To the Editor:
Our newly elected Student Assembly president, Tim Andreadis '07, states that The Dartmouth has invalidated the "students who feel threatened or marginalized" ("Pursuing rights for all," April 27). I wonder though, who exactly are these "marginalized" students? Anyone attending an Ivy League institution such as Dartmouth, regardless of background, is privileged beyond belief. To insinuate that anyone at Dartmouth is marginalized or threatened not only takes for granted the privilege all of us enjoy but discounts the very real accomplishments of the administration in addressing equality and diversity issues, serving only to polarize the campus into "marginalized" and "non-marginalized" groups.
This may be a great way to run a campaign, but it will prove to be a poor way to lead a campus. Many of Andreadis' claims are calculated sophistry, designed to stir up a largely satisfied and largely apathetic campus.
Minority groups and women (who now make up a slight majority) have staunch advocates in the administration and across campus; many have their own personal dean. The most urgent student concern is slight changes to Dartmouth Dining Services meal plans. This does not strike me as a campus "in trouble," to quote from Andreadis' campaign e-mails.
The true success of his campaign was the force with which his campaign staff, placed with laptops in strategic locations around campus, accosted students walking by, first, with a two-minute sound-bite, and second, with a plea to vote for Andreadis. Students who were more than likely not planning to vote were pressured into voting for him. I can personally attest to the strength of this campaign: I was harangued twice in the course of two hours in the foyer of Collis. Surely, this is a mockery of a democratic process predicated upon rational, informed decision-making.
Like his campaign, Andreadis' letter to the editor is sensationalistic and misleading. I am afraid I am going to have to side with The Dartmouth Editorial Board on this one.
