Verbum Ultimum: Change From Within
By The Dartmouth Editorial Board, The Dartmouth Staff
Published on Friday, January 25, 2013
Last Saturday morning, residents of the first floor of Brown Hall awoke to find racist graffiti scribbled on a white board (“Racist graffiti found in freshman cluster,” Jan. 22). Just yesterday, our community received another message from the President’s Office, informing us that race-based verbal harassment took place this week in the Class of 1953 Commons (“Second bias incident reported,” Jan. 25). This campus has seen three incidents of racial bias in less than four months — last November, residents of the third floor of Brown Hall found racist remarks written on campaign materials supporting President Barack Obama’s re-election bid (“Incident Team reacts to bigoted vandalism,” Nov. 9, 2012). The continued occurrence of these events is simply unacceptable.
The graffiti — which included a derogatory term for a black individual — does not appear to have been directed at any particular person. At ’53 Commons yesterday, a student walked by two others, made eye contact and verbally harassed them by speaking gibberish that they perceived as mock Chinese. But whether the acts are targeted or not is beside the point — that these events take place with any frequency speaks to the profound insensitivity that exists on our campus.
Unlike the administration’s slow reaction to offensive vandalism on the ground floor of McLane Hall in November 2011 (Verbum Ultimum: A Mistake to Learn From,” Nov. 18, 2011), their responses to these recent cases have proven more timely. In all three, Interim President Carol Folt promptly sent out campus-wide emails condemning the incidents. We note the administration’s quick response, but recognize that, by itself, it will not solve the problem.
Students are often quick to point the finger at the administration in the wake of these incidents. However, while it is easy to blame authority figures, the administration is certainly not encouraging racially biased behavior. Instead, the source of the problem lies with the individual students who perpetrate these acts of bigotry. We need to create and affirm a social norm in which racism is strongly condemned.
The impetus for change cannot come from the administration alone. Only we as students can truly enact the cultural change we desire on campus. It is up to us to make it socially unacceptable for students to scrawl derogatory graffiti in public areas or harass people on the basis of race. Therefore it is especially disappointing that in a campus-wide email on Monday, the president and vice president of Student Assembly outlined various long-running initiatives, but failed to mention the graffiti incident that occurred only two days before. It is only by reversing this lack of concern and revising our notion of collective responsibility that we will be able to prevent future such incidents.
The PROFOUND insensitivity that exists on our campus? “a student walked by two others, made eye contact and verbally harassed them by speaking gibberish that they perceived as mock Chinese.”
Perhaps it’s time to call in the National Guard? This situation appears to be spinning out of control.
By OMG on Jan 25 | 3:49 am
The cure for racism, hazing etc. at Dartmouth should start with the simple expulsion of such students. The Admissions Office knows who most of these students are even before they set foot on campus. However the various quotas used insure a steady stream of insensitive and entitled playboys is something Folt et al would never acknowledge. It’s so much easier to form a committee, hold a forum or write a hand- wringing letter.
By Anonymous on Jan 25 | 6:45 am
The D Versus SA in the battle of who is less relevant
By Jokes on Jan 25 | 10:30 am
Alpha Phi Alpha walked on charges that any White Frat would have been derecognized for! Did anyone honestly think this act would not have repercussions? These racist actions can only been seen as retaliation for injustice of letting Alpha walk.
By Lets Get Real! on Jan 25 | 10:35 am
SOS… SOS…
Save our School
President Hanlon! We can’t wait till July. Letting Alpha go was nothing! Dean Johnson is turning Jew against Gentile, Blacks against Whites, Men against Women, Rich against Poor, Affiliated against Unaffiliated. Assume control of the Presidency NOW AND FIRE DEAN JOHNSON!!!
By Message to Phill on Jan 25 | 10:51 am
I hope Hanlon has some real solutions to the controversial, and largely stagnant, culture on campus. The issues at Dartmouth have not changed in 40 years, it’s the same dialogue every year. This is the problem. An alum can come back to Dartmouth and hear students debate the same topics (Greek life, sexism, racism – to name a few) as if time stood still. This is the problem. Oh, right, I already said that. But did I say that I already said that? Gee, I’m repeating myself. Aha! It’s no wonder to those of us who spend more and more time defending our alma mater that fewer high school students are applying.
By alum on Jan 25 | 12:04 pm
It is clear that students are outraged over a perceived “Black Power” Dynamic. I have spent much of my life fighting against Power Dynamics and believe that they must be stopped. Hopefully Dean Johnson can now see the harm caused to campus by this “Black Power” Dynamic.
By Waldo on Jan 25 | 12:18 pm
people love to blame this on APA, which by itself is ridiculous for a myriad of reasons, but what about the incident in November? A justifiable retaliation to a n-word president?
It just baffles me how people love to blame injustices on the targeted group. absurd
By i just don’t get it on Jan 25 | 1:39 pm
With more than 4,000 students at Dartmouth (not counting the grad schools, since grad students seem to keep to themselves), it’s foolish to think that there won’t be some students on campus who harbor and/or express some form of bigotry. The question is this: how do you respond?
The anonymous commentator at 6:45 a.m. wishes to do away with the “steady stream of insensitive and entitled playboys” who come to Dartmouth every year (by which (s)he presumably means legacy admissions and other students from affluent backgrounds), suggesting that the Office of Admissions knows these students to be racists and bigots even before they arrive on campus. Setting aside the practical ramifications (financial and otherwise) of such a decision, painting all members of a specific demographic group with the same brush seems like a curious way to fight racism and/or bigotry.
Do we simply ignore incidents like the whiteboard graffiti in Brown Hall? In media coverage of (all too common) mass shootings and other, similar crimes, we often hear arguments that the perpetrators should not be granted the fame that they hoped to achieve through their crimes. A similar principle may apply here, although one can also see the danger in shrugging our collective shoulders at incidents of racism on campus, communicating the message that no one cares. After all, we should care when people feel comfortable expressing these sentiments on our campus, and make efforts to change the culture so that people understand that these sentiments are not welcome at Dartmouth.
In that regard, I’m far more concerned by the verbal harassment that took place at the Class of ‘53 Commons than I am by either graffiti incident named in this piece. The individuals behind the graffiti are cowards. They understand that their sentiments are not welcome at Dartmouth, so they hide behind anonymity (Bored at Baker came after my time, but I imagine the same principle applies). That someone felt comfortable enough to confront and harass two of his fellow students face-to-face is disconcerting.
I do think the D’s response in this editorial was a bit sensationalist (although not as sensationalist as the quintessential D headline of my undergraduate career: “ZETE’S GRAPHIC SEX PAPERS – EXPOSED!”). To say profound insensitivity exists on campus is not wrong, in the sense that profound insensitivity motivated all of these incidents, but it is misleading, as these incidents do not add up to a widespread problem. I do believe that the problem goes beyond the individual incidents (that more people harbor these sentiments than actually express them), but I’m not sure what response makes sense beyond trying to punish the perpetrators when incidents occur and continuing to stress that racism and bigotry are not welcome at Dartmouth. It’s not an easy fight to finish, but it’s a fight that can and should be won.
By E04 on Jan 25 | 2:59 pm