Last week, the Student Assembly hosted a dinner where students could express their visions for the College. This is nothing unusual. Events like the student protests outside Parkhurst Hall last spring and last week's dinner only provide dramatic interludes in what is an ongoing process of rethinking and renewal on campus.
The demands of students are myriad. However, one common theme prevails. In this newspaper, and in many other forums on campus, students have expressed frustration at what seemed to them to be "procrastination" on the part of the administration. Parkhurst Hall has been too slow to respond to student opinion. Some demands, such as housing, are probably older than President Wright himself. Other student requests, so goes the argument, are routinely ignored. In other words, forums like last week's dinner are meaningless rituals in which the administration performs an elegant dance of pretentious interaction with the students before retreating again to the comfort and isolation of its offices.
This misconception is not only wrong, but reflects poorly on anyone who tries to argue for it. It assumes a far too simplistic understanding of how institutions work and undermines the progress that the College has made over the years. A better understanding of the situation would be useful and some degree of maturity essential.
Take student housing, for example. Critics of the administration have cited the "tree houses" as the price of administrative foot-dragging on building new dorms. On the contrary, I would give credit to the folks at the Office of Residential Life for managing to build those houses in the space of a few weeks. Unpleasant though they may be, the tree houses provide temporary relief to the housing crunch. One only hopes that the houses remain what they are supposed to be -- temporary.
At the same time, critics routinely ignore the College's grand plans for the Maynard Street parking lot. Before anyone accuses the administration of not dealing with the problem of student housing, let that person know that by 2004, a new complex will be ready to welcome 400-500 students. The architect for this project has already been selected and there is already a committee formed -- with student representatives on board -- to provide feedback on the designs. This is not classified information, but a development previously reported by The Dartmouth.
Some clear-headed thinking will reveal the magnitude of this project. Every detail of the new dorms, down to the color of the carpet, remains yet to be decided. Before the existing parking lot can be cleared, space must be found for the cars that park there, which means more time will be needed to build a replacement parking facility. Conceivably, whatever steam tunnels, telephone or electrical wires that run under the parking lot will need to be shifted lest we leave the medical school freezing in the dark.
This plan will take time, time that the critics seem to be unwilling to hand out to Parkhurst Hall. Unfortunately, the irony of their argument is such that if they want student housing fast, what they will get are rows upon rows of tree houses. Presumably, that will set off another round of complaints.
Dartmouth College is an institution, not a lump of Play-doh. Play-doh can be quickly shaped according to the artist's whim; institutions can't. This college has a history of nearly 233 years; most students can only claim a Dartmouth experience of not more than four years. The administration not only answers to the students, but it has a duty toward the trustees, the alumni, the faculty and anyone else whose fate is intertwined with that of the College. These are constraints that critics ignore.
At the same time, critics fail to understand the limitations of the administration itself. President Wright has only served in the post of president since 1998. To put that in perspective, the '02s were only freshmen then. Dean of the College James Larimore has been here only since 1999. The current team in Parkhurst Hall cannot possibly be blamed for the failings of the previous administrations that have occurred in the past 229 years. President Wright and Dean Larimore are humans as well. Beside radically changing this college, they have to tend to the day- to-day running of this place. Susan Wright and Karen Larimore expect them to be home every evening. Given their limitations (and that of the College's budget), President Wright and Dean Larimore have to assign priorities to the student requests that come their way.
When priorities are right and resources available, Parkhurst Hall can be very quick to respond to student demands. The Pavilion is a good example. The impetus for a kosher-halal dining facility came from students just last year. Now, this idea has been translated into reality. It helped, of course, that Westside in Thayer Hall was empty anyway and that new pots and pans were not difficult or too expensive to get.
When we go to McDonald's, we are asked for our order, not for our vision of the next meal. Visions are ambitions that will take time to be realized. Similarly, when we speak of our vision of Dartmouth, we cannot expect to see Dartmouth transformed the very next day, or even in the four years that we are here. Four years in this college's history of 233 years is a very short time.
Nonetheless, changes that bring the College forward are always welcome. We shouldn't, however, overemphasize the importance of our personal crusades. There is probably much work to be done -- and many hard choices to make. Instead of grumbling about the slow pace of change, perhaps we should celebrate each progressive step we make. A step forward, however small, does bring us nearer to the vision we all share. A little less ignorance and a modicum of understanding will probably help as well.
