President Tucker's Legacy?

by Christian Hummel

Tucked away behind Mass Row in South Fairbanks Hall, the William Jewett Tucker Foundation is responsible for campus religious life. In practical terms this entails barbecues during Orientation for freshmen, managing the College Chaplaincy, and otherwise promoting and protecting religious practice at Dartmouth. While the Foundation has been at the center of various controversies in recent months, overall the Foundation provides several worthwhile programs serving both Dartmouth and the Upper Valley community.

The most famous recent controversy occurred in December, when the Campus Crusade for Christ prepared to mail a book to all freshmen as a Christmas gift. The book was Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis' autobiographical account of his intellectual acceptance of Christianity. C.S. Lewis may have been one of this century's sharpest minds, but out-going Tucker Foundation Dean Scott Brown clearly is not. He handled the situation with all the sophistication and tact of a rookie dictator.

Fearing objections from non-Christian students, Brown ordered the mailings halted, even though the books were wrapped and prepared to mail. He asked that the Campus Crusade find another means of delivery. The mailing was not specifically proselytizing, rather an opportunity for students to receive a free copy of a book with which they could do as they please. Eventually, Brown allowed the mailing to go ahead—in January.

When not protecting student mailboxes from invasions by well-meaning Protestants, Dean Brown occupied himself by writing columns in The Daily Dartmouth against the free market and his latest ideas on a College mission (fewer conservatives).

Generally, the diatribes against our economics were amusing for their sound-byteish quality, their lack of substance, and abundance of emotive platitudes. The columns were also amusing for their lack of constructive comments. Brown preferred to attack conservative thinkers like George Will and Paul Samuelson.

In one column, Brown discussed the Convention on the Rights of the Child, noting that the US had not ratified the Convention, while 192 other countries had. Referencing statistics like the number of children who die annually of hunger worldwide, Brown argued that we must adapt the measure immediately.

Of course, the U.S. is one of the leaders in protecting children from the problems Brown notes—even without surrendering our sovereignty to the United Nations. Perhaps they treat children better in Afghanistan, one of the signatories.

In spite of this lack of solid leadership, the Tucker Foundation has produced many worthwhile programs. The Tucker Fellowship Program has been especially popular, enabling students to receive funding for leave term internships at community service organizations throughout the world.

Tucker sent students to serve in San Francisco, Papua New Guinea, Uganda, and Boston, among other places, allowing fellows to develop skills in teaching, advocacy, and management. No doubt several students launched careers from these experiences.

Director of Fellowships Mary Comeau is a tremendous asset to the Dartmouth community. She has helped more than one returning fellow to apply their new-found skills or interests back in Hanover.

Other programs include the Prison Project, which places students in area prisons as tutors and teachers. The program is so popular that more students enroll than are able to participate.

In terms of moral leadership, the Tucker Foundation is disappointing. In its quest to be ecumenical and all-embracing to the extreme, it has shed away all core values. Leadership comes not from doing what is always popular, but by doing what is right.

Taking up trendy politically correct causes is not the way to be a religious leader. The Dean of the Tucker Foundation is in a unique position, in an otherwise secular environment, to stand for timeless truths, rather than poll results and popularity contests.

Dean Brown might be a nice guy, but his campus leadership is weak.

The next Tucker Dean should use his position to make a real impact on students, so they will not be “commonplace in character,” as President Tucker hoped.