To the Editor:
As a prospective student (a mere seven months ago), the aspects of Dartmouth that impressed me were that it was not trying to impress its students with new and modern materialistic allures. The campus was not centered around some trendy strip mall or a string of gourmet coffee houses. What I loved the most about Dartmouth was its friendly atmosphere, breath-taking beauty and a campus life that was steeped in tradition. They even had the largest student club, and one of the oldest, the Dartmouth Outing Club, at the heart of campus. This school valued the experience and tradition of outdoor involvement so much that it would place this building next to the student center, main dining hall, two doors down from the administration office, next to the admissions office and on the college green itself. When I saw that, as a prospective student, I was extremely impressed.
However, the power of the DOC is conveyed not only in its physical presence, but in its activities as well. My DOC trip has been my best experience of Dartmouth so far. There are few colleges that would give an outdoors trip to their incoming first year students, where they really get to know 15 other people before making the transition into a crazy and hectic orientation. The DOC trips, for many, give 'shmen their first glance at the Dartmouth upperclass student body. An excited, enthusiastic, sleep-deprived bunch that proclaim "love it like we do trippees, love Dartmouth like we do" and after the experience, you do. People who would go to this length to give first-years that sense of welcome and homecoming deserve to keep their spot at the heart of the Dartmouth campus.
I come from Ann Arbor, MI, the home of the University of Michigan (U of M). The U of M is known best for, among other things, its great football tradition. It is in this Saturday afternoon experience, where the community flocks to the 108,000 seat field, that many students find their sense of community and unity at U of M. Being in a school with 25,000 students is hard for a freshman to find that sense of welcome and belonging that the first year students at Dartmouth get from the DOC. Last year, in a effort to modernize and become more trendy, the administration at U of M commissioned architects to build a huge, neon yellow ring that would encircle the previously understated stadium with the college's fight song. This tacky halo was the subject of not only student debate, but community concern as well. Why would the U of M want to take the silent glory of its football tradition and encircle it with the bright yellow words "victors, champions and conquering heroes?" In an effort to impress the student body, the administration only ended up with a unified uproar. People loved Michigan for its football tradition that was silent yet powerful, not bathed in being "trendy."
I love Dartmouth, not because it tries to imitate other schools, but because it appreciates its own traditions. This is best exemplified through the Dartmouth Outing Club, in both its programs and illustrious position at the heart of campus. I believe that the Centerbrook relocation plan would hurt this image of Dartmouth. Intending "to do right by DOC concerns," in my opinion, would not entail its relocation.
