The Dartmouth I attend today is not the Dartmouth to which I matriculated nearly three years ago.
The Dimensions of Dartmouth program as so many of us knew and loved is gone. The hard alcohol ban limits our ability to develop responsible relationships with alcohol. Tuition continues to climb, along with the number of staff members whose necessity and salaries I find to be questionable. All pledge term activities — including the voluntary and harmless ones that many would say brought new members closer together, such as scavenger hunts or wearing silly outfits to class — have been banned. Many Greek houses are on probation, and one has been derecognized. Any of the potentially great strides that could have been made regarding sexual assault or high-risk drinking with the various policy initiatives undertaken in recent years have seemingly not occurred, as administrators have dumped all fault at the feet of the Greek system rather than investigating the actual roots of the problems and then targeting policies and programs there.
Overall, due to many of the College’s policies, the Greek system appears poised to become more exclusive, as houses seek to avoid the microscopic lens of blame that administrators are holding up to them. The only thing that has stayed the same — and, coincidentally, one of the only things that the entire student body seems to be against — is the greedy monopoly that is Dartmouth Dining Services.
I don’t recognize Dartmouth anymore, and from conversations with my friends and acquaintances, neither do many of my peers. With our actions and our organizations under constant scrutiny and facing constant condemnation by College authorities, many of us feel that the student body has become public enemy number one in the eyes of the administrators.
While these administrators continue to wield their power unchecked, the students are left to deal with any negative outcomes. From what I have been hearing around campus, there appear to be many policies with which a significant portion of the student body does not agree. Many students have been shaking their heads at the egregious actions that the College has undertaken since the onset of “Moving Dartmouth Forward” — the derecognition of Alpha Delta fraternity, the limiting of students’ choices when it comes to alcohol, the seeming increase of Safety and Security’s patrols and the flagrant shutting down of controlled parties. I obviously do not know for certain what the administrators’ intentions are behind all of these policies, but it appears that it is a mix between not trusting the students and wanting to maintain a positive media reputation. What administrators fail to understand, however, is that, if they do not have trust in us, it engenders our own distrust in them.
When students distrust the school, they are not shy in passing on that information. Recently, I have heard my fellow students say that they are warning prospective students not to attend Dartmouth. While the College might think the key to increasing application numbers and yield rate is a positive reputation in the media, I believe that the strongest attractor to Dartmouth has always been the enthusiasm of current students. I remember both during application season and after receiving my acceptance letter, I was drawn in by the joy and pride of current students, who encouraged me to come to this wonderful school that they loved so much. High school students don’t always pay attention to media stories or the glossy pamphlets they receive from colleges that are often filled with the same drivel that every other school has sent. The experiences of students are what set schools apart. I don’t think many students will be flocking to a school whose current students are so vocal about their dislike for the administration and its policies, a school in which many students feel like all of their actions and opinions are under attack.
If administrators truly hope to move Dartmouth forward, they will need to take a long, hard look at their actions in the past few years and work towards a Dartmouth where students and administrators alike are proud to call the College their home.
