Seems quiet around here with the primaries now over. But for the past 120 days, some of us have been making a lot of noise. It all started last summer. We felt that since Dartmouth is in New Hampshire, we ought to bring a presidential debate to campus. OK, maybe it's happened before, but we wanted the current student body to experience it. Initially started as a BuzzFlood venture, the project took on a life of its own. It was a roller coaster ride -- we went from having all the major Democratic presidential candidates on board to experiencing one of the greatest disappointments imaginable. Here's the story:
The original plan was to host a healthcare debate with former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop '37 moderating. Koop agreed to the plan and key administrators gave us the green light. We were supposed to "seal the deal" -- get the candidates, media, etc. We would then turn over some of the operation to the folks at the College who know their stuff way better than we do. But soon we realized that a "debate" was too ordinary.
We wanted to bring a moral discussion beyond politics -- something more academic -- to Dartmouth's campus. Our invitation quoted civil rights hero Martin Luther King, Jr.: "If any of the other policy discussions taking place right now -- education, taxes, health care, etc. -- are going to have any meaning, we must first provide for a healthy America."
Thus, we decided to host a roundtable discussion Jan. 25 entitled, "Healing America from Head to Toe." And we found huge successes in organizing it. All of the major candidates confirmed their attendance. Moreover, several networks were interested in broadcasting the event, including FOX, CNN and CBS.
This wasn't a debate, but a unique roundtable discussion. Professor Norm Ornstein, resident scholar of the American Enterprise Institute, agreed to moderate the discussion. Other confirmed panelists were Koop and Martin Luther King III. The format was to be an informal discussion where Professor Ornstein would ask a candidate, say, Dr. Howard Dean, for his healthcare plan. Then we would hear from the expert, Dr. Koop, on what his thoughts were.
But things took a turn for the kooky. Healing America was canceled by some of the folks at the Rockefeller Center because an invitation was accidentally sent to a fringe candidate who was running for president, and he accepted. A few of these administrators thought it was better to cancel the entire event rather than have a "fringe candidate" show up. We were dumbfounded. Do you cancel the entire party if one bad invitation goes out? Especially when you have guests such as Kerry, Dean, Edwards, Lieberman, Kucinich, Sharpton, Koop, King and Ornstein involved. Wasn't there someway to deal with the fringe candidate that didn't involve shutting down the whole show?
To be sure, we tried to salvage the thing. Dr. Koop and others called to see if Rocky would reverse its decision. To have this event killed went against our dreams -- to fill Spaulding auditorium with Dartmouth students, and not only bring Healing America to Dartmouth, but enshrine it in the state Democratic party that every four years Dartmouth would be guaranteed a "Healing America" roundtable. We felt slighted and trampled upon. An epic presidential discussion had been swept under the rug, and we just didn't understand why it had to be that way.
After the event was cancelled, confusion was paramount. Candidates and schedulers called asking why it had been cancelled. To them, "Healing America" stood apart from all other debates because its unique concept was based on substance. To quote Sen. John Edwards' scheduler: "Is the event on or off? We are still interested."
As a last resort, in the spirit of persistence and service to the student body, the Student Assembly acted under the leadership of Janos Marton '04 and Noah Riner '06 to act independently from the College and host an event by students for students. What followed was a flurry of activity -- most of the candidates were re-confirmed but the event did not come to fruition for reasons beyond our control.
We learned that dreaming big can bring you to the brink. Several times during the past four months many believed this discussion was "dead." Persistence can take you far. If a bunch of students came this far, imagine what we can do together next time? Moreover, the assembled team was incredible: former President Jimmy Carter, Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, Sen. Max Cleland, Gen. Wes Clark, Dr. Koop, as well as students: Nick Baum '05, Christian Weeks '05, Elisabeth Smith '05, Adam Small '04, David Gardner '05 and James Baehr '05.
It was close but no cigar. But, you know what, we'll take close, because coming close to victory and being blocked is better than never taking the dangerous step towards excellence. And rugged excellence is the very fiber of Dartmouth.