Re: Kluger: If You Like Ideas, Not People, Transfer
The privilege of Dartmouth students is evident in every part of their complaints — from the Fizz discourse about the menu options at ’53 Commons to outrage over sprinklers watering the lawns at inconvenient hours. In his recent piece, Elan Kluger ’26 adds to this entitled mess, seemingly bemoaning that his Ivy League peers aren’t smart enough for him.
Coming from a low-income, under-educated area, I’ve been impressed so far by the brilliance and generosity of Dartmouth athletes and MATH 81 students alike. The very classmates Kluger writes off as intellectually lazy have taught me more — in my very brief time as a Dartmouth student — than Derrida’s “Of Grammatology” ever could.
Kluger’s critique of Dartmouth’s so-called ‘work hard, play hard’ culture reveals a worldview both limited and elitist. Just because someone isn’t speaking like Foucault in casual conversation doesn’t mean they lack intelligence or the capacity for deep critical thought. Assuming otherwise isn’t just arrogant: It’s ignorant. It ignores the diverse ways people process, express and engage with ideas and reinforces a narrow, exclusionary vision of what “smart” looks like.
I am the type of person to read Kant for fun. However, from my life experience, being able to name drop Enlightenment thinkers and twentieth-century intellectuals doesn’t correlate with one’s intelligence. Dartmouth’s brilliance lies in that mix of rigor and humanity — not gatekeeping intellect.
So, yes, if pretension and snobbery are what you are looking for, then perhaps it is best you transfer.
Alex Hant is a member of the Class of 2029. Letters to the Editor represent the views of their author(s), which are not necessarily those of The Dartmouth.
