With last week's protests at Parkhurst Hall, this College finally showed that it has both some soul and some spine. Even though the protests were a little disorganized and, at times, seemed to blend too many disparate voices, I commend the effort and applaud the leaders and participants. If your goal is to make a little noise and wake people from their so-called apathetic slumbers, cacophony is as effective as harmony. And maybe Dartmouth doesn't have the whole student-activism thing down to a science like Columbia or UC-Berkeley, but if you're ultimately going to be ignored in the end (or just given lip-service from indifferent Trustees), isn't being heard as good as being understood? On this campus, it's a Herculean task in and of itself just to get 90 people fired up over anything that doesn't involve free t-shirts or beer, right? If, in the end, this turns out to be just like every other newsworthy event (something happens, there's a campus-wide stir, letters get sent to the editor, administrators put their spin on the situation, committees get formed, subcommittees get formed, time goes by, people lose interest, etc.), at least the people crying out in the rain on the Parkhurst lawn can say they did their part to make this a better place.
And when you think about it, isn't that enough? Even if the Trustees take the predictable route and show their usual dose of superficial concern for the demands set forth by the protesters and then forget about the whole thing until the next time they're dragged back up here, isn't it enough that we spoke up? It depends on your outlook.
$130,000 over four years is a pretty big price to pay for anything less than perfection and, as the protesters made clear on Friday, Dartmouth falls far short of perfection. But you know what? So does any other college in America, or anywhere else for that matter. Yes, we could use a centrally located Women's Resource Center. Yes, the education department needs to stay (I think anyone calling the education department too vocational for a liberal arts college obviously hasn't seen the hordes of econ majors lining up to sell their souls for signing bonuses at Goldman Sachs). Yes, we need to improve the Greek system and implement viable and attractive (read: not Poison Ivy) social alternatives. But even if all those goals are realized, Dartmouth College will never be all things for all people, so dwelling on the negatives can only get you so far. Let's not look at the things we don't have (this coming from a guy who, while white, male and American, still manages to find endless things to complain about). Let's look at the things we do have.
Not to wax Anne Frank-ish, but, in spite of everything I still believe that Dartmouth really is good at heart. In the past, I've criticized the administration for being indifferent or out of touch, but that's only because I'm lazy and it's easier to criticize someone else than it is to initiate change. In truth, we're blessed with an administration that actually expends a great deal of time and energy trying to find out what we, the students, want. Just because all our desires haven't been met yet doesn't necessarily mean that they've fallen on deaf ears. All things considered, we have just about everything you could ask for in a school. We have top-notch professors who make themselves approachable and available to all students; an impressive foreign study program (my own FSP disappointments not withstanding); we've got a beautiful campus situated in a quaint New England town. We're maybe two or three dorms short of being an outstanding residential college, but those will come in time. The social scene is not without some serious, fundamental flaws, but even overhauling the entire Greek system isn't going to stop certain people from being misogynistic or intolerant -- and at least the beer's cheap.
Dartmouth's not perfect and Hanover sure as hell ain't no Eden, but things can get better. Stay passionate, remain forever unsatisfied with the status quo, fight the good fight. But don't lose sight of the positives in your attempt to root out the negatives. If there's one thing I learned about myself and Dartmouth over the past few terms, it's that things can only be as good as you let them be. Strive for the things you want, but appreciate the things you have. This is starting to sound like a bad graduation speech, so I'll cut it short before I start gushing about a place I usually gripe about.
After struggling to keep this piece completely devoid of sarcasm and free from the cheap shots I usually resort to, I've come to the conclusion that, when writing columns, it's a lot easier and a lot more fun to be bitter and cynical. But every now and again, the other half of the story needs to be told.
