Until a few months ago, I, and many others, had been operating under the critically false assumption that the College was working with an essentially unlimited budget.
The idea seems ludicrous now, in light of the impending $40 million in budget cuts, but, in my defense, the signs of boundless spending were everywhere. Need-blind financial aid expanded to include international students. Building renovations moved at a rapid pace, with workers jumping from dorm to dorm, constantly gutting and refurbishing. Technological innovations infiltrated every classroom, faster than any professor could keep up with, not to mention future construction plans that threatened to take the College halfway to Lebanon.
Even as economic prospects dimmed, it was reasonable to conclude that Dartmouth, if not the rest of our country, would be relatively unaffected. After all, with a $3 billion-plus endowment as an insurance policy, what's a few million dollars here or there? A less-than-record donation rate would never trickle down to students.
Unfortunately, now that we know just how fast blueprints can go from drawn up to torn up, our fundamental assumptions and attitudes about the College, and its future, must change. Ever since I arrived in Hanover, my expectations of the College have been almost impossibly high in every area. With the type of money and authority that I saw employed on campus every day, each inefficiency and imperfection provided an ideal excuse to complain. Heater not working: why don't they just replace these outdated systems? Food Court lines too long: why don't they just build a new dining hall already? Classes too large: why can't they just double the faculty?
These presumptions were clearly resting on a shaky foundation, but they represented a common attitude among students who never appreciated many of the aspects of Dartmouth that we are so lucky to have. But now, with vital cuts being made to a host of different areas, we can no longer afford our take-everything-for-granted outlook.
Given the likelihood that a number of jobs will be cut or reduced -- and that entire departments scaled back or eliminated -- now is no time to complain. We have been, and largely continue to be, coddled by the administration, which allows us to take as given the social, educational and residential privileges that we enjoy. No longer will I engage in, or tolerate, incessant whining over minor parts of our college experience, such as chicken patty quality, the demeanor of a particular administration assistant or abnormal temperatures.
The College, no matter how many times students eventually run around the Homecoming bonfire, will never be perfect. And yet, despite this possibly harsh appraisal, neither budget cuts nor anything else should ever cause us to revise our long-term aspirations for Dartmouth.
While our negative attitudes could use improvement, we do not have to compromise how we think of the College's greater future. I pledge to no longer kvetch about minor inconveniences. I do not, on the other hand, intend to expect any less of the academic experience. Programs may need to be slashed, trivialities forgotten, but the lasting goals should remain the same. College President James Wright said that Dartmouth is "committed to providing the best undergraduate liberal arts experience," and I intend to hold the College to that standard, even during these rough times.
The College must be fearless in its attempts to establish Dartmouth as a force of the 21st century -- financial crisis or not. We should have more and better professors who are focused on the classroom. We should attract even better students from an ever more diverse pool of nationalities, economic backgrounds and viewpoints. Our opportunities should be greater, our experiences more fulfilling, our desire to achieve unyielding. Nothing should be taken for granted, but nothing should be left behind in our larger quest to succeed as students, as faculty and as a world-renowned institution of higher learning.
We may not have bottomless pockets, but we should still demonstrate unlimited ambition.
