In their guest column "Is this Apathy?" in
the Feb. 21 issue of The Dartmouth, Janos Marton '04 and Karsten Barde '04 assert, "Denouncing student apathy is rarely productive and most often unnecessary." Their column also claims that some organizations, such as the Dartmouth Greens, are able to motivate and incite Dartmouth students toward activism through offering a plethora of interesting and exciting activities. We commend the Greens' success in attracting and sustaining a strong, energetic and active membership. However, in an attempt to both prove their point and promote their own organization, Mr. Barde and Mr. Marton consistently cite the Dartmouth Young Democrats as an example of a misled group that fails to retain or enthuse its members. As two of the officers of the Young Democrats, we assure you this claim could not be further from the truth and we feel that belittling student activism (especially inaccurately) is rarely productive and most often unnecessary.
We could not agree more with Marton and Barde's statement that "All people interested in a group must be offered something of significance to do or they will feel like driftwood in the organization." The realization of this goal is an important and necessary step for any student organization hoping to contend with student apathy. However, this useful point is undermined by their false representation of our organization. For example, Marton claims that the Young Democrats offer mostly tedious and insignificant political opportunities to its members. If Marton had chosen to research more thoroughly, he would have found that the Young Democrats are involved with many exciting and worthwhile political events and have -- with an active membership of over 30 students -- a tremendous impact on the New Hampshire political environment.
In the past nine months, for example, we have brought U.S. Congressman Barney Frank and N.H. State Senator Mark Fernald to campus. We have also attended political events throughout New Hampshire in which we have had the pleasure to interact with national political figures such as Al Gore, Joe Lieberman, Jeanne Shaheen and John Edwards. In addition, our membership regularly participates in grassroots campaigning, such as monitoring activities in Washington, D.C. and Concord and researching legislative actions for political candidates. Furthermore, students who do not have formal leadership positions in our organization coordinate much of this work, refuting the claim that our members may "feel like driftwood within the organization."
Marton and Barde's efforts to reveal the often "invisible" activism of Dartmouth students may have been better served had they stuck to the issue at hand. Instead, they chose to falsely criticize one student organization that is in fact an integral part of this overlooked activism. For example, how did they further their point with the statement "[W]e seem to have an easier time attracting students than the dollar-driven, 200-year-old Democratic Party?" If the purpose of their column is to underscore student activism at Dartmouth and not promote their own organization's agenda, then they should have used the accomplishments of the Young Democrats to support their thesis instead of disparaging us. Just because our organizations do not agree politically does not mean the authors of "Is this Apathy?" had to deny our substantial contribution to social activism.
We are glad to hear the Dartmouth Greens have successfully engaged students, but their unnecessary and entirely inaccurate statements about our organization only further those perceptions of apathy that Marton and Barde are trying to dispel. The two authors maintain, in a criticism of another column, "When it comes time to evaluate the impact of activism at Dartmouth, it is best to begin by looking broadly and deeply " Obviously, in writing "Is this Apathy?" they felt it unnecessary to abide by their own standards, ignoring the accomplishments of those not of the same political persuasion. For representatives of activists who are "quietly plugging along without making much noise at all," when they do choose to speak out they should avoid hypocrisy and strive, above all else, for integrity.
