May the force be with them Petition · Philip Hanlon: Take Back Dartmouth · Change.org
Them is:
Danny Reitsch ’16 – Senior Class President
Michael Beechert ’16 – Senior Class Treasurer
Robert Scales ’16 – Moderator of the Palaeopitus Society
Dari Seo ’16 – Vice President of Student Assembly
Elisabeth Schricker ’17 – Junior Class President
They take dead aim at a bloated administration, however I like their shots at safe spaces…
Instead of making a sincere and concerted attempt to resolve the issues mentioned above, the Dartmouth administration has spent its time policing student life. Buoyed by the idea that the College should support exclusionary “safe spaces” that act as a barrier against uncomfortable ideas (11), administrators have assumed the role of paternalistic babysitters. By effectively taking sides in sensitive debates and privileging the perspectives of certain students over others (12,13), administrators have crossed the line between maintaining a learning environment that is open to all and forcing their own personal views onto the entire campus. In doing so, they have undermined the value of civility, harmed the free exchange of ideas, and performed a disservice to those students who see their time in college as preparation for success in the real world. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which aims to protect free speech on college campuses, accordingly lowered Dartmouth’s speech code rating from green to yellow in the past year (14). The Greek system, which has historically provided students with a social arena relatively free from the control of administrators, has been subjected to increasingly strict administrative control as well (15-17). We believe that the administration should treat students like the legal adults they are and cease chipping away at free speech, free thought, and free association. The energies of President Hanlon and Board of Trustees, as discussed above, are needed elsewhere.
Sounds like the Dartmouth administration along with almost every other higher ed administration in the United States (and most likely the planet) have gotten way off track.
