Abandon Ship!

By Benjamin Patch | Sunday, November 2, 1997

Rumors of Freedman's impending resignation have floated around campus ever since his health deteriorated a few years ago, and last month's announcement of his departure, slated for this June, has brought out the expected College syncophants. Members of the faculty and certain students are already heralding his legacy, portraying him as an intellectual cowboy riding off into the sunset with his rare-print library a-holstered.

Yet in Benjamin Wallace-Wells' article on 'Freedman's Provost Problems,' our President's departure rings hollow. In 1988, in his first year as President, Freedman signed an agreement with the faculty granting members the power to vote on the appointment of any high-ranking administrator.But, when Freedman needed a Provost to replace Lee Bollinger, he called his longtime crony Jim Wright, gave him the job, and never bothered with procedure. Under torrents of faculty protest, Wright reluctantly resigned. However, he has garnered support from outspoken professors and administrators and his name has since been batted around as a potential candidate for the next College Presidency.

The College will inevitably suffer with a leadership vacuum in the Presidency. The current slew of open administrative positions will not be filled unless there is an established President. The timing of Freedman's resignation forces the hand of the Trustees, who may now be pressured to name Wright as Acting President with very little deliberation.

Freedman's departure, however, may be a bit more sinister. Several top administrative positions at the College, including Provost and Dean of the Medical School, are currently unfilled. At a time when the College needs administrative stability and steady leadership, President Freedman has opted for Club Med.

The whole debacle merely confirms what many have suspected for years — Freedman is not a College President or a great leader, but a shameless politician.

Freedman has carefully cloaked his political manuevering with a facade of intellectualism, which amounts to little pop intellectualism — a sort of 'geek chic.' By tirelessly citing his dog-eared list of moral heroes, Freedman manages to brand his political opponents as anti-intellectuals.

For a scholar of Constitutional law, he has taken an inordinate amount of glee in censorship of this paper, which has consistently opposed his agenda.

Kevin Pritchett's column, 'Overboiling Freedman' took aim at Freedman's political pandering in the wake of the Hitler Quote incident. In a blatantly political move, Freedman deliberately distorted the truth to castigate The Dartmouth Review and, in the process, tagged Dartmouth as a broadcaster of Anti-Semitism, a false label which still lingers on today.

Dartmouth is a college experience markedly different than any other in America and especially in the Ivy League. Even after ten years in Hanover (or Norwich, where his house is), Freedman never quite grasped it.

So, he remained on the outside, a disinterested reactionary. Not that he hasn't been duplicitous but even then, I seriously doubt if he understood exactly what he was doing. He's continued on, blindly stumbling and bumbling through the motions, but he never had the vision, the passion, or the perspective to ever accomplish anything great.

It will be interesting to see who the Trustees will select to replace President Freedman. Hopefully, they can learn from past mistakes.

Abandon Ship!

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