In a recent opinion piece, Jasper Hicks '12 laid out his case against the organizations that he believes are destroying the health of political dialogue on this campus ("Political Hangover," April 24). Chief among these groups were the College Democrats, College Republicans and College Libertarians; but unique to his list of wrongdoers was the newly formed Dartmouth Political Union, whose mission is, as our web site states, to promote the free exchange of ideas on campus by providing a forum for students to debate important issues. According to Hicks, the Union actually stunts our intellectual development by permitting students to argue their opinions. As the Speaker of the Union, and as a firm believer in the merits of open dialogue, I must wholeheartedly disagree.
Hicks' intentions are good. He values open-mindedness and exposure to new ways of thinking. Yet Hicks gets tangled in a web of unsubstantiated claims. He does not seem to think that Dartmouth students can research political questions, critically judge the information they gather and come to their own conclusions; he said he believes that the members of the Union -- and all student political organizations -- are doing naught but "incessantly spewing" the opinions of pundits. Having participated in such organizations since coming to this campus almost four years ago, I can assure Hicks: Dartmouth students are smarter than that.
Nevertheless, Hicks argues that we should leave the debating to the experts. That reasoning flies in the face of the principles upon which liberal arts institutions were constructed: that by challenging each other, we can most effectively discover truths.
Dartmouth does not exist so that students can sit idly by while experts tell us what is correct -- the essence of our experience here should be the never-ending quest for more knowledge and understanding of our world. The Dartmouth Political Union is doing its part to provide a definitive forum for that to occur. We have already hosted several successful events, including a debate where members of the Union joined Bishop Gene Robinson of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire and Executive Director Kevin Smith of Cornerstone Policy Research, a think-tank, in a debate on same-sex marriage.
This is the proper method for promoting open-mindedness: opening the doors for dialogue. Too often, we end up talking past each other and not really engaging our peers on important issues. In the tradition of the Socratic philosophers, the Union roots its mission in the belief that it is the exposure to many perspectives, and not the denial of opinions, that leads us to a truly free exchange of ideas. Students gathering to discuss political questions is not antithetical to the academic mission of the College -- it is vital to it.
Perhaps if Hicks had come to more fully know the Union and its members he would have seen the true role that we play in campus life. Over the coming months, the entire Dartmouth community will be invited to engage with Union members on the issues facing our College and our country. If we succeed in our mission, we will leave no stone unturned and no question unaddressed, and we will include every member of this community in the discussion. That is the essence of what this College stands for. We are a voice crying out in the wilderness; to give up that voice would be a grievous betrayal of our most precious ideals.
