Economics professor Andrew Samwick linked hot-button political issues to age-old constitutional debates in a speech Tuesday night at the Rockefeller Center that focused on the First Amendment, free speech on college campuses and youth activism.
In a lecture titled, "Congress Shall Make No Law," Samwick criticized the U.S. Congress for what he called a failure to curb a spiraling national debt, prevent a looming energy crisis and reduce vulnerability to natural or man-made disasters.
"I think in all cases, Congress hasn't done what it's supposed to do," Samwick told an audience composed mostly of freshmen.
Rather than solve problems, Samwick said, Congress often creates unfunded mandates or passes superficial measures to create the appearance of effective problem management.
Samwick cited loophole-ridden vehicle emissions standards, which Congress adopted instead of a simpler but less politically viable gas tax, as a half-hearted attempt to increase energy efficiency.
Samwick blamed the American public for not holding lawmakers accountable.
"How does this happen?" he asked, referring to congressional inaction. "We let it happen."
After identifying himself as a quasi-libertarian, Samwick said Dartmouth's "speech code," whose existence is debatable, does not violate the First Amendment itself but the principles it embodies.
The First Amendment, Samwick said, is not a statement about how citizens engage with each other but rather how citizens engage with their government.
Students should embrace their political opinions and improve them through discussion, Samwick said.
He argued that the most powerful way to effect change is to organize with like-minded people instead of trying to start a revolution alone.
"Turn vox to voces," or "turn one voice into voices," he said, playing off the College's Latin motto.
"College campuses are a place where we don't assemble as much as we used to," Samwick said. "If you want to add value to your society, if you want to use your civil rights well, your job is to add your voice to others, joining a common message."
Samwick's speech, which commemorates the Sept. 17, 1787 anniversary of the signing of the constitution three days late, fulfills a congressional mandate that the College provide relevant educational programs on "Constitution Day."
The law requiring all institutions that receive federal funds to hold similar events annually is the brainchild of Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.V., who slipped the provision into an omnibus appropriations bill last December.
Because Dartmouth, like nearly every higher education institution in the country, receives such funding, the College was obliged to provide such programming.
