It is no secret that The Dartmouth's opinion page is widely and frequently criticized. Writers for this page receive every possible kind of feedback from our readership sometimes constructive, sometimes ridiculous, sometimes mean-spirited. Regardless of tone, many of our critics often seem to assume that we editors believe the opinion section is perfect. In reality, we, the members of The Dartmouth Editorial Board, are the most ardent critics of this page.
In the spirit of self-criticism, we want to begin the new school year by acknowledging one of our greatest and most intractable problems with the page: The Dartmouth's opinion section suffers from a surprising lack of diverse opinions.
Despite termly hiring periods and regular leadership turnover, the composition of our opinion staff has, at least in recent memory, remained unrepresentative of many sectors of campus. The most telling example of this problem is the ratio of men to women on the opinion staff, which is currently 2:1. Political leanings, socioeconomic and geographic backgrounds, social and sexual preferences, and Greek affiliations are harder to quantify or summarize, but it is certainly fair to say that the voices on this page can and should be more varied in every respect.
While we value our existing staff members and their perspectives enormously, we also recognize that our staff as a whole must expand and diversify if the opinion page is to better fulfill its mission to serve as a forum for Dartmouth students from all backgrounds to share, discuss, debate and challenge ideas. By more accurately representing the perspectives of our multi-faceted student body, this newspaper could better engage all corners of campus in the conversations that we hope the opinion page will inspire.
With this goal in mind, we turn to you, our opinionated peers. We know that myriad opinions exist on this campus we hear them in our seminars and in '53 Commons and in The Dartmouth's online comments section. Yet despite the passion and intelligence of Dartmouth students, The Dartmouth receives an astoundingly low number of guest columnist submissions and letters to the editor each term.
So while we recognize that certain voices are lacking on our page, our ability to address the issue is constrained by the submissions we receive. This term, we plan to do our part in changing the status quo by actively reaching out and soliciting submissions from underrepresented groups on campus.
We would like to challenge all Dartmouth students to let your voices be heard. The next time you read something on the opinion page or in any section of this paper that makes you angry or makes you stop and think, don't simply discuss it with a like-minded friend or post an anonymous online comment and then go about your day. Take the time to write a letter to the editor or submit a guest column. If you are interested in making more regular submissions to the opinion section and feel you are a strong writer, apply to be a columnist.
If we can come even a little bit closer to representing the full spectrum of campus perspectives on the opinion page, this newspaper, and this campus as a whole, will be better for it.
Letters to the editor and guest submissions should be sent to editor@thedartmouth.com. Blitz "The Dartmouth" to request an application.
