The number of top-quality high school students attracted to our school is falling. We no longer impress the brightest, most creative, most interesting students as a place worth educating them. And why should we? Minority and female students keep reading headlines about campus intolerance, bigotry, and the good-old boys. The good-old boys that used to be our bread and butter are reading headlines about the end of the Greek system. We have a reputation as a conservative school, so we can't attract liberals, but our conservative views are met with overwhelming backlash so we can't attract conservatives either. Both the Dartmouth Outing Club and the Greek system cater to upper-middle to upper class white kids, so it's hard to get folks from urban areas or international students. And everything is expensive (including our reputation) so we can't get low-income students. We've tried to administrate and regulate these problems away for years and years -- every term it's the same problems and more rules and regulations and initiatives appear to remedy those problems. What boggles my mind is that we keep trying as if these things will eventually work. It won't. Intelligent, interesting, thoughtful students are attracted to schools where they will be both supported and disagreed with, where the flow of new ideas, thoughts, and debates is constant, exciting, and sometimes infuriating.
I would like to propose that the '01 class gift be a soapbox. Until last Friday, I would have assumed such a gift would go unused, except maybe as a late-night urinal. However, the protests proved me wrong -- both because of the organizers and participants who left their rooms and skipped their classes to get involved and the dissenters who made a similar effort to voice their disagreement. It was the first time I've ever seen students get angry or excited about a cause outside of the Op-Ed section and Commonground forums.
It should be a chunk of granite about two and a half feet high (so that a handicapped speaker could still be lifted onto it if necessary) with a plaque in the front displaying the only rules:
1.Anyone can speak for as long as they choose.
2.You must speak with your own voice.
These are the keys to the success of the soapbox. It doesn't matter who is on the soapbox -- townspeople, political prisoners, lunatics, convicts, students, professors, even administrators all have the right to stand on the box until they are done delivering their message, whether it be offensive, incoherent, pertinent, nonsensical, or just silent. No one will ever feel threatened by the act of physical removal. At the same time, they cannot use microphones, megaphones, or bullhorns to proclaim their message, because it is intended only for an audience of those that want to hear and choose to stand in the area -- not the people trying to relax on the Green or enjoy a meal inside. There is an additional point to these rules. Some would argue that this podium will just facilitate the majority drowning out the opinion of the minority, and that we already have an open forum for opinion in the form of The Dartmouth's Op-Ed section. Well, it is easy for someone to offend others or spout hatred (in either direction) from the comfort of their dorm or the porch of a Greek House or the living room of an affinity house. But very few will stand up in front of a crowd of strangers, on neutral ground, away from their sanctuaries and purposefully hurt those that they're speaking to unless it is something they truly believe in. And if it is something that they truly believe in, then you cannot administrate those feelings away. What you can do is wait for them to finish and stand on the soapbox yourself to explain why they are wrong.
For those who keep crying for more personal responsibility, this is your chance. Facing a crowd in person, with your own unadulterated voice, means that you will be absolutely responsible for everything you say. For those asking to be empowered, when you are on the soapbox you have the power to say anything you choose, and command the attention of the center of campus with your message. For those looking for a return to academics, get up there and speak about your history thesis, or the effects of logging on rare newts, or a breakthrough in astrophysics. For those that know they are about to hear something they don't want to, stand up on the box and filibuster. For those that want to respond, either heckle or wait your turn. For those that don't want to hear it, just get out of earshot. For the lunatics, get up and rant about the apocalypse. And for those in a good mood, get up and make me laugh, funny-man. The College will have a chance to prove it believes in its students by supporting everyone's right to stand on the soapbox.
With this soapbox, Dartmouth will have something truly unique to offer top-quality students. At the same time, I believe this would be something only top-quality students could handle. It is a statement of belief in debate and discussion as an integral component of our education, and it's something our college desperately needs to help its students get excited again about academics, politics, social issues, and this school. '01s, this could be our legacy. Beats the crap out of another park bench
