Although Jamie Keith '09 could recall a variety of campus discussions focusing on issues of racism, sexism and gender identity, Keith, the Office of Pluralism and Leadership student intern, felt that one aspect of diversity on campus was not being explored fully: socioeconomic class. In an effort to address this failing, Keith and other members of the Dartmouth community, including representatives from OPAL, Student Assembly and the Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity joined together this Fall to create the Dartmouth Stories Project.
The project aims to collect student narratives, including poetry, short stories and essays, about their experiences regarding socioeconomic class at Dartmouth. Submissions can be anonymous.
"The basic idea of the Dartmouth Stories Project is that we can all learn from each other's experiences," Keith said. "Stories are a good way to come to an understanding about things that many of us haven't really thought of before."
Several of the project's creators said that they believed that concerns about socioeconomic class greatly affected many students at Dartmouth, but were not widely discussed. They said they hoped that the current initiative would give students from all social backgrounds a forum where they could openly discuss how issues related to socioeconomic class have affected them and the Dartmouth community as a whole.
"There's still a lot of shame and kind of stigma related to issues around socioeconomic class," Nora Yasumura, assistant dean for student life, said. "It's often the elephant in the room."
Nafeesa Remtilla '09, co-chair of the Student Assembly diversity and community affairs committee, said that she believed that allowing students to submit stories describing their experiences as a part of a larger project would give them a venue in which they could discuss their backgrounds without worrying about this stigma.
"The Project allows students to have a voice and be heard without any repercussions, because submissions can be anonymous, to sharing potentially very private information," Nafeesa said.
The initiative could also be a way to inform students about resources on campus that could help alleviate some of their financial burdens, including programs to pay for text books or help locate campus jobs, according to Anne Kasitaza '08, co-chair of the same Student Assembly committee.
Although the Project's creators have not fully decided what they will do with the stories , Keith said that many of the them could be posted, with the writer's permission, as part of the Class Divide exhibit, which features artwork, dance and theater, at the Hopkins Center for the Arts. The exhibit, a three-year initiative that began in the 2006-2007 season, also seeks to raise awareness about issues relating to socioeconomic class.
Several of the stories could also be posted on the Assembly website, according to Remtilla.
As of Nov. 17, no submissions had been received, although the deadline for submissions for Fall term is not until Dec. 3. Yasumura said that she hoped that students would use Thanksgiving break as an opportunity to construct their pieces.
The Dartmouth Stories Project is part of the Economic Equity Initiative, a project organized by IDE, OPAL and the Tucker foundation that seeks to educate the Dartmouth community about issues relating to socioeconomic class.
