To the Editor:
Over the years I have had the benefit of a great deal of helpful advice from a wide variety of sources. The Dartmouth's April 25th editorial, "For the People," which criticized the Student Assembly, brought to mind a piece of advice given to me years ago by a tribal elder. The topic of that advice was leadership. Since so many of you have served this community as leaders and because the complex challenges faced by communities here and elsewhere will require you to provide effective and humane leadership in the future, I would like to share that advice with you today.
"To lead a community, a person must have a skin that is seven times more thick than that of others in the community." That humble message provides an important reminder that the trials of leadership are not for the faint of heart or weak of spirit. Leadership is an arduous, important form of service. It is as likely to require quiet sacrifice as it is to bring praise.
During the two years that I have been back at Dartmouth, it has been clear to me that the student body has been very well served by the leadership of the Student Assembly (SA). The SA leadership has worked diligently to represent the varied interests and opinions of Dartmouth's diverse student body. The advocacy efforts of the SA have led to substantial increases in funding for student organizations and activities, revisions to various fee and fine policies, and expanded cable television offerings, to name just a few of their recent accomplishments. However, while these and other achievements have been important, I believe that the greatest contribution of SA leaders these past two years has been their ability to engage a new generation of emerging campus leaders in taking up the important work of representative governance.
Let us not forget that decisions get made by those who show up to do the work. While the SA might suffer from something of an image problem, we should all acknowledge that SA members and leaders are often disproportionately represented among those who show up to work on behalf of the entire student body. As a social scientist who believes that it is as important to look for evidence that disconfirms the conventional wisdom as it is to gather evidence that supports a common perception, I believe that the SA's image problem is largely that, an issue with image or impression rather than fact.
It would be a shame if criticism of the SA deterred students from continuing recent efforts to strengthen student government or diminished the enthusiasm of those whose efforts have already benefited the student body. Since it will always be easier to criticize than it is to contribute, I hope that those students who are drawn to serve the community will have, as the elder described, a skin that is seven times as thick.
