I hadn't planned on venturing beyond the microcosm of Hanover during my interim stay at Dartmouth, but when a former floormate invited me to tour around Boston in mid-December, I eagerly accepted. On a whim, we decided to make a pilgrimage to Harvard University, considered by many to be the mecca of post-secondary education. I had naively envisioned a physical establishment that would represent a perfect embodiment of open intellectual growth. Instead, I saw security officers guarding every gate, barring entrance to those without Crimson identification cards while unhappy protesters and transients shuffled aimlessly with sleeping bags tucked under their arms.
We had unintentionally arrived during the last days of the Occupy Harvard movement, which coincided with Harvard's final examination period. The protest was further throttled by the installation of daytime ID checkpoints that sought to deter gawkers and prevent additional dissenters from entering Harvard Yard. I inadvertently witnessed the result of the Harvard administration's decision to isolate their institution from the problems of the masses.
A smattering of remaining Harvard affiliates would carry on the protest until its prearranged conclusion. Despite the recent enfeeblements of the Occupy protests throughout the nation, the students' determination in carrying on the spirit of Occupy Harvard led me to think that the initiation of effective change will have to be an inside job. It must be carried out within the walls of influential organizations and institutions by strongly motivated individuals who can maintain their dedication to social equality through their climb to the top of the corporate and organizational ladder.
Rather than initiating another unfocused Occupy movement or organizing a tumbledown shantytown, students looking to enact change would be better served by implementing improvements in influential institutions. Universities rather than closing themselves off from the problems of the world can enable their current students to address societal issues by instilling future leaders with concerns about social equality. For instance, despite its lack of physical gates, Dartmouth's isolated environment has served as a natural barrier against the plights of the outside world. The College ought to take advantage of the fact that it is in charge of educating 4,000 intelligent and highly motivated future leaders to "make the world's troubles [their] own," in the words of former College President John Sloan Dickey, reiterated by current President Jim Yong Kim.
Dartmouth ought to consider the incorporation of a general ethics course similar to Harvard's legendary "Justice" course, which pushes students to engage with each other over the morality and ethics of relevant hot-button issues, such as affirmative action, same-sex marriage, physician-assisted suicide, abortion, national service and the moral limits of markets and finance. However, given the recent social upheaval that took place at Harvard, simply adopting its courses at Dartmouth would not be enough. Another powerful, Dartmouth-specific step toward enabling students to understand current social concerns and implement future changes would be the full resurrection of the "Great Issues" class pioneered by Dickey, a once-mandatory course that prompted the graduating class to analyze current events by discussing weekly lectures delivered by notable figures, statesmen, politicians and journalists. While the absence of a "Great Issues" course has been temporarily ameliorated by the establishment of the "Leading Voices in Politics and Policy" lecture series held in conjunction with a public policy course this past summer, the promised full restoration would better prepare graduates to understand and face the contemporary issues of the world. In addition, College admissions officers should seek to recruit more students who have distinguished themselves in previous service and show a commitment to pursuing service-related careers in the future.
These steps will encourage students to be mindful of the physical and societal machinations that govern our lives and compel us to utilize said machinations toward prosperity for all. To do so, we must instill within our students the imperative and the ability to occupy the future.
