Hamilton need not fit the NESCAC mold

by Russ Doubleday '11
SENIOR EDITOR

 The faculty’s decision to observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day and postpone classes has sparked a lot of discussion amongst the entire Hamilton community. Within this context, one issue that has not been talked about as much is what the other NESCAC schools do in relation to this and other federal holidays.  In the Student Assembly meeting on April 18, Associate Professor of English Nathaniel Strout was present to speak for the faculty in addressing student concern.  Strout noted that other NESCAC institutions observe other federal holidays and that Hamilton cannot easily follow this trend due to New York State accreditation standards.

Should Hamilton pursue or justify policy simply based off of what other NESCAC schools are also doing? Granted, the MLK holiday change involved many other factors, but why is there still a need to justify the action based off of what our peers are doing? The explanation for instituting an observed holiday for MLK Day is strong on its own merits – honoring diversity and Martin Luther King Jr.’s enduring spirit. The College does not need to bother with bringing up what other NESCAC schools do as a rationale for its actions, and frankly, it should not do this. Hamilton is its own institution with unique traditions and routines. We have no business in keeping up with the other NESCAC Joneses.

Hamilton is in the middle of becoming a full member college of NESCAC. This conference of 11 small liberal arts colleges in the Northeast brings these academically-driven schools together for athletics. In turn, the conference has recruiting standards where the athletes need to demonstrate academic prowess acceptable for a NESCAC school. These are policies for athletics, but now, Hamilton appears to be implementing this practice to other administrative affairs. This is not necessary.  As Strout acknowledged at the Student Assembly meeting, Hamilton is subject to different accreditation practices from the other NESCAC schools which all reside outside of New York. As a top 20 liberal arts college according to U.S. News and World Report, is Hamilton trying to emulate its more prestigious NESCAC peers? If so, that rationale is a vain attempt to improve the school’s academic standing with little regard to student opinion.

An interesting case to look at across all the NESCAC schools is the common expulsion of Greek life off of their campuses. Only three other NESCAC schools besides Hamilton still allow Greek life: Trinity, Tufts and Wesleyan. All seven others banned Greek life in the 1980s or 1990s (Williams being the sole exception in expelling Greeks in the early 1960s). Hamilton also banned Greek houses in the early 1990s but has still allowed Greek life to remain. Recent administrative actions have led many students to believe that Hamilton wants to eliminate Greek life like most of the other NESCAC schools. Whether these actions were determined with Hamilton or with NESCAC inclusion in mind, no one knows for sure. But Hamilton is not Williams or Middlebury, and the College should act in the best interests for the students who chose to come here over other schools (and likely other NESCACs).

The language that the faculty is using to justify the MLK holiday is worrisome. Hamilton students are proud to be a member of NESCAC, but the school is taking some aspects of this distinction too far. Hamilton is not a cookie-cutter NESCAC school, and it should never be. The school should be run in the way that benefits those students who are here, not those students in other NESCAC schools.