For many students at Dartmouth, the Dartmouth Outing Club comprises a warm, welcoming and utterly inclusive community. In addition to providing a valid alternative and/or supplement to Greek life and offering a haven to passionate outdoorsmen and women, the DOC supplies all necessary and otherwise expensive equipment to involved students and has been ramping up its efforts to widen the availability of financial aid for all trips. As well as being the oldest collegiate outing DOC in the nation, the DOC is often praised for its extensive student membership — over a quarter of students are members. There has been a dialogue addressing issues of diversity and inclusivity within the DOC for years, and such dialogue oftentimes occurred in the DOC far before appearing elsewhere on campus.
But, to simply laud the inclusive aspects of the DOC is to perpetuate the stark reality of culturally embedded exclusion that exists in the DOC’s shadows. Despite efforts — rooted in dialogue and removing economic obstacles — to change, the DOC primarily consists of white, upper middle class students. The factors maintaining this reality are complex, and many of them are the ones lending themselves to a similar reality in most outdoor adventure institutions in this country: historical erasure of minority heroes in outdoor spaces, incomplete discourse about current participants in outdoor activities and a general perpetuated and pernicious belief that “Black/Hispanic/Asian communities don’t do that stuff.” Yet allowing this national reality to be continued at Dartmouth without questioning it, allowing complacency, is unacceptable. Dartmouth is exceptional, Dartmouth students are exceptional, and there is no reason that Dartmouth DOCs and institutions should not be held to the same standard of exceptionality.
Don’t get me wrong — I do not think the DOC stands out on campus as being particularly exclusive. On the contrary, I think for specific students it stands out as being particularly inclusive. Its rich history of attempting change cannot be overlooked, nor can its propensity for reaching out. However, the limited success thus far in creating positive change warrants new introspection and a new approach, a mandate that, as shown by the publication of this op-ed, the DOC now realizes.
This past term, I’ve talked to many minority students who came to Dartmouth passionate about the outdoors, but, upon trying to get involved with the DOC, ran into very real and stark barriers that are rooted in culture and ignorance. Such barriers that are oftentimes impossible to see from within the space they contain; but, for outsiders, they are blatant and contribute to the inability to feel a sense of belonging in a particular space. As occurs in so many spaces on this campus that serve as hubs for students primarily part of “mainstream” (white, heterosexual, upper middle class) Dartmouth culture, student members of the DOC have been unable to recognize when this culture is normalized to the point at which minority cultures are compressed and minority identities are not given room to breathe. There is no personal fault innate here — a failure to recognize is not a malicious or even an active undertaking — but once this inertial reality is recognized and brought to the forefront, a failure to change becomes insidious.
With that in mind, and taking into account the immense complexity of this issue that cannot be overcome by any programming and discussion, the DOC has initiated the following actions:
A decision has been made to have termly events dedicated to raising the issue of inclusivity on campus — these events will be co-sponsored, planned and organized with POC groups on campus.
Conversations about normative culture and inclusivity have been initiated among the First-Year Trips directorate and among the leadership of DOC subgroups including the Ledyard Canoe Club and Cabin and Trail.
We have initiated holistic research into factors and beliefs contributing to the current condition of the DOC.
A serious discussion about starting a mentorship program for all new members of the DOC has begun, so that no one will enter a meeting without a familiar presence there to greet them.
Planning for a new member club led by POC and/or international students has been initiated. This planning involves looking at the existing “Women in the Wilderness” club, founded in 1992 to combat the male-dominated nature of the DOC at the time. WIW leads outdoor trips of all types (water-based, climbing, hiking, etc.) open to all students, but leaders in the club must identify as women. The current thinking about the new member club is that, like WIW, it would also lead trips available to all Dartmouth students, but the leaders in this DOC will be POC and/or international students. At least five minority students who have extensive wilderness experience (mostly outside of the DOC) have expressed interest in and excitement about becoming leaders.
These steps are neither holistic, nor faultless, nor sufficient. But, they create a foundation — albeit shaky — that will serve as a future foothold on the DOC’s climb toward progress.
Let me make this clear. This op-ed was not easy for some established members and administrators of the DOC to read and to accept. It caused an emergency meeting that in turn created a painful conversation. But the very fact that this piece is published in today’s paper, the very reality that brings these words to your eyes, fills me with hope. Painful conversations are necessary to transform painful realities. I believe in the DOC’s ability to transform. Those highest up in this old and institutionalized outing club agreed that this piece must be read and understood. They understand the DOC’s problems. And they want them to change. They want progress. We all want progress. And because we all want progress, it will come.
Caplan is the current vice president of the DOC and welcomes any comments or thoughts on how to improve inclusivity in the DOC.
