HANOVER, N.H. – Dartmouth College students and faculty held a rally on Nov. 29 protesting the use of what they asserted was racist imagery and discourse in a conservative student newspaper not affiliated with the university.
The rally was prompted by The Dartmouth Review‘s front-page headline, which read “The Natives are Getting Restless!” A picture of a Native American warrior holding a scalp was also featured on the front-page.
The issue, students claimed, mocked Dartmouth’s Native American students for reacting overdramatically to events they believed were racist, such as their protest of the college’s former Indian mascot. The newspaper provoked a heated response when it decided to distribute T-shirts displaying that same discontinued mascot.
Other events the Review criticized included students accusing fraternities of interrupting a traditional drumming circle on Columbus Day, as well as a “Cowboy and Indians” party held by the school’s crew team. The crew team later apologized for the inappropriate party theme. Also, the college issued a formal apology after scheduling a game against the University of North Dakota, whose mascot is the “Fighting Sioux.”
Dartmouth has made a great effort over the past 30 years to reach out to and recruit more Native American students, for whom the college was originally created in 1769. The school now has the largest American Indian student population in the Ivy League with 160 – 3 percent of its total student body.
The Dartmouth, the college paper, printed a full-page ad calling upon the local community to respond to recent events.
The Review‘s Editor-in-Chief Daniel Linsalata, a senior, was not sorry for the issue’s treatment of Native Americans. He accused protestors of “overreacting” to the latest issue.
Some students have called for college administrators to take disciplinary action against the Review‘s staff.
