Our understanding of "Vox clamantis in deserto" is wrong. In English, the College's motto reads, "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness." However, directly translated from the Book of Isaiah in the original Hebrew Masoretic text, the actual full phrase is, "A voice crieth: in the wilderness clear a way for the Lord."
Indeed, the voice itself does not reside in the wilderness it merely decrees that a path be cleared through the wilderness. Dartmouth certainly could not have endured 250 years founded on faulty tenets, but what explains this seeming paradox?
Mistranslations aside, the original text carries an even more relevant message than our corrupted version. By engaging ourselves intellectually at the College, each of us advocates that a path of knowledge and education must be forged through a wilderness of ignorance.
Flashing back to pre-Revolutionary America, it is not certain why Eleazar Wheelock chose "Vox clamantis in deserto" as the College's motto. In a 1770 correspondence with the English trustees of the College, Wheelock simply said that this phrase should be embossed upon the seal.
Because Wheelock had not sent the trustees a copy of the royal charter that New Hampshire Governor John Wentworth had granted him, they were frustrated that at the time of his letter, the College had already been operating for three months without their approval. Consequently, the trustees withdrew financial support for the College, leaving Wheelock on his own. Estranged from the venerable Lord Dartmouth, Wheelock was quite literally a voice of one crying out in the wilderness.
Wheelock intended the motto to be taken in a purely religious sense, according to College archivist Peter Carini. The wilderness was an absence of God, and in crying out, the voice of one was searching for God. In the College's original charter, this could have meant spreading the light of God to the Native Americans, Carini said.
Throughout Dartmouth's history, the motto has remained an important keystone in the college's foundation. Our favorite son, Daniel Webster, famously defended the college in Dartmouth College v. Woodford against the state of New Hampshire. He concluded his testimony with a line that illustrates his tenacity in spite of his powerless position.
"When I see my alma mater surrounded, like Caesar in the senate house, by those who are reiterating stab upon stab, I would not for this right hand have her say to me Et tu quoque, mi fili! and thou too, my son!" he said.
In definitive contrast to its historical significance, Dartmouth's motto is often taken literally with regard to our physical inaccessibility among students of today.
"We're very aware of the fact that we're in a very remote area," Ivy Ddamba '13 said.
Besides Hanover's rural location, however, the motto does not seem very applicable in today's context, according to Ddamba.
"A lot of the founding principles of many American colleges are not seen as relevant for them anymore," she said.
James Brofos '15 said that the motto only serves to reinforce false preconceived notions about Dartmouth.
"I think it's promoting a stereotype," he said. "It's something about how all students don't go into the wilderness and admire the butterflies."
Many students, however, view the motto in a more positive light for example, it might reference each Dartmouth student's attempt to find his or her place at the College.
"When I got here, I felt very small, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to find people like me," Holli Weed '14 said. "I honestly think that's what I think of when someone mentions a voice crying alone in the wilderness."
Henry Xu '13 said the motto represents Dartmouth's "intellectual solitude."
More recently, the motto has manifested itself in some of the unlikeliest places around campus. In many ways, it has become a sort of cultural meme, devoid of its once deeply-invested meaning. The term "vox," for example, has been thrown around all over campus without much regard for the word's actual meaning. Case in point: If I'm going to a concert in Amherst, Mass. this weekend, chances are that I'll need to rent a Vox Car to get there. A "voice car?"
And it doesn't end there. From the Vox Online Network for alumni to the Evolving Vox futon rental service, our motto seems to have devolved into a meaningless identifier.
"I feel like it isn't a typical motto," Royce Yap '15 said. "I don't find myself trying to relate to it."
Maybe "Vox clamantis in deserto" was not built to endure. If it was truly intended to appeal to religious sensibilities, then its original import has been decontextualized in our secular college setting.
But despite the fact that the motto was not designed to transcend changing religious and cultural circumstances, in several ways, it extrapolates well to modern circumstances. From our bucolic location to the oldest and largest outing club in the country, the wilderness is very much a part of our institution.
So even if our motto does not truly advocate for education in the pursuit of a higher light or truth, and even if no one is quite certain of what it actually means, it does signify a less tangible idea it is another embodiment of our immense school spirit.
British poet John Donne once observed, "No man is an island, entire of himself, every man is a piece of the continent." In contrast, American musician Paul Simon once quipped, "I am a rock. I am an island." Neither of these insights alone fit the men and women of Dartmouth: They both do. Our decided differences do not preclude our connection with the rest of mainstream higher education.
"You're crying out you're not just whimpering," Alex Crain '15 said of the motto.
Even though Dartmouth is an island, and a small one at that, we remain a unique but powerful voice. Moreover, perhaps due to our actual geographic isolation, all Dartmouth students are united as one voice against the world.
Unlike the early days of the College, however, we have a thousand different backgrounds behind us and a million unique stories yet to live.
We are distinct voices conjoined, not homogenous voices congealed, and it is, in fact, the voice of many that cries out as one.
