This week, college administrators scored two political victories that have generated significant buzz on campus and in the national press. The launch of Dartmouth's intercollegiate campaign against alcohol abuse, the Learning Collaborative on High-Risk Drinking, demonstrates that the College is still capable of formulating innovative solutions to inveterate campus issues. Also this week, the announcement that comedian Conan O'Brien will deliver this year's Commencement address has been met with great enthusiasm from students. Indeed, these announcements instilled hope in the student body that College administrators are not as out of touch with student opinion as they have sometimes seemed.
The Learning Collaborative on High-Risk Drinking wields great promise for addressing binge drinking on this campus. Dartmouth will work together with at least 13 other colleges and universities to brainstorm, implement and adapt programs that have been successful in combating binge drinking at other schools. The success of the recently created Green Team a Dartmouth program modeled on an initiative introduced at Haverford College illustrates the potential for shared learning on this topic.
It is exciting to see both Dartmouth and College President Jim Yong Kim capitalizing on their strengths to take the lead in tackling a nationwide problem. The current administration has been accused of stagnancy by many detractors who complain about a lack of new ideas at the College in the last year and a half. Plans for the Collaborative, though, are a real breakthrough. We can be proud that the College is acting as a leader on an issue with major implications for students across the country.
Meanwhile, Dartmouth students and the College have traditionally held very different views regarding the ideal Commencement speaker. The College's choice of O'Brien suggests a newfound awareness that on their graduation day, students prefer an entertaining speech by a well-known public figure. Throughout his career, O'Brien has established himself as a down-to-earth and intelligent comedian who is able to speak honestly and openly about the world we'll enter after graduation. We hope the choice of this year's speaker represents a shifting trend and not a one-time anomaly.
While these announcements are undoubtedly steps in the right direction, we must be careful to meet this progress with tempered enthusiasm. The Collaborative can only be as successful as the institutional and student support it receives. The newly announced SmartChoice dining plans, which are provoking outrage from the student body, are a glaring reminder that there are still improvements to be made in the student-administrator relationship.
While community members are quick to criticize Kim, this week could mark a turning point Kim's solicitation of O'Brien is arguably his most popular decision among students to date. If Kim and other administrators build on this momentum by further considering student opinion, collaboration between students and the administration can only continue to improve.
