Last night, the Diversity Peer Program hosted a dinner discussion entitled "Are We Spinning Our Wheels?" at Tindle Lounge in Thayer. The program had both large and small group discussions which were led by trained peer facilitators.
The Diversity Peer Program began as a project with the goal of increasing pluralism and unity on the Dartmouth campus. Part of the idea is to train student leaders to facilitate dialogue about race, sexual orientation and gender.
The goal of the DPP is to raise self-awareness and knowledge, increase dialogue and change the overall campus climate.
An idea called the "Cycle of Frustration" was presented in the introduction to the discussion. This was first brought up by Frances Kendall in her keynote speech at the Beyond the Box conference held at Dartmouth on Feb. 23.
The steps of the cycle are Incident, Response, Programming, Calm, Apathy and Incident. The DPP's goal is to break this cycle and raise awareness of its existence at Dartmouth.
The program then turned into an informal discussion in small groups. The discussions were structured by questions such as "In what ways does Dartmouth promote diversity?" One student, who asked to remain anonymous, said "The administration does promote diversity, but it is up to the students to make the school diverse."
Other students felt that administration viewed diversity in terms of numbers, instead of actual interactions between students. One student brought up the point that on the cover of the '04 Green Book, there was a group of multi-racial students standing together on the Green. Most students agreed that they had never seen such a group at Dartmouth.
Many students appeared to feel that the "Cycle of Frustration" exists at Dartmouth. Some mentioned the Psi Upsilon fraternity controversy and said the Dartmouth community was moving into the apathy phase of the cycle at this point. "There's a candlelight vigil on the Green, and then it's over," Tracy Davis '01 said.
Also addressed was the question "Do you find yourself promoting the cycle?" Many students spoke about being afraid to share their views on certain subjects. Alexander Taylor '04 said, "Not doing anything is the safe way out. I don't say things because I don't want to cause conflict."
Donald Jolly, Jr., '04 shared a story about how he once wore a sign that said, "We need love." He said that while he was wearing the sign, he was afraid to speak to other people because of what they would say.
Another point that was brought up during the discussion was the communication breakdowns between students. Aaron Akamu '01 blamed The Dartmouth for the lack of real communication. Akamu said, "The Dartmouth hinders communication and dialogue because students respond to what is written in The Dartmouth, not to the actual incident."
Some students blamed the D-Plan for hindering multi-cultural communication and change. Other students pointed to the "self-segregation" of many students into particular groups. Still others said that more communication is needed between the administration and the students.
The evening ended with a promise from the leaders of the DPP to continue to have more programs and discussions about the issue of diversity at Dartmouth. They also promised not to allow the DPP to fall into the "Cycle of Frustration."
