News
Though the Student Assembly earlier in the term voted against avowing a stance on possible U.S. military action in Iraq, last night members chose to enter the recent affirmative action debate by commending institutional diversity as practiced by the College and defended in its recent Supreme Court brief.
The political implications of the statement, which argued that "the College should continue to consider racial diversity as one amongst many factors in the admissions process," were somewhat contested by members, but the Assembly ultimately decided the issue of diversity was pertinent to the College and thus appropriate to address.
A few members felt uncomfortable supporting a statement about racial diversity without polling the campus because they felt that they had not been elected because of their political views.
Shardul Oza '06 felt that the statement too closely mirrored the College's amicus curae brief and that it should include statements not only for racial diversity, but for the promotion of social justice and equality.
"If we are making a statement, we should say what we think, not the College," said Oza.
A few members voted against the statement because of their own qualms with affirmative action, as they felt that it granted admission to less qualified students on the basis of race.
"Even if you get people of different races together who come from similar backgrounds, it helps to break down stereotypes," said Amit Anand '03.
In the end, however, only two members decided to vote against the resolution, and one member abstained.
This decision comes after a long period of cross-campus discussion about affirmative action, and a special presentation by Dean of Admissions Karl Furstenburg to the Assembly about affirmative action at Dartmouth.
Earlier this term in his Martin Luther King Day address, President of the College James Wright gave his full support to the University of Michigan's contentious race-based admissions policies.
Finally, in mid-February the College joined with several of its Ivy peers as well as the University of Chicago and Duke University in filing a brief for the Supreme Court urging the Court to reassert its 1978 Bakke decision, which allowed race to be considered as one amongst many factors in College admissions.
The Assembly also voted unanimously to fund a Spring Leadership Retreat in April of this year that can accommodate up to 40 campus leaders from "a diverse body of student organizations in the Dartmouth community."
In another unanimous vote, the Assembly decided to accept a free one-month trial period of a program sponsored by USA Today where four national newspapers would be distributed free to students.
