To the Editor:
Shala Byers's '07's op-ed "The Merit of Meritocracy" (May 10) totally ignores the point of Amanda Rosenblum '07's thoughtful and heartfelt questioning of the Senior Executive Committee's choices for Class Day positions. Like Rosenblum, I too will be honored with a position at class day thanks to the SEC (not as a marshal but as a historian).
I too am grateful for the SEC's recognition in this capacity. I too was surprised to see the lack of diversity of those honored for these positions. So I was pleased to read the article highlighting this issue.
Apparently the op-ed I read and the article Byers read were completely different. What I read as a pontification on this "election" process, Byers read as an attack on the SEC. What I read as a call for a better understanding of the process, Byers read as a rally cry for the destruction of traditions.
While some would try to write Rosenblum's op-ed off as just another politically correct, quota-seeking whine for diversity, it doesn't hide the fact that the SEC (not the class) elected to Class Day positions a group that is 75 percent white and that both flag-bearers are white men. Byers may live in a nation that is beyond "white, black, male, female, homosexual and heterosexual," but apparently that nation is 75 percent white and its flags are in the hands of men.
To state it more bluntly, I am interested how and why the SEC, an exceedingly non-diverse group, chose an exceedingly non-diverse group for these class positions. It is not a question of the integrity of the members of the group. I know and respect many of them.
It is, however, a questioning of Byers' "post-ism" world. The best and brightest that this school has to offer is not 75 percent white and that is why we are allowed to ask why those recognized as the best and brightest at class day are.
Whenever I hear someone cry about a loss of tradition at Dartmouth it is usually a lament for a racist, sexist, exclusive, archaic point of view.
Those traditions that remain do so because they are an essential part of Dartmouth. To keep the Class Day positions essential, let us make sure they continue to represent the best our school has to offer.
