On Monday afternoon interim Vice President for Institutional Diversity and Equity Stuart Lord sent a campus-wide blitz denouncing the student body for its lack of interest in his office's upcoming Campus Climate programs. Though these luncheon-discussions will concern the significant topic of diversity at Dartmouth, only 20 students committed to attend the meetings. Granted, he sent a note of clarification later that evening, but the cynical tone of that first missive was as inappropriate as the implied assumption that everyone just blew off the program because we don't care or because we think the book is closed on the issue of diversity.
I have personally attended many meetings and discussions concerning a wide range of issues -- international, philosophical and Dartmouth-specific. Many of the topics are perennially recycled; we never seem to exhaust our concern over the keg policy, gender relations and the D-plan. The discussions are often interesting, but typically frustrating. My theory is that we -- on this campus and in the world at large -- dwell on problems when we cannot find good or acceptable answers. In all my short life, I've never been so fortunate as to walk out of a discussion concerning a complex and longstanding problem with a clear blueprint for its solution.
Instead of implying that students are ambivalent on the subject of diversity, Lord should reconsider the myriad reasons for the low response to the Campus Climate dialogues. Logistically, many students cannot commit to an event two weeks in advance, especially during the famously tight Tuesday lunch hour. Besides, the weather outside just got gorgeous.
Yet procrastination exists for a reason, and neither time constraints nor sunshine will ever stand in the way of anyone who really wants to do something. There are deeper reasons that people did not sign up in droves for the IDE program, and I'd wager that those explanations have something to do with the subject matter.
As far as I have gathered, diversity is a hazy term referring to race, talent, socioeconomic status and opportunity. Diversity is good, and we should seek it. Also, I know diversity is a touchy topic, and that it is nearly impossible to engage in any sort of intellectual debate on the subject without getting torn to shreds for anything other than a blindly liberal or completely milquetoast stance. The most casual observance of campus politics -- the SEC debate, the Native American controversy, etc. -- demonstrates that Dartmouth students are not ambivalent when it comes to diversity. Our low response to IDE's programming does not indicate we do not care about diversity or believe the issue is a "Mission Accomplished" meriting no further debate.
I guess he was trying to be funny, but Lord's blitz reads as if he meant to send it to a close friend, not the entire campus. The unprofessional tenor of the message makes it insulting rather than encouraging. Lord writes that he is "delighted to report that the Campus climate is repaired and we have achieved a standard of excellence other schools only long to attain! [...] We have accomplished complete diversity and harmony and almost no one thinks there are any discussions left to be carried on." Far from apologetic, Lord's later blitz justified his scorn and simply reiterated an insistent plea for participation in these campus dialogues. Both messages are signed with Gandhi's quote, "We must be the change we want to see in the world."
I do not have much faith that these lunch discussions will solve the problem of diversity at Dartmouth or produce a palpable change in our campus or world. We cannot ignore issues whenever they are too complex to solve in the span of an hour-long discussion, but we also should not get berated for disinterest in old, worked-over problems. There is a good chance that people are simply weary of rehashing unanswerable questions about ambiguous ideals, and do not want to enter a forum where they risk being criticized for viewpoints that hint at conservatism.
Even when students are not gathering at luncheons to discuss tough issues, we have opinions, and we are having debates. We are not so naive as to think the problems of the world are solved, and we do not need to be coerced or scolded into dialogue. I hope Lord realizes this, and that his sarcastic blitz was not any indication of his true feelings toward Dartmouth students.
