Re: Kluger: Don’t Wish Ill on Raymer
Matthew Raymer ’03’s political party is irrelevant. When Kluger writes, “anyone with a pair of eyes knows, to be a Republican staff member at Dartmouth College is to commit a grave sin,” he’s poisoning the well with a straw man. Politico didn’t write about Dartmouth hiring a Republican. Politico wrote about Dartmouth hiring “a staunch ally of Donald Trump.” This relationship between the College and Trump did not exist before. Now it does. Alumni are nervous because Raymer puts Dartmouth under Trump’s microscope.
Kluger uses hasty generalization and false balance when discussing Raymer’s writings. The Court has had only one interpretation of birthright citizenship since 1898. Yet, Kluger writes, “good arguments can be made for both sides.” 127 years of precedent say otherwise. If “good arguments can be made for both sides,” then make one. Better yet, cite Raymer’s.
Kluger uses ad hominems and appeals to emotion when writing, “to anyone with a brain, there is something intolerant about Matthew Raymer’s treatment. Better to hire him and see how his policies play out… Republicans need a better opposition than Dartmouth liberals.” It’s hackneyed to call those who disagree brainless; trite to own the libs. But Raymer isn’t a victim of intolerance. His prestigious role and elite salary say otherwise.
Kluger wants us to wait and see how Raymer’s policies play out. But instead of musing over John Stuart Mill's writings, he should read Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” King wrote, “when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of ‘nobodiness’ – then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait.” Degenerating nobodiness describes non-citizens with opinions out-of-step with Trump’s. Just ask Mahmoud Khalil and Rümeysa Öztürk. Waiting is not an option.
The claim that College President Sian Leah Beilock is protecting Dartmouth by bringing Raymer to the College is wholly undone by the practical reality of what it means to hire a MAGAist. Trump demands unending proof of loyalty. Raymer cannot control Trump. If Trump cannot control Raymer, then Trump will see Raymer as an enemy. Raymer will never advise Beilock to defy Trump to protect an immigrant or protester.
The concerns of students who have to deal with Dartmouth’s Office of Visa and Immigration Services are genuine. The fears of non-citizens in the Dartmouth Community are warranted. And the conclusion that Raymer’s hire offers no intrinsic or extrinsic value to the College is valid. It doesn’t serve a purpose. It doesn’t reflect our values.
Letters to the Editor represent the views of their author(s), which are not necessarily those of The Dartmouth.
