Letter to the Editor:
Since this time last year, when I learned of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day policy as a new employee at Dartmouth, I have attempted to engage with the College administration regarding the inequity of how the holiday is observed at the College. As you may or may not know, classes are not held on MLK Day, effectively giving both students and faculty the day off, while staff is required to work. The action gives the face of political correctness to the public — what student or parent would think it right to have classes on MLK Day? — while internally reinforcing the class and power structures that plague higher education. Six of the other eight Ivy League schools are closed, as almost all schools are. Dartmouth should be closed on MLK Day.
I personally refuse to participate in any of the “celebrations” on that day until these inequities are rectified. My attempts to address this policy have included correspondences to the President’s Office (for the current and past interim president), the chairman and several members of the Board of Trustees, the vice president of Diversity and Equity, the vice president of Human Resources and various other high-level administrators, with no indication from any of them that the policy will even be reviewed, much less changed.
As press releases begin and as this year’s Dartmouth MLK Day theme, “A Time for Vigorous and Positive Action,” is celebrated, I hope that action will begin at home.
Donna Hay
Associate Director of Diversity Recruitment Initiatives, The Tuck School of Business
