viewed as final.
If this process is going to result in a better residential and social life, it will require the backing and input of the entire community. The lip service that has been paid to discussion has resulted only in a repetition of the same principles, and an evasion of any real ideas or debate.
As the committee enters the decision-making phase of the process, its closely guarded doors should finally open to reveal the ideas being discussed, not just a rehashing of the principals announced in February.
If the Trustees and the committee truly want the kind of community spirit they profess to aspire to, that spirit needs to start now and it needs to start with them.
