“The Natives are Getting Restless” –The paradox of Dartmouth’s mission and Dartmouth’s reality for Native students

In the Fall of 2006, Native American students experienced a series of horrific and disturbing racist incidences. Over orientation week, the Dartmouth Review sold t-shirts with an Indian head to first year students. On Indigenous People’s Day, fraternity pledges disrupted the ceremony recognizing Columbus’ genocide of native peoples by clapping, hollering, and breaking the sacred drumming circle. Over homecoming weekend, a fraternity member sold “Holy Cross Sucks” t-shirts to students, which depicted a Holy Cross crusader performing oral sex on an Indian. In November, the crew team held a party in Collis called “Cowboys, Barnyard Animals, and Indigenous People.”  After the Dartmouth Review posted an article entitled “The Natives Are Getting Restless” which depicted a Native American holding a scalp, 500 students gathered in a rally called “Solidarity Against Hatred” on the Green.

In Fall 2015, hundreds of fliers were placed around campus saying “Celebrate Columbus Day Indigenous People’s Day All Year Round with Vintage Dartmouth Indian Gear” and depicted the Indian head on items of clothing, including a thong and a dog costume. This happened at 4 am on the day before Native fly-in, the most important recruitment program for prospective Native students. The following day, a native man and a native woman were egged by Dartmouth students during a silent protest on Indigenous People’s Day. The College has yet to sanction the perpetrators of both incidents.

Dartmouth was founded in 1769 with the mission of training Native students as Christian missionaries, yet the College graduated fewer than 20 Native students within 200 years of its founding. All too often, Dartmouth students and organizations appropriate, devalue, and commodify Native cultures. On a regular basis, native students are assaulted, abused, and dehumanized on this campus. These incidences reveal the ways in which Native students and the institution’s entrenched history of settler colonialism have reproduced violent narratives toward Native bodies. The livelihood of Native students is denied with every racial slur and material item depicting Dartmouth’s Indian head.

Further reading:

http://www.thenation.com/article/dartmouth-reviewed-community-protests-anti-native-american-imagery/