After nearly half a term of student agitation and campus-wide controversy, College President Phil Hanlon revoked the Right Rev. James Tengatenga's appointment as dean of the Tucker Foundation due to concerns over the reverend's previous statements regarding homosexuality. He made the right decision. Regardless of Tengatenga's personal position on homosexuality, past or present, the fact remains that he was complacent as the Malawi government criminalized and persecuted an entire community.
This being said, the again-vacant spot at the head of the Tucker Foundation is an opportunity for the College to consider the meaning of true service and activism. It has always struck me as odd, and somewhat unsettling, that the largest and most active service organization on campus is also the only one with religious overtones. In light of Hanlon's decision to form a task force to clarify Tucker's mission and structure, I urge the new committee to consider either wholly secularizing the Tucker Foundation or drawing a clearer delineation between its dual missions as a space for religious discussion and as a facilitator of student volunteerism.
Tucker's current mission to educate Dartmouth students "for lives of purpose and ethical leadership, rooted in service, spirituality and social justice" is admirable and necessary on a campus where students' best intentions to serve are often lost in the day-to-day bustle. However, in a world where faith and spirituality are increasingly disassociated from formal religious institutions, it seems anachronistic that all Tucker deans have come from organized communities of faith. Since the dean of the Tucker Foundation serves in many of the same advising and mentorship capacities as undergraduate deans, candidates should be selected based on ability to carry out the duties of a dean, rather than the duties of a religious leader.
As it considers Tucker's place at the College, the task force should look to the Rev. Dr. Richard Crocker's successful career as Tucker dean. While Crocker was an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church, at Dartmouth he was also involved in the writing program and the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program, and spoke about the role that college education should play in a student's life and personal development. Given this, it seems the primary qualification for Tucker's next dean should be an ability to contribute to conversations about the student experience as a whole at the College, rather than about the narrower student religious experience.
As the Pew Research Center pointed out in 2012, approximately 35 percent of adults between the ages of 18 to 29 identify with no particular religious affiliation or denomination, making our age group the least religious. It seems limiting for Tucker to tie service and faith together as tightly as the current mission does.
Going forward, the Tucker task force should seriously consider the following question: is the Tucker Foundation primarily a space for community service or spirituality? If the former, then the new dean should be selected without regard to religious or spiritual leadership credentials. If the latter, then Tucker's volunteer-based programs such as DREAM and Alternative Spring Break should be relocated into a secular space and the next dean should be chosen on the basis of his or her ability to act as a spiritual advisor. If the committee ultimately decides to continue with Tucker's current dual directive, then the next dean should be a candidate like Crocker capable as a religious leader and as a guide for student life.
However, I personally hope the task force will strongly consider drawing a line between religious affiliation and volunteerism. The idea that individuals with religious backgrounds are more likely to volunteer is a misconception, particularly when it comes to the millennial generation. Tucker's conflation of faith and altruism is at best nonsensical and at worst an affront to the service-oriented who lack religious affiliation.
