Five to Life

By Kale Bongers | Wednesday, January 14, 2004

There is, the proverb goes, a time for everything under heaven. College President James Wright recently found the time to release his five-year retrospective report concerning the state of the College. Focusing on his "achievements," Wright presented an overly optimistic view of his tenure thus far.

Wright continued the long-established trend away from Dartmouth's traditional liberal-arts background to the world of research. While saying that research and teaching are not mutually exclusive, Wright conspicuously trumpeted increases in government research grants to various academic departments. He further noted the "two aspects of our mission—the education of our students and the creation of new knowledge." At least he put the most important mission first. He said twice in his report that "Dartmouth is indeed a university in all but name." Daniel Webster is spinning in his grave.

Wright expressed his goals for the upcoming campus expansion north toward the medical school, but also noted, "We have no plans to expand the undergraduate student body." Further moving away from the College's undergraduate mission, Wright added that though "the Tuck School has completed its planned expansion, we do expect to see continued modest growth in other graduate programs."

It was clear, however, that the issues that made Wright most giddy included the Student Life Initiative (SLI) and the Committee on Institutional Diversity and Equity (CIDE). The SLI is best known for bringing the wonderful social options like Fuel dance club, while seeking to remove others like the Greek system; nevertheless, the SLI was hyped throughout the report. Neglecting to mention any opposition to the plan, which was, as Wright stated at SLI's introduction, "not a referendum," Wright instead focused on the less controversial three new club sports, longer Collis hours, and the like. Wright also was particularly fond of his work with the Greek system, calling it a move above "minimum standards."

Still, CIDE and diversity made a strong showing in the report as well. Devoting well over a tenth of his report to diversity, Wright noted that the percentage of minority students at the College is 33 percent, up from 20 percent at the start of his tenure. He also praised Dartmouth's amicus brief filed in support of the University of Michigan's discriminatory "affirmative action" policies.

Ignoring the college-created budget concerns, the report focused instead on "the economic downturn in the financial markets," which "left Dartmouth with budget deficits." This problem will result in "reductions of between 2 and 5 percent in departments across the College and the elimination of fifty positions." Additionally, the proposed cutting of the swimming and diving teams in 2002 (a "painful episode") was portrayed as inevitable, as Dean Larimore "had little choice but to ask the [athletics] area to share in the reductions that he needed to make." Despite these obvious fiscal problems, the report optimistically noted, "Dartmouth's overall finances remain strong."

In recent decades, many Ivy League presidents have served terms of approximately ten years. The report did not comment on whether Wright's term would follow this trend.

With all of the coverage of the SLI, CIDE, the move away from undergraduate education, and the like, one imagines that if the College could speak, it would be asking, "With friends like these, who needs enemies?"

Five to Life

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