“I Am Not a White Male Conservative”

By Nicholas P. Hawkins | Thursday, October 5, 2006

Depending upon the state of their sanity, and their livers, freshmen attend the “mandatory” Orientation events with varying degrees of regularity. The exception seems to be the “Experiences” presentation, which once again took place in Spaulding Auditorium this year to a packed house. The obvious question: why is it so popular? As a corollary: does anyone actually like it?

It seems that most off-the-cuff, even sarcastic or tongue-in-cheek, descriptions of the goings-on at “Experiences,” nee “Experience Dartmouth,” are quite accurate. The presentation as a whole was about diversity and how stereotypes don’t fit everyone but the way in which these issues were addressed flummoxed or, based on the presenters’ assessment of the student body, should have flummoxed, nearly everyone in the room.

Every presenter prefaced their speech by saying: (And I paraphrase) “I was worried about coming to Dartmouth because it is dominated solely by white male conservatives.” If this is true of the student body in general, then the “white male conservatives” were spectacularly underrepresented. The speakers who shared their experiences were, by and large, part of very small and obscure minorities, and it seemed strange for these speakers to relate their experiences to the Class of 2010 as a whole. Now some of the speakers, namely Mirelle Phillips ’07 and Anjali Deshmukh ’07, had an overall message which they related after sharing their own unique Dartmouth experience. Mirelle advised the students to seek out something that they are obsessed with and no matter what that is, say: “What the f--k!” and do it. Anjali’s message was that some great things can come from stepping outside of your comfort zone. Their messages were especially useful to those freshmen who have yet to find a clear direction, but most of the other speakers focused solely on their personal experience and offered nothing to those who had not experienced something very similar.

Rather than celebrating the merits of diversity or explaining how it can foster community, the awkwardly honest, uncomfortably personal “Experiences” presentations were an overly-exuberant display of differences. At times it was intellectually insulting, with instructions like, “Look to your left and to your right and notice the diversity in the room.” As if it took a lot of focus and concentration to realize that there were women or black people in the room. And they focused on the visible differences of the class with the implication that it said something definitive about us. There was little consideration of the possibility that two people who appear to be very different might have some deep-seated commonalities, and that maybe, just maybe, we could find a way to relate to one another. The presentation was blatantly superficial; from the gay pride flag that hung next to that of dear old Dartmouth to the shamelessly liberal agenda of most speakers. This was in an attempt to show that Dartmouth is now part of the “liberal mainstream,” if such a thing exists, and to distance itself from the belief that Dartmouth is dominated by white male conservatives.

At the close of the panel discussion, with much fanfare and minimal explanation, ten people emerged from backstage and began drumming in a circle. An additional person, clothed in the garb of Dartmouth’s old mascot, performed a brief dance in the center of the circle. Almost as quickly as it began, the spectacle was over.

After the “Experiences” presentation came “part two” of mis-education in diversity. All of the freshmen went back to their dorms so they could share their experiences and feelings about the presentation with their Undergraduate Advisors and floor mates. This proved a more realistic discussion but it was still not reliably informative; diversity is such a relative concept and the expectation was to talk about it as if it were a measurable quantity—in contrast to Douglas Adams’ world, the ultimate answer here is not, evidently, 42. Everyone talked about the ethnic makeup of their high school and how it differed from Dartmouth. They also talked about the different speakers, what they liked and didn’t like. No one remarked upon the lack of white male conservatives attending the presentation despite the fact that their prevalence was the topic of nearly every conversation. Hardly ever has William Buckley’s statement, “Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views,” been demonstrated clearer than at the “Experiences” presentation and the ensuing discussion. The presenters were intent on offering experiences from a very liberal perspective that, in turn, offset the conservative aspect of Dartmouth completely. This placation to the liberal bias answered the question regarding popularity: “Experiences” is popular because it offers a perspective that reaffirms the liberal beliefs of the majority of the incoming class. Though one can hope that this is just the latter stages of adolescent liberalism.

Many rightfully come to Dartmouth with preconceived notions about this campus being more conservative than most Ivy Leagues, and for some, this is somewhat reassuring. The assessment stops there; although Dartmouth has a more conservative campus than most, conservatives are (quite obviously) not the staunch majority that liberal doomsday prophets have made them out to be.

The “Experiences” presentation ultimately revealed a glaring hole in the diversity initiative that College administrators cling to so dearly, codling it like a favorite childhood blanket. Diversity discussions that focus on highlighting how some individuals are more unique than others, or how some people had moments when they felt ostracized, are counterproductive. To have their intended effect, they ought to be about exchanging ideas and finding common ground despite visible differences. “Experiences” is only one more feather in the diversity cap that sits atop these visible differences; if fostering community is so important, “Experiences” fails to take the necessary steps to do so. As a result, it renders “diversity” at Dartmouth little more than a buzzword, for liberals and white male conservatives alike.

“I Am Not a White Male Conservative”

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