Monik Whitney Walters isn’t afraid of people with different ideological beliefs – she likes to challenge herself by engaging them and seeking mutual understanding.
It’s one of the reasons, along with a nice financial aid package and the natural beauty of New Hampshire, she said “no thank you” to Brown and Johns Hopkins universities and decided to attend Dartmouth College.
“I chose Dartmouth because I thought I could learn a lot about myself from being in a more conservative environment,” she says. “I thought I would be able to challenge and solidify my beliefs.”
Now a senior, double-majoring in geography and African-American studies, Walters says she has risen to those ideological and cultural challenges and is the better for them. In April, her peers placed a vote of confidence in her – more than 1,000, in fact – by electing her the first Black female president of the Dartmouth Student Assembly in the university’s 249-year history.
“It definitely was a surprise, because, honestly, I wasn’t sure if the campus was ready to have a Black woman as the face of the student body,” says Walters, who was born in Port Chester, New York and grew up in Long Island.
“My platform was outspoken on people with marginalized identities, and I didn’t want to hide what my passions were. I was there to listen to everybody’s perspective and make change that is safe for everyone.”
Passion about inclusion and equity fueled her campaign, she says.
