As the Dartmouth community gears up for what is sure to be a very interesting trustee election, we should all give thanks. The ongoing debate is sure to intensify over the weeks and months until the trustee vote is sure to leave us with an intelligent, talented and eminently qualified individual. Out of the slate of fine candidates, one candidate stands out in my mind, for the diversity of vision that he has brought and will bring to Dartmouth: Stephen Smith '88.
By virtue of running a grassroots petition campaign, rather than an establishment one like the other three candidates, Smith has been forced to communicate his vision to the Dartmouth community. Hundreds of alumni like the ideas Smith has presented and signed his petition to be placed into the running to become our next trustee. I am quite sure that thousands more will come to share his vision.
Smith alone, of all the candidates, has taken a proactive stance toward engaging the Dartmouth community through a platform of issues that resonates very strongly. Other candidates have posted online their responses to standard questionnaires and proffered vague, cookie-cutter goals but have not engaged Dartmouth with their ideas. Smith is taking issues that groups like Student Assembly and the Office of Pluralism and Leadership, among others, have debated and abandoned as too difficult to implement. He is taking our concerns right to the top.
Recent events on campus have proved the importance of a fundamental plank of Smith's platform: free speech. While it is evident that there is no "official" speech code on campus, Smith is right to claim that de facto speech codes are at work. These codes do not discriminate against races, religions or political groups, but ideas.
Recently, Assembly President Tim Andreadis '07 has come under fire as a result of outspoken stances for what he believes. The Dartmouth Review has been subjected to even more entrenched limits on speech via reactions to their expression and being marginalized to off-campus. The stances of both Andreadis and The Review may offend some, but both should be welcomed, not silenced by de facto speech codes. The vision that Smith has articulated seeks to ensure "a vibrant marketplace of ideas," a concept good for every student.
The second concern of Dartmouth students that Smith has addressed in his platform regards the undergraduate focus of the school. Personally it does not matter to me whether our great school is called a "university" or "college" or whatever, but it matters a whole lot that classes are over-enrolled and students are underserved. Students recognize that class size getting larger and tuition increasing even faster, just doesn't add up. All Dartmouth students can agree that more accessible classes with fewer students and better professors is better than just raising enrollment caps. Rather than denying the problem or pontificating about palliatives, Smith has made tangible solutions to address this crucial issue a focus of his trustee platform.
Demonstrating the extent to which he is in touch with the Dartmouth campus, Smith has also made Committee on Standards procedure an issue in his campaign. That COS procedure is shrouded in mystery and fraught with complications. Smith realizes that these procedures need to be fair, equal, and transparent so that victims of any wrong can receive justice at Dartmouth.
The bottom line is that Smith has been vocal, passionate, and proactive in articulating his vision to Dartmouth. He is addressing issues that matter to students from the liberty to speak freely to greater choice in course selection to ending academic injustice everywhere. Hundreds of alumni have signed on to support the petition candidacy of Smith because of his diversity of vision. Not only does he stand alone of all the candidates in even expressing a vision, Smith has shown that he represents a wide range of tangible goals that are essential to the well-being of Dartmouth.
