The People of Dartmouth

As I sat down to write my final edi­torial for The Review, I took a mo­ment to reflect on my editorials over the past year, and certainly all that I’ve written since the fall of 2022. While the topics var­ied from profiles on speakers who visited Dartmouth to critiques of our Administra­tion, I noticed that I constantly returned to matters of campus tradition and the spirit of the student body. In many ways this was intentional. The Review stands for many ideals, and we reaffirm them with every issue we send to your doorstep. Chief among these values, I wholeheart­edly believe, is the power and beauty of a strong community. Reverence for our cus­toms, respect for our neighbors, and love for our friends are the moral foundations from which we can approach the vitriolic political and social is­sues of our time. 

As the independent newspaper on campus, it’s our responsibility to question the trends in higher education that run counter to our ideals. As such, we can be rather pessimistic in our representations of campus. We are cam­pus watchdogs, and of­tentimes have to sound the alarm when no one else will. Over the past year, however, I’ve made a conscious effort to be optimistic about Dartmouth and her future. Though our traditions may seem to be held over the edge precariously by Col­lege bureaucrats, I’m confident that they will not fall to their doom. Dartmouth’s greatest strength is her people, and so long as that remains the case, her distinct char­acter will last lifetimes.

As Editor-in-Chief over the past year, and as a student at Dartmouth for almost four, I’ve come to realize that it’s the rela­tionships you build here that give you an undying love for the College on the Hill. It never ceases to amaze me when an alum­nus visits my fraternity basement and his face lights up as he reminisces about his good ol’ days. I’m hopeful that I, too, will be able to look so fondly upon these four years. At The Review and elsewhere, I’ve met great people who’ve made it possible for me to call this place home.

Perhaps my greatest takeaway from all this is that your purest, most enduring friendships come from unexpected plac­es. I hail from a remarkably homogenous community in New Hampshire, where most people look the same, vote the same, and have similar worldviews. I cannot stress enough how intellectually and per­sonally rewarding it was to learn from, and befriend, people of all backgrounds and persuasions. Many friends at The Re­view, my fraternity, and elsewhere were unexpected and unlikely. I wouldn’t trade them for any other.

It perplexes me when I hear examples on campus of people choosing friendships based on political compatibility. I cannot fathom the idea that one’s support for a po­litical party is an indictment against their character. When one closes off their world to great people who happen to disagree with them on matters of policy, they’re only impoverishing themselves. If I could leave one piece of ad­vice to future genera­tions of Reviewers and Dartmouth students, it would be this: Great people are all around you, so don’t insu­late yourself from the beauty of their friend­ships merely because they aren’t obvious. 

Cultivating unlikely friendships remains one of the most valu­able consequences of a shared tradition. If we’re to allow the demise of our Big Week­ends, of our idiosyncratic lingo, of our odd rituals, and of Greek Life, we’d have very little that binds us together. I would argue that it’s Dartmouth’s social culture that shields us from the political turmoil characteristic of larger, less cohesive insti­tutions such as Columbia. They have their academics and that’s it. Our traditions are the social lubricant that tears down fences (Keystone helps, too). Without our distinct cultural practices, the people of Dartmouth cease to be a community and instead become a random collection of nerds.

I’d like to thank Zack and the rest of The Review for keeping our institution’s tradition alive over the past year. I wish Michael and Hailey the best as they build a community fit to carry it on to future generations. Cicero told us that “life is nothing without friendship.” Neither is Dartmouth, and neither is The Dartmouth Review.