I've never been the type of guy anyone would describe as "brimming with self-confidence." In fact, I can be downright shy in many situations. Since I'm not a psychology major, I won't even begin to try to figure out why I always walk with my head down, why I'm constantly afraid to talk in class, or why my palms sweat when I talk to girls. Lucky for me, I don't have to figure out what deep-seeded inadequacies make me the overly self-conscious, self-effacing lout that I am. The College has figured it all out for me: I'm not a person of "high-ability."
In its Student Life Initiative recommendations report, the steering committee stopped at nothing to insult current Dartmouth students. Not satisfied with merely attacking the organizations that a large number of Dartmouth students hold dear, the steering committee went on to attack the very people for whom they presumably work -- current and future Dartmouth students. The report expressed disappointment in Dartmouth's ability to attract "high-ability" students, which implies that a good portion of those of us who actually were attracted to what-once-was-Dartmouth, are somewhat less than "high-ability." In defense of the steering committee's name-calling, Senior College administrators shifted the blame to -- where else -- the students themselves, essentially saying that anyone who was offended by the use of the phrase "high-ability" must have had misconceptions about its use.
Since I'm not very "high-ability," maybe I am misunderstanding the wording in the steering committee's report. To make sure I was reading the report properly, I called up some friends of mine at Harvard and Yale to see if they could help interpret it for me. My Harvard friend was too busy practicing cello while translating Latin and doing complex physics problem sets in his head. My Yale friend wanted to explain the report to me in small, easy-to-understand words, but he couldn't stay on the phone that long; he was in the middle of getting mugged.
But what's wrong with misconceptions? Dean Karl Furstenberg, according to an article in Friday's edition of The Dartmouth, mentioned that the "common perception among some high school seniors from Hong Kong, where he was recruiting last year, was that Dartmouth was 'a place where everyone drinks a lot and hangs out at fraternities.'" Well, that sounds pretty good to me, being the beer-swilling Neanderthal that the College automatically assumes I am simply because I belong to a fraternity. But Dartmouth isn't about me. Who cares what I think? Who cares what I want out of my Dartmouth experience? I'm worthless in the eyes of the College. I've never spoken with a Trustee and the only time James Wright has ever spoken to me was to offer condolences after the Red Sox were ousted in the play-offs last year and he saw me wearing my Sox hat. Dean Furstenberg can travel all the way to Hong Kong to ask some high school kids what they think about Dartmouth, a place they have never been to, but he could care less what I think about it.
As a white male American from the Northeast, I don't exactly help the College in its quest for diversity. As an outspoken supporter of the Greek system, I'm not going to be the poster-boy for any new "social alternative" the administration thinks up. Maybe I perpetuate a stereotype or embody misconceptions about this college. Maybe I am the status quo and, as Wright and Trustee Dentzer are wont to say, "the College can never be happy with the status-quo."
I'd like to think that I know a little more about Dartmouth than a handful of Hong Kong high school students. But I'd also like to think that the administration would care about what I need and want out of this school more than they would care about what misconceptions those high school students have of Dartmouth. There might be thousands of high school seniors who chose not to attend Dartmouth because of some misconception they have of this place. But not one of them coughs up $33,000 a year to come here. There might be thousands of current applicants who are, according to the College Board, more "high-ability" than I am. But not one of them currently adds anything to the Dartmouth community.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for improving Dartmouth and I agree that we should strive to make this college a better place for all kinds of students. But it pains me to see the College turn its back on its current student body in favor of hollow statistical projections, hypothetical applicants, or misguided perceptions. Despite everything the administration has done or is trying to do to change this place, I haven't regretted for one second coming to Dartmouth. But then again, maybe I made a mistake. After all, us non-high-ability students are prone to mistakes.
