or those of you who think that Dartmouth is a place that always encourages free speech and a diversity of views, think again. At a recent Election 2000 event held at the Rockefeller Center, a student was actually excluded from participating, in part, because the candidate he supports is not considered "prominent." Yes, a censored, undemocratic event took place here at Dartmouth that a host of student organizations supported despite its exclusion of an unwanted voice.
On October 17, an event was held in the Hinman Forum to help inform the campus about the candidates and issues in the 2000 election; at least some of them anyway. The Environmental Studies Division of the Dartmouth Outing Club, led by Oliver Bernstein ‘03, decided to sponsor what was advertised as a "student debate and discussion" to inform interested students about the 2000 Election. The event was organized to promote discussion between the College Republicans, the Young Democrats, and the Greens who were each invited to have a student representative from their organization represent Bush, Gore, or Nader, respectively. No other groups or student representatives of other candidates on the ballot were ever contacted by the event organizers.
However, when I noticed that the candidate I support, Socialist Party Candidate David McReynolds, was not represented on the panel, I blitzed the Rockefeller Center, the College Republicans, and the Young Democrats (the Greens do not have a blitz account) to see if I could be allowed to participate. Despite the fact that I only learned about the poorly advertised event the day before it took place, I felt confident I would be allowed to participate.
To my surprise, when the main organizer, Oliver Bernstein ‘03, contacted me the next day, he told me that I could not represent my candidate at the discussion. Even though he described the event as "an informational-type session so that people can become more familiar with the prominent candidates and their stances on the issues," and even though it was advertised as an opportunity for students to "find out where the candidates stand on the issues, " I was told that there was not a place for me at the forum. Apparently, he and the other organizers of this event felt that it was their job to tell the student body who was a "prominent" candidate instead of letting the students decide for themselves.
Now, perhaps the organizers had made some mistakes, but I hoped the student groups involved in the debates would support me. However, while I was not able to personally contact all members of the College Republicans, Young Democrats, and Greens prior to the debate, I received very little support from anyone. The College Republicans basically ignored me. A few Democrats said they felt bad for me, but even after I asked a student who represented Gore on the panel, Nina Basu ‘02, to boycott the debate unless I was allowed to represent my candidate, she did not.
Unfortunately, not even the Greens would give me their full support in my quest to represent a candidate at the Election 2000 event. A number of Greens had said that they thought I should be allowed to debate and I was expecting solidarity from the "Let Ralph Debate" contingent that had protested the presidential debates so vehemently, but I got very little support at all. At a meeting with Nader representative, Alexios Monopolis ‘03, I was informed that the Greens were willing to offer me a measly three minutes of time in the debate that eventually lasted over an hour-and-a-half. While he and the Greens apparently thought this was a bold and powerful way to stand up to the censored and undemocratic format of the event, the offer was a symbolic gesture at best.
In the end, despite being uninvited, unwanted, unsupported, and initially censored, I was allowed to debate. After sending e-mails to approximately half the campus, and creating flyers and a press release that I was ready to distribute if I was not allowed to participate, I was finally let in at 7pm that night, just minutes before the event officially started.
The fact that I was finally successful, however, does not change the fact that I was originally censored from a student-organized candidate information panel held at the Rockefeller Center and that none of the established campus political groups involved in the event stood up for me and my right to represent my candidate. Personally, I would hope that a rich academic community at an Ivy-League college would foster and support alternative ideas and new voices. In my mind, everyone deserves a chance to be heard.
