The Boston Globe and the Race Card

By M. Ryan Clark | Thursday, July 8, 1999

The relationship between the College and The Boston Globe is well known to many on campus. Dartmouth Trustee David Shribman happens to be the Globe's Managing Editor and Washington Bureau Chief. In February, many Dartmouth students were outraged that off-campus press knew about the Trustees' Social and Residential Life Initiative before most students did, but it was generally unsurprising that The Boston Globe would have the story first.

Then, in the Globe's February 24 edition, appeared 'Dartmouth Leader Takes on Change' by Kate Zernike. The article gushed over Dartmouth President James Wright: 'In manner and visage, he is more the soothing country doctor than the college president.' James Wright, wrote Zernike, 'has become a hero to many students and to the faculty, who have waited for this as the final step in shaping a new Dartmouth.'

Most of the article was complete fabrication: 'Wright says there is no social engineering in his plans, and no magic in his timing. But a change of heart among alumni probably influenced it,' Zernike recorded on the pages of The Boston Globe, even as alumni called for Wright's resignation and withdrew their contributions. Wright himself had even asserted that he had taken a stand on principle, unswayed by alumni opposition.

Among students, a petition had appeared on campus; it read, 'The recent decisions of the Trustees and President James Wright show they are intolerably out of touch with the social needs, wants, and desires of Dartmouth's students and alumni. Given this breach of trust, we call for the immediate resignation of James Wright as President.'

On the day of Wright's announcement, 1,000 students had spontaneously converged on the president's house, and sang the alma mater. Thus began a series of protests that culminated in the remarkable student rally on the Psi Upsilon front lawn, held in lieu of Winter Carnival, which had been cancelled, in protest.

At the rally, representatives of every student constituency imaginable—including the coed houses, the Dartmouth Rainbow Alliance, and the African-American fraternities and sororities —joined together to voice their objection to the Trustees' initiative. Meanwhile, polls of student opinion held opposition to Wright and the Trustees at 89%.

Despite these facts, Zernike amazingly concluded that 'What has surprised many is the support among students' for the initiative—a contention evidenced only by some 'opinion pieces or letters to the editor supporting the new plan in...the student newspaper.' She dismissed the many more student letters that defended Dartmouth's Greek as 'hate mail.'

Zernike heralded Wright as a 'hero,' who courageously fought the forces of 'conservatism and bigotry' at Dartmouth College.

It is unsurprising, then, that most students and alumni have ceased to rely on The Boston Globe for credible information about Dartmouth and the new residential life plan. But that doesn't mean Kate Zernike has stopped writing about it.

'As Coed Greek System Looms, Dartmouth Sees Rise in Minorities,' trumpeted a June 1, 1999 Globe article by Zernike, Beth Daley, and Doreen Ludica Vigue. Its conclusion: 'Dartmouth's Greek gamble appears to have paid off.'

Zernike and friends write, as if transcribing the College's own talking points, that the purpose of the initiative had always been to render Dartmouth 'more appealing to prospective students, especially minorities who had been put off by the school's conservative image.'

According to the College, and as reported in the Globe, the Class of 2003 will contain 12 more black students than did the Class of 2002, an increase of 21%. Latino enrollment in the Class of 2003 will be 36 students more than the Class of 2002—a 78% increase. Native American enrollment will rise by 61%, or 14 students.

Next year's freshman class is 'the most diverse ever.'

The admissions results are politically useful for the College, as they combat overwhelming student opposition to the residential life reform plan. At the same time, the College controls student admissions itself.

Ever since Dean of Admissions Karl Furstenberg, in February, blamed Chi Gamma Epsilon's 'ghetto party' for a decreased minority applications, the College has been accused of playing politics with the admissions process.
With regard to the current controversy over residential life, prospective students report that when they inquire about fraternities the admissions office explains that the matter is still undecided. The effect of the residential life initiative on African-American enrollment, especially, remains unclear, especially since black enrollment will increase by only 12 students.

'Although it is hard to make a direct connection between these results and the new social and residential life initiatives at Dartmouth,' Furstenberg told the Globe, 'I do believe that the prospect of change made Dartmouth even more attractive to outstanding students.'

At the end of the article, as if in passing, the Globe mentions that the percentage of students receiving financial aid has also increased, and that the average scholarship increased from $15,864 to $19,235—a expansion of over 21%.
The Globe also cites 'more dogged recruiting efforts,' which are to be expected when the College has a special interest in the admissions outcome.

The Boston Globe and the Race Card

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