Over the past two years, I have noticed a shift in both our College’s culture and atmosphere. Dartmouth has become embroiled in controversy, from the hazing scandals through the Dimensions disruption to sexual assault and the sit-in held in College President Phil Hanlon’s office. The College that I — and many others — love and support is now subject to harsh criticism for the poor behavior of its students.
The majority of Dartmouth’s population has been asleep for too long. We witness these events, and we write them off. We write off the national media coverage as inaccurate and make few attempts to remedy the situation. In doing so, we do not solve problems. The transgressions of a few can be seen as a systemic problem when the majority sits by and refuses to act in its own defense while being defamed.
It is past time that people started taking personal responsibility for their actions and start being a little less selfish in how they conduct themselves. Sexual assault is explicitly against College policies in no uncertain terms. Consent can be withdrawn at any point, and this specifically places the onus on initiators of sexual conduct to make absolutely sure that they do not violate anyone’s will. Although this can be troublesome to those who would rather just assume that consent is given when no protest is raised, everyone must ask himself or herself if that is the environment we wish to create. Is the time saved in not asking one simple question — “Do you consent?” — really worth the potential emotional damage that an act without consent causes?
In regard to the recent verdict in the case against Parker Gilbert, the facts are that he was tried by a jury of his peers and found not guilty of rape. This does not mean that he did not do anything wrong. Recently, people who support the verdict have questioned why he would receive judicial punishment from the College when he was found not guilty in a court of law. The simple answer is that Dartmouth holds us to higher standards of conduct than the United States does. The College expects us not to base our decisions off of what is technically legal or illegal, but to think about what is right and act accordingly. As a private institution charged with educating young adults, it can and should take the responsibility to create its own set of laws to teach students how a moral and respectable person acts. Sure, sometimes we slip up and, say, find ourselves in Safety and Security’s car in a tiger costume at 3 a.m., but people are not usually separated from the College after one or even two incidents of misbehavior. It generally requires a pattern of misbehavior to merit an expulsion.
If you require an example of that sort of pattern, look no further than the most recent actions in the President’s office and the protest at last year’s Dimensions show. While sit-ins have had historic successes in contexts such as the Civil Rights movement, this is not an acceptable way to effect change at Dartmouth. Chanting to potential students — not even current students who might actually understand and be able to appropriately respond to the protest’s message -— only serves to embarrass us to the entire nation and hurt the school. Additionally, storming our President’s office to demand him to unilaterally bend official policy to an unreasonable list sounds more like lawlessness than conduct expected of Dartmouth students.
Dartmouth students need to act like the College we think we are and claim to be. From recent national media coverage, we look like a school of racist rapists who enjoy forcing one another through kiddie pools in our free time. If we don’t start acting like the adults we are, eventually someone else will come along and fix our problems without students’ input — and no one will like how that turns out.
Brian Holekamp '12 is a guest columnist.
