ver the last four years one theme has appeared to me that can mobilize any group off students. This same theme is relevant to every student and to every human being I have ever met, and it is powerful enough to unify seemingly diverse coalitions and interests. There has been one notion that has driven all the successful activism which I have seen at Dartmouth: Freedom.

No matter what the issue, if I can convince someone that a decision or a policy will impinge on their own freedom, their own ability to decide their own course, then I have won an ally.

If I can convince another student group that in fighting for my cause, it also will find more options, then I have gained a partner.

If I can convince all of my friends that my own empowerment is their empowerment, and prove this to them by fighting for their empowerment, then I have radicalized a stagnant culture and transformed it into one where freedom, choice and respect are the cornerstones of relationships.

I have read and heard scores of criticisms of our student body that label it apathetic and self-absorbed. I have also heard rebuttals from activists who pledge allegiance to passionate activism and present as evidence an event, a publication, a petition or a rally. But I am unconvinced. These seeming “activisms” are only products of an activist lifestyle. If freedom is the goal of every activist, then the quest for that goal must begin close to home.

It begins inside, from where it extends to friends through personal relationships. Once the theme of freedom has grown so far and wide, it transforms into a culture of freedom. At this point a rally, an event, an opinion piece or any other form of “activism” become only the natural outgrowth of a pro-active culture that values personal freedom.

Pointing the apathetic finger is a waste of time, and diverts attention from where “activism” really begins—in you. If you care about your life as an “activist” then instead of making Tucker, DREAM and Word Magazine your life, make activism your lifestyle. Find friends who live the same way, though they might care about different “issues.” There is only one issue.

The Dartmouth Free Press is an ideal place to begin building this culture of freedom. Cultures need a shared language, and in this publication students can hash out the words and ideas that constitute such a culture.

Here there is talk of politics and issues, but where is there discussion about Dartmouth’s culture of freedom itself? How many students attended the COOL conference where they could learn freedom-building—or rather, create it through participation? Dartmouth has a place now for these words but who here will ask the right questions?

In addition to language, cultures need shared experiences. The Speak-Out last spring was promising as a catalyst to build a freedom culture. Since then the D-plan and attention to other “issues” diverted campus focus from the significance of that collective action. Though the repercussions of last year’s Speak-Out continue to ripple, an opportunity to transform larger segments of Dartmouth’s community was lost.

Why is there not a journal of activism on this campus to record in our collective memory Dartmouth students’ struggles for freedom? The Speak-Out was minor compared to the occupation of Parkhurst, the divestment from South African shanties, and the Hydro-Quebec boat. Where are the photographs and the reflection pieces?

Why are these stories not a part of first year orientation when we learn instead (and on official campus tours) about how our school was founded to educate Native Americans? Where is the voice of the culture of freedom (and resistance) that not only does not buy into that history, but seeks to create one of its own?

A third component of culture is space. When students live together and have the opportunity to shape the mini-culture of a specific space (not just a lounge, I mean a house with a living room and a kitchen), then that culture becomes strong. I have seen the strength of Greek culture on this campus due mostly to its privileged space.

I have seen alternative and transformative spaces such as the Foley House (we need more!) where students are actively involved in the process of culture building.

When the college starts providing permanent, integrated, culture-building spaces to a variety of student interests, we will see the social life flourish and the culture of freedom, if it is cultivated, grow.

I am optimistic that the culture of freedom will grow in the coming years. I know many of the sophomores and juniors, and am confident in their abilities and visions.

From when I first got here, there have been collective consciousness shifts in the student body, the faculty and the adminstration. Changing visions are the first steps toward changing lives and building freedom—so there you go.

Good luck.

Imagine the possibilities: A whole bunch of students sitting around in the same room discussing common academic interests. Oh right, you’re in class. Imagine a whole bunch of similarly socialized students spending lots of quality time with each other in the same house. Oh right, you’re in a fraternity. Now imagine you’re sitting around with a group of students who all believe in a proactive lifestyle, who all believe in the power of change through personal choice, and who all are leaders in their own communities. Oh right, you were at Parkhurst two Fridays ago.

Sadly, speak-outs like this grace Dartmouth every few years, while classes usually meet two or three times a week, while fraternity houses have weekly meetings and become the ultimate social nexus every weekend. Among the numerous sub-cultures at Dartmouth are social, academic, cultural and service-oriented communities. There has yet to emerge, however, a group of students (and administrators, staff and faculty) unique in their common interests of proactivity and leadership. So far no common language or shared experience has developed to link this type of student to a larger and like-minded community. Such students do exist at this school-I know a lot of them; but most don’t know each other, or perhaps, don’t recognize each other.

The lesson from that Friday was not that visionary student leaders do in fact exist in Hanover. The lesson was that specific issues are only ostensible barriers between these leaders. We learned that personal and community change, leadership and vision can be enough to bring people together for a shared language and shared experiences: the brick and mortar of a community.

What’s the name of your group? Can I get on your blitz list? When are your weekly meetings? Who is your president? What’s your issue? That’s not the point, I keep telling these people. The agenda is my way of life, the meetings are every day over lunch or tea, the blitz list is all my friends. Our lives are shaped by our environment: the buildings, the experiences and the people. Dartmouth offers (arguably) a variety of environments to choose from, and from these choice we are taking small steps to shape our own lives.

Numerous college affinity houses exist now on campus to promote a variety of interests that are not primarily social (i.e. Greek houses): Spanish language, African-American learning, and cooperative living, among others. A house of "change agents" does not yet exist. I envision a place where friendships are made and cultivated not because of skin color, ethnicity or sports team status, but by a fundamental human desire to grasp the world by its horns and battle every day to steer it in a new direction. Leadership and vision are enough to bring people together.

This is the answer to the "next day." When enough Dartmouth students realize that change does not happen in committee or on a regularly scheduled basis, and when we realize that change is a lifestyle, one in need of a community for support, only when we realize these things, activism at Dartmouth will become the status quo, and we will have a community of leaders more vibrant and more dynamic than any student life initiative, trustee or student could imagine.