The WGSS department was established at Dartmouth in 1978 to take an interdisciplinary approach to some of the modern world’s most pressing issues. None take this interdisciplinary approach to the WGSS department better than Tyler Stafford ‘25, member of the College Republicans, who joined the department to “better own the libs.”
Senior WGSS lecturer Deborah Walker made note of Stafford’s efforts to apply class material outside of the lecture hall. “I can really appreciate how he’s so passionate despite being new to the subject area, and I can see how far he’s come. I heard him having a nuanced discussion with a peer before class, talking about the discrimination women and other people experience on the basis of menstruation, but he disagreed with providing menstrual products in college bathrooms because he considers them to be a ‘luxury good’ and ‘gay.’”
“I was arguing with some girl tabling for the Dartmouth Dems who was raising awareness about Black History month, and she almost stumped me at one point in the encounter,” Stafford said. “But with the help of my studies within the WGSS department, I caught the microaggression I was about to make, and decided to say something overtly racist instead.”
After reading Kimberlé Crenshaw in his first WGSS class, Stafford made sure to focus his bigotry on the complex ways different identities intersect. Classmate Sofia Yung ‘26 commented on the way his attitude towards her changed. “Tyler used to just be sexist and racist to me, but now his comments relate to my unique experiences as an Asian woman, not just as an Asian person, and a woman.”
“I’m not worried about people thinking I’m a lib just for taking a WGSS class,” Stafford said. “My bigotry is more educated and nuanced than they can even comprehend. Looking at my D-Plan, I may even have room to minor in this department. I’ll be the most qualified bigot on this campus.”
— J.T. ’23, A.K. ’23
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