A Message to the Dartmouth Community,

The members of Epsilon Kappa Theta stand in solidarity with the 2018 First Year Trips director, the assistant director, the chosen directorate and the decisions they have and will continue to make in their leadership positions.

We cannot and will not stand for any attack on people of color, queer folk, gender non-conforming people, first generation, low-income students or women. Let us be perfectly clear, “You’re Not Tripping”, the editorial featured in The Dartmouth was exactly that. This “op-ed” was not merely an opinion; it was a manifestation of the racism, sexism and homophobia that permeates this campus daily. The Dartmouth, instead of standing up for marginalized communities, chose to give a platform for the propagation of this violence. By publishing this piece, they were complicit in the reckless inflammatory rhetoric that attempted to invalidate the character, qualifications and ability of the members of the 2018 First Year Trips directorate. As an organization that carries the weight of Dartmouth College in their name, we demand that they reevaluate their criteria for the publication of opinion editorials so that they prioritize the safety of Dartmouth students by refusing to publish content that endangers the lives and dismisses the labor of those actively working to make this college a more diverse and inclusive institution.

Epsilon Kappa Theta is an organization that would have benefited greatly from the representation of the current First Year Trips directorate. We are a house made up people of color, gender non-conforming folks, queer individuals and women; we bear witness to the revolutionary change that the 2018 First Year Trips directorate is working towards. We acknowledge that this change would never have been possible had it not been for the immense amount of labor that queer people of color have historically and currently put into this institution without due recognition. We are angry. We are hurt. And we will not stand for the attack of one of our own. We, as Epsilon Kappa Theta, feel this intimately and will continue to fight against the hateful oppression that attempts to stifle and minimize the successes of our members and communities.

We know the influence of First Year Trips and how it can color the beginning of someone’s Dartmouth career. We support the program and its mission to welcome first year Dartmouth students into our community. We also recognize the work it takes to make Trips a successful and uplifting experience. This is why we so vehemently support the labor the 2018 First Year Trips directorate has put in to create a positive environment for not only the incoming class, but for our larger community as members of Dartmouth College. The inclusion of queer folk and people of color in Trips leadership is not as the editorial states, “a plate on the diversity buffet”, but instead a step towards the radical change this institution must make to recognize and uplift the voices of those that have often been excluded from Dartmouth’s historical narrative.

We ask you to stand with us.

In solidarity,
Epsilon Kappa Theta