A few weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal ran an op-ed, “Oppressed by the Ivy League” that many on this campus read, shared and discussed. I myself shared it on Facebook with the preface that, “something’s amiss when I agree with most of a [Wall Street Journal] op-ed.” Caught up in the heat of the moment, I was frustrated with what I saw on campus, and the frustration that came across in the piece’s rhetoric resonated with me. But now I owe a mea culpa.
The editorial’s eloquently phrased frustration resonated with me, but my frustration came from a very different source. The protests frustrated me because I felt they had lost sight of the noble aims that had motivated them in the first place. The editorial expressed frustration that the protestors were coming forward at all. While the heightened polarization that immediately followed the protest disappointed me, the editorial discouraged students from even suggesting that something was even amiss to begin with, particularly at our “tolerant-to-a-fault” Ivy League institution. While I wished for a more productive dialogue, the editorial demeaned those who dared start one at all.
My reactions to the protest and the editorial were so uncharacteristic that, to be perfectly honest, it scared me. I worried that I was losing myself and the values I arrived with in August. Why should a liberal boy raised right by two lesbian moms in the diverse bastion of political correctness that is Santa Fe, N.M., ever take issue with the right of minorities anywhere to air their grievances and demand a response? I grew up and became politically aware during the Bush presidency, and by the time I was 12, my parents had dragged me to more protests and sit-ins than Dartmouth has seen in the past five years combined. So why should I speak out against this one, and why — oh why — was I suddenly agreeing with the Wall Street Journal editorial board?
I thought long and hard about these questions, and, finally, I figured it out. For the first time in my life, I felt as if I were the one being protested. I felt like the biting tone of the protest and “Freedom Budget” targeted me as a white male and a proud student at the institution that I have come to consider part of my identity. Further, I saw the same thing in the people around me. The unfortunate immediate result of the protests was a mainstream delegitimization of the protestors and their demands. The perceived antagonism from both sides served to separate the very groups that most needed to be talking — the protestors and the rest of the student body. This was the source of my frustration, but I let my imperfect response to an imperfect action get the better of me.
Looking back I wish I hadn’t posted that editorial on Facebook, and I think many of my friends would react very differently were they to re-read the editorial again with a few weeks of time and space to give them perspective. The protest reignited a necessary conversation on this campus, and whether the demonstrators did so in the best way they could have is neither here nor there. Immediately following the protest we focused as a community far too much on the attitudes and means of the protestors and not nearly enough on the ends.
The way we make a change on campus is together. The “Freedom Budget” and the issues it raises allow us as a community to consciously begin to shift our culture. While many of the points outlined by the “Freedom Budget” can and should be implemented, the fact of the matter is you can’t throw money at oppression or administrate away racism. Together, Dartmouth students are more than capable of making this a welcoming place for all.
One of the reasons I chose Dartmouth was because last year’s Dimensions protest inspired me. I was excited to come to a school where students cared enough to risk standing up and demanding improvement. Looking back, I missed an opportunity to take up the work that made me want to enroll in the first place. In the future I will look past myself and join in creating a Dartmouth in which we can all be comfortable and proud. I encourage others to do so, too.
