In a proposal delivered to the Social and Residential Life Task Force, the Afro-American Society pressed the College to start taking disciplinary action against violators of the College's Principle of Community, an idea which was revived late Summer term after a fraternity and sorority planned and then cancelled a luau-themed party.
The Principle of Community, implemented in 1980 by the Board of Trustees, calls for "integrity, responsibility and consideration." Currently, a violation of these principles cannot be the basis for a disciplinary hearing before the Committee on Standards, the College's judiciary body.
The issue of making the Principles adjudicable surfaced last spring after a string of Greek-sponsored parties held last year -- including the now infamous "ghetto" party -- were considered by some members of the community to be in violation of the Principle.
"As it stands, the Principle is a hope that the College would like us to follow," said Mikisha Brown '00, the chairperson of Aam's proposal committee. "There are no checks and balance system in place to make sure that hope is a possibility."
In the proposal to the Residential and Social Life Task Force, members of Aam wrote that incidences of violations of the Principle of Community have been increasing, not decreasing, and that the College should try to counteract this development.
"All too often, members of the African diaspora and other students of color are insulted, offended, and abused by the comments, actions, and injustices of members of the Dartmouth Community," the proposal states. "Students that differ from the majority in any way -- culturally, economically, racially, ethnically -- are seen as an 'other,' underappreciated, stereotyped, disenfranchised, and isolated."
The proposal criticizes the College's current method of dealing with violations of the Principle, discussion, as being inadequate.
"For a long time this institution has chosen to address prejudice and racism, that violates student rights, through 'free and open discussion and debate,'" the proposal states. "This has not been productive in the past and is often ineffective. Perhaps, this matter needs to be addressed by an organization similar to Committee on Standards."
The proposal suggests "creative ways to hold students accountable for their actions." Possible disciplinary actions suggested are suspending the right of organizations to hold their social functions on campus or revoking college funding, according to the proposal.
Members of Aam met throughout the Spring term to express their views and come up with a final proposal, according to Brown. She said the proposal is not representative of everyone, but that it does speak for the majority of the people who came to meetings.
The Aam is not the only group who has urged the College to punish violators of the Principles of Community.
Omar Rashid '00, after learning about the planned luau-themed party during the summer, called for disciplinary action against the party's planners -- Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity and Delta Delta Delta sorority -- for violation of the Principles.
Rashid declined several requests to be interviewed for this story.
Dean of the College James Larimore said the College currently does not have plans to make the Principles of Community judicable.
"I think for me the most important thing is that the Principle of Community is a statement of values and expectations that we have for each other as members of a community," Larimore said. "But we also have to safeguard the freedom of expression that we have. I think that is the difficult work of living in a diverse community -- figuring out where the boundaries may be."
Jorge Miranda '01, who is a member of the COS, said he thought it was inappropriate for the COS to hear cases of violations of the Principle of Community.
"The Principle is vague," Miranda said. "It doesn't set out clear behavior that goes against the Principle of Community. I don't think it's something that should be enforced."
Miranda also said the College should not have to threaten students to obey a principle that emphasizes respect.
"I think it would mean a whole lot more if people followed the Principle of Community" without a looming punishment, he said.
Larimore said just hanging the Principle in the residence halls moves the community closer to its goals of making Dartmouth a more accepting place.
"What I've heard from students and administrators is that the placement of the Principle of Community in the residence halls has fostered many levels of discussion for some individuals," he said. "As with any other statement of community values or beliefs, they're valuable in the abstract, but they're even more valuable as a part of discussions that promote awareness."
Miranda said he thinks discussing violations of the Principle is more productive than punishing them.
About the luau incident this summer, Miranda said, "I personally felt that a lot more could be gained from the discussion that came from it" than could have been gained by disciplinary action by the College.
But Brown said the burden of educating people who violate the Principle often times fall upon the offended group or individual because the community as a whole does not discuss or promote the Principle enough.
"It gets exhausting after a while," she said.
She suggested that the College create a separate committee from the COS that could hear cases of violations of the Principle, write a report, mediate, educate and possibly discipline.
