Original Article: http://dartreview.com/archives/2006/11/28/opal_and_the_history_of_dartmouth.php
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
One of the first things freshmen learn when they arrive is that Dartmouth was founded in 1769 to educate the Native Americans in the area. Shortly there after, one learns that Dartmouth’s sports teams were once known as “the Indians”—clever, no? Such was the topic of the Office of Pluralism and Leadership’s (co-sponsored by Native Americans at Dartmouth (NADs)) presentation: “Dartmouth and the Native American Mascot.”
The excitement garnered by such an event did not warrant the use of all-caps in the invitation (see the “Blitz-mail Etiquette” week piece). It was more or less a denunciation of Dartmouth’s early traditions and practices, id est anything before the counterculture movement of the 1960s. The “discussion,” as it was billed in the invitation, was extremely one-sided, operating under the assumption that Dartmouth’s Indian symbol represents some form of “institutionalized racism.”
The presentation was open to all Dartmouth students and faculty, but it was implied that varsity sports captains were forced to attend. This was so they could hear about how their continued support of the Indian mascot was dividing the Dartmouth community.
The history of institutionalized racism—which, according to the presentation, Dartmouth has been guilty of since its inception and continues to be guilty of today—stems from “its goal of making the Native culture more compatible with the growing European culture.” This included the diabolical practice of teaching Christian values, and was exacerbated by adopting the stoic “Noble Savage” as its symbol in the 1920’s. This “Noble Savage” is the basis for the claim that “racism remains at Dartmouth,” because it creates a “stereotypical” and inaccurate view of Native Americans in the current society.
The first speaker on the evils of the Indian mascot was Peter Carini, Dartmouth College Archivist and ad interim enthusiast of early American erotica. Carini began with the earliest portrayals of Native Americans at Dartmouth, the so-called “Hovey Murals,” one of which depicts a “sinister Eleazar Wheelock’s” arrival into a “society of innocence.” This was to be the Reverend’s first meeting with the chief of the local tribe, surrounded by his scantily-clad concubines who, as Carini remarked, “had muscular bodies unlike any [he had] seen before.”
Carini was able to compose himself and continue disparaging our beloved institution; he delved, once again, into the College Archives to be shown entirely out of context. One such image worth noting, was a chubby Indian caricature taken from a humorous instruction manual on how to impress girls from a neighboring college, circa 1930. Carini claimed that this crudely and sarcastically drawn figure was yet another example of racism against Native American students. It is supposable that the image was not intended to represent actual Native Americans; it was meant to represent an awkward and inebriated Dartmouth student (most likely a freshman) trying to charm a girl who is evidently out of his league.
Another old Dartmouth tradition that took much heat from Carini was the use of canes by upperclassmen as a status symbol. He implied that the “Indian head” canes represented a culture of patriarchy and called the canes “phallic representations” (the larger Indian-head canes currently sold by The Dartmouth Review are “even more phallic,” he says).
The canes were attacked even as a connection between the different generations of Dartmouth students. At one point a picture taken at a Dartmouth graduation ceremony was put up, showing an older Dartmouth alumnus holding up his cane to one of the recent Dartmouth graduates who was in possession of a similar cane; this image was regarded harshly as an example of the continued racism that goes on at Dartmouth.
Next on the docket of speakers was Professor of Native American Studies, Bruce Duthu. An “expert on tribal law,” Professor Duthu proceeded to lecture the audience on the evils of the Indian mascot and the failed efforts of a handful of tribes to get them banned by collegiate and professional sports teams alike. This prompted another Dartmouth professor, in the audience to exclaim: “What is it about ouch that these people don’t understand?” (“These people” refers to supporters of the Indian mascot, by the way.) This astonishingly childish remark, of course, received a barrage of applause from the crowd. It was disheartening and idiotic response to a grossly incompetent question.
The policy of many Dartmouth leaders seems to be that if your beliefs hurt someone else’s feeling, you should change them immediately so as not to offend anyone.
The bewildering antics did not stop there. One could not help but notice the “Big Ugly Head” in the room: the giant ceramic-looking Indian mask that sat on a table in the front of the room. When this item was introduced, it received all the over-dramatic gasps one would expect for such an abhorrent creation. I have to say, aesthetically, this was a very poorly crafted antique, apparently constructed by someone with a BAC level well above what is considered socially acceptable, even at Dartmouth. This was presented as more evidence of the racism generated by the Indian mascot. Those of us with common sense and a worldview that extends beyond the kindergarten playroom would point out that it was a devil-mask someone with poor craftsmanship tried to make into an Indian mask; this is incompetence, not racism.