I love meeting Dartmouth students from my hometown of Seattle. We adamantly discuss how ridiculous umbrellas and those who carry them are, the hellish transnational flight to and from school, and how we can totally say the word "hella" without copying NorCal. But, when we're done extolling the virtues of Bill Gates, our conversation slides to an abrupt stop.
As it turns out, our regional similarities create no intimate bond between us. For some, however, these same regional bonds are incredibly important.
Earlier this week, the College announced that Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones '73 donated $10 million for need-based scholarships, preferably for students from Texas ("Alums fund aid for Texan students," Sept. 24). The Dartmouth reports that Carolyn Pelzel, vice president of development, does not believe the scholarship money will be extended to non-Texan students. But both Pelzel and President James Wright applauded the gift and its emphasis on regional diversity, hoping that others may fund scholarships "with preferences for other regions and parts of the world that are meaningful to them."
When the Rees-Jones' picture the anonymous Texan they're funding, I bet it's hard to imagine exactly what that person looks like. He may be a rugged football player from Austin who loves a hearty steak, going to church and George W. Bush. Or he may be an arch-liberal vegetarian from Dallas who doesn't believe in God.
There is no uniform Texan just as there is no uniform Washingtonian.
You may be able to tell the people from Seattle by their unusually pale skin and reckless apathy towards rain, but that is about as common of a bond as we share. If there is no standard Texan, then what are the merits of limiting the scholarship to students from the Lone Star State?
If you're still unconvinced that supposed regional similarities mask colossal differences, think of your high school. Unless you went to a boarding school, all the students were from the same area, and I seriously doubt they were all uniform.
Ten million dollars is certainly a generous gift by any standards, and I support almost any way to raise funds for need-based scholarships. Donors such as the Rees-Joneses are providing a huge opportunity for disadvantaged students -- not competing in some insane contest to prove who loves their hometown the most or which region is the most altruistic -- by encouraging, not requiring that the money goes to students from Texas. Qualified and deserving students should not have less access to money because their state does not remember the Alamo.
I still look forward to meeting those who leave the temperate and lush paradise of the Pacific Northwest for the cold and barren New England landscape. Although I know that I am no more likely to befriend them than anyone else on campus, it's nice to talk to people who know that no one goes to the Space Needle but tourists and naive high school seniors on their prom night.
I understand and appreciate the Rees-Jones' geographical infatuation, but it's predicated on an illusion. People may go dumb on the West Coast or get crunk in the South, but it's really all the same whether you live in New York, Austin or the Bay Area.
