The Dean of the College's Office recently convened a working group of administrators to discuss and implement broad-based support services for students and faculty should the United States go to war in Iraq.
The group, dubbed Campus Response to World Events, includes representatives from a host of administrative departments, including the Office of Pluralism and counseling services. In addition, representatives from Dartmouth's graduate schools and the College's branch of the Reserve Officer Training Corps attend the group's weekly meetings. The group contains no student or faculty representatives.
Any drastic action by the group hinges on what remains a tenuous international political situation. However, Dean of Student Life Holly Sateia emphasized the importance of communication between different College divisions given the potential for dramatic changes on campus in the event of war.
"In many ways this college is very decentralized," Sateia said, "but this pulls everyone together to say what the College should do if there is an outbreak of war."
As of this weekend, the group implemented a new BlitzMail bulletin called World Events Information and Resources that provides updates on changes in the international political situation most likely to affect Dartmouth.
"It's a bit like one-stop shopping," Sateia said, noting that given students' busy schedules and attachment to electronic media, a BlitzMail bulletin seemed the best way of reaching everyone with concerns.
The group has also spent considerable time discussing how the campus can best respond to pro or anti-war rallies, since such gatherings have the potential to spin out of control if protestors are not adequately informed of what constitutes permissible behavior, Sateia said.
"We've talked about making sure that students are aware of the rules and regulations about rallies and occupying buildings and things like that," Sateia said. "Certainly rallies can happen as long as they don't disrupt work or destroy property and no one gets hurt."
Past wars have generated varying degrees of student activism in the form of rallies, the most violent example being the storming of Parkhurst Hall on May 6, 1969, to protest U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
Response to the Persian Gulf War was significantly more muted, taking the form of oral and written debate rather than the occupation of campus buildings. The possibility of U.S. military action against Iraq, though, has generated more widespread opposition, with nearly 50 percent of Dartmouth students openly opposing war and the Why War? campaign continuing to be a vocal presence on campus.
The group's other plans include having Rollins Chapel open 24 hours a day to serve a place for group or individual reflection and increased counseling services at Dick's House. Safety and Security is also considering stepped-up patrols as well as an escort service for any students who might be apprehensive about venturing off-campus in the event of war.
The group is modeled after a similar administrative committee created after Sept. 11, 2001, which Sateia said was extremely effective at addressing campus concerns while encouraging a broad range of discourse. The current group's current goal is similar, she added.
"There's a range of opinion on this campus," Sateia said. "If we're doing what we should be doing this college is a marketplace of ideas and those ideas are very diverse."
