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Keystone Cops
and Hired Guns The popular reaction around the College to the fiasco that followed last Saturday's field rushing has been largely one of humored condescension. The fantastic nature of the afternoon's chase has merely served to convince many students of the vengeful attitude and fundamental incompetence of local security forces. While that response is certainly predictable, the blame for the outrageous path the field rush took can't be limited to the officers present at the scene. The fact that in the same week President Freedman stepped down and Dartmouth security initiated the field rush fiasco, parallel each other in more than symbolic association. Saturday's demolition of parked cars and municipal paraphernalia along Route 4 is a direct (and predictable) outgrowth of the Administration's recent policy to use the great white hired knights of the Upper Valley to protect Dartmouth College from its own heritage. There was and remains no rational reason why Dartmouth's Safety and Security forces are insufficient to patrol the game, and even to handle the field rushers. There are certainly enough Safety and Security officers available, and they are certainly reliable. Every day and night we entrust them with the security of our entire campus. The Freedman administration, however, does not want Safety and Security to handle field rushers. They do not want Dave Chalmers `01 and Luke Gonzales `01 ferreted away to some forgiving and understanding dean to receive two terms of College probation. The only reason for hiring mercenary cops from surrounding locales to stalk the sidelines, the only difference between Safety and Security Officers and local police, lies in the power and threat of arrest. Police have it. Security officers don't. The administration wants Chalmers and Gonzales arrested. They want them punished. They want them set up as an example to the Dartmouth Community: if you think of yourselves and your school in terms of your common tradition, you do so at your own peril. |
