Students returning to campus undoubtedly notice the new call boxes that the College has installed outside its dormitories.
The industrial steel consoles clash with Dartmouth's colonial architecture just as the notion of a security system jars our perception of an idyllic rural campus. Nonetheless, an institution that famously resisted door locks now acknowledges their necessity after 2001, a year in which women didn't feel safe in their showers, two students were assaulted early on an Saturday morning and professors Half and Susanne Zantop were killed in their nearby Etna home.
To Dartmouth, it seemed that there could be no greater shock than a double-murder in the Upper Valley, but on Sept. 11, we -- and all of the United States -- learned otherwise. Horrific terrorist attacks roused Americans from the sense of invulnerability we had enjoyed since the end of the Cold War.
The trauma occurred on vastly different scales, but the effect was the same -- Dartmouth and the nation realized that they can't operate in a vacuum. As wounds heal, both should embrace awareness of their role in a larger community. Rebuilding the walls of ignorance will only give us another false sense of security. We can achieve a more realistic security by understanding the consequences of our behavior outside an imagined sphere of isolation.
Under the 2003 Directorate, The Dartmouth will do its part to foster this understanding by bringing you coverage that challenges the boundaries of Dartmouth news. As a central source of information, we have the unique ability to pursue questions that might otherwise go unasked. We also have the responsibility to provide a wide range of voices so that readers can better grasp the complexity of their world.
Total understanding -- and thus total security -- is impossible. But we will build on a 200-year-old tradition of keeping this community informed so that you can participate in it with confidence.
