Myth: affirmative action at Dartmouth only applies to hiring and admissions.
Reality: Dartmouth also gives preferential treatment in acknowledging holidays.
Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, or to be more accurate in New Hampshire, Civil Rights Day. As has been the case for the last five years, most classes were canceled or postponed. By canceling classes the College is making a value judgment that is not only wrong but, given the principles it practices, hypocritical as well.
The faculty, which decides what holidays shall merit cancellation of classes, has deemed only Independence Day and MLK Day worthy of the honor. And while the already short terms make it difficult to begrudge the faculty its stinginess, one is immediately led to question why Veteran's Day, President's Day, Memorial Day and Columbus Day are ignored.
Only two legitimate answers present themselves. Either the faculty believes MLK Day is more important than these other holidays, or it considers MLK Day more important, or more relevant, to the Dartmouth student body.
The former possibility is clearly absurd. Without detracting from King's accomplishments and his place in American history, his legacy pales in comparison to the combined efforts of our former presidents, or to our courageous veterans, or even, some might argue, to Christopher Columbus.
No amount of political correctness or revisionist history could make it conceivable to place MLK day above all these other holidays.
The latter argument is at least reasonable and it is the one offered by the faculty in defense of its decision. I asked Dean of the Faculty James Wright to explain why we have MLK Day off.
"The sorts of things that are represented by [MLK] day are important right now to this community," Wright said. "It's saying that given the nature of this community ... the composition of the community, given those things that we value and cherish, some of the things that are represented in [MLK] Day ... are terribly important."
Now here is an argument that could have some merit. But the faculty argument does not hold water when one considers the actions of the College administration that often work counter to King's dream and the reality of a student body mostly apathetic toward the holiday.
King's dream was for society to be "color-blind." But Dartmouth College, while certainly not color-blind now, does not even strive to be so. The application for admission asks students to check off their race, and the answer is used for a lot more than just statistical purposes.
Piles and piles of paper are produced analyzing whether departments have achieved a proper proportion of faculty members from each ethnic group.
Indeed an entire College office is dedicated to affirmative action. Withholding any judgment on affirmative action, it is fair to say that it was not King's dream.
Despite the College's betrayal of King's dream, if the holiday were very important to the student body, I could still see having the day off. But a cursory glance at issues of The Dartmouth from the last few years reflect the fact that attendance at most MLK events is dismal, especially on Monday when many students hit the slopes or the books. This year's packed schedule of at least eight events includes only one that falls during class time! Hardly reason to cancel classes for the day.
The only remaining possibility is that MLK Day is the beneficiary of a sort of "holiday affirmative action." One can only wonder why the College feels the need to elevate the holiday's status. If it is to recognize and celebrate the civil rights gains of blacks, I would argue that Lincoln's birthday, now a part of President's Day, is a better choice and that Lincoln's contributions to bettering the status of blacks in America equal or exceed King's.
Unless a better argument is offered in defense of having MLK Day off, the College should stop its betrayal of Dartmouth's veterans and of our nation's great presidents and hold classes as scheduled next year on MLK Day.
