I can't help but notice that there's been a lot of talk about Dartmouth's community over the past year and half, coincidentally the same time that we have been considering budget cuts. Many groups have targeted the community an ethereal construct that includes not only our individuality but also the bonds between us for help after finding themselves in dire straits, with their personal incomes or even jobs in jeopardy. It seems almost natural to turn to the fraternity of "the community" during such a widespread calamity.
What brought this phenomenon to my attention was the recent protest against layoffs. The theme for the recent SEIU demonstrations has been "One Dartmouth, One Community." I can't say I'm surprised by this approach or even that I wouldn't do the same thing. Our community is a powerful symbol of our shared experience at Dartmouth. Yet now, with the budget crisis still upon us, is not the time to be asking for concessions or guarantees from the greater community. Our community needs us to act in support of the whole, not the other way around.
Allow me to elaborate. This attitude that "the community is here to support my group" is not one that only the SEIU has embraced. Students, faculty and administrators are just as culpable. I certainly haven't gone to every one of the administration's open forums on what cuts should be made (I'll say it: they're incredibly boring), but based on my experience and the reports from the ones I passed up, it seems like the students don't care about anything except what student programs will be cut. Again, I'm not surprised that this is our reaction, just as I'm not surprised by the demonstrations. This is just more evidence of the self-serving attitude that we all seem to have taken towards our community. The logic has been that since now we are all in need, our community better be there to support us.
If we keep this up, our community will be severely weakened by the time the budget crisis is over. "The community" that we enjoy is not some Obama-era administration that oversees our Dartmouth experience. There is no Office of the Dartmouth Community. The community exists only insofar as we believe in it and support it, and it can only offer what we as a whole are willing to give. But obviously if we all decide to turn to the community to suckle from it what we can, it will not offer anything to any of us.
The community has been and should always be there to support us during ordinary crises. Ordinary is when a student is undergoing an extreme personal crisis and needs counseling, or even if there is a local natural disaster that affects all of us; the members of the community may be threatened, but the construct of the community itself is not at risk. In our present situation, though, it's the fiscal viability of our community that is itself in danger. Now is not a time to demand what we think we are entitled to, now is a time for everyone to sit down and discuss what sacrifices can be made. I will decline to comment on whether an unfair burden is being placed on laid-off employees, but in such dire times, layoffs must definitely be in consideration.
Students should be equally willing to lose what we love, and I would say most of us aren't so far. We need to look beyond simple ideas like reducing hours at the gym and consider other plans, such as cutting back student jobs so we can lay off fewer employees. If we all continue to struggle only for what we individually need, I worry that the bitterness will destroy any sense of community when we come out of this recession.
We have the principle of community so that when one of us struggles, the rest of us can assist. When one of us errs, the rest of us are there for guidance. The community itself is in need now, though, so it is not the time to bargain with each other to see what we can get from it. To paraphrase, a man whose lesson I thought we had learned, ask not what your community can do for you.
