'Think No Small Thoughts'

Monday, January 31, 2005

Editor's Note: The following memorandum was sent to the Committee on the Student Life Initiative on July 21st, 1999 by Norman E. McCulloch Jr., a former Chairman of the Board of Trustees. The following is reprinted without change. A full copy of this document is available upon request. Mr. McCulloch also appended a confidential memorandum to the Board of Trustees of November 24th, 1986, "dealing forcefully with the institutional maturity issue. Jim Freedman was the most visible result." It is reprinted here in full.

— Sandy McCulloch's 1986 Student Life Memo; click to enlarge. —

DATE: July 21, 1999
TO: Committee on Student Life Initiative
FROM: Sandy McCulloch

Summary of Remarks, July 21, 1999

Efforts to enrich the out-of-classroom experience for all Dartmouth students will require receptivity to widespread change, objective professional recommendations to supplement internally generated conclusions, and patient but steady implementation over, perhaps, a decade.

The most insidious and tenacious obstacle to this project's success is the pervasive Culture of Alcohol that is perceived with varying emotions by friends and strangers alike to be an essential element of the Dartmouth Experience. The College administration must take responsibility now for the strict enforcement of an unambiguous, lawful alcohol policy that does not conflict with residential life objectives.

The second major obstacle—the Fraternity System—nourishes the first. The evolution of the College has made it largely outdated and irrelevant and it should be phased out.

These major evolutionary changes will have an enormous impact on the essence of a Dartmouth education and further cement the College's ability to stand with pride and confidence with the country's very best universities.

Evolution of Great College/University: The Next Step to Institutional Maturity

— Since the 1945 arrival of John Sloan Dickey, Dartmouth has progressed steadily from a small, regional, rather isolated institution towards national and international distinction. Major steps along the way were:
1955 (?): Ivy League formation, initially athletic overtones but more recently true academic competition as well.

1968: McLane Report recommitting Dartmouth to minorities especially Afro-Americans and Native Americans.

1972: Co-education and year-round organization. Also Indian Symbol Committee and the visceral reaction to its recommendations.

1987: Arrival of James Freedman, a highly visible refocus on intellectualism.

1998: The Trustee Initiative.

— Each step has been judged by two publics: Internal (the Dartmouth "Family") and External (the rest of the world's) perceptions.

— The College has dealt admirably with its internal public and that part of student life that takes place in the classroom, thanks to a dedicated teaching faculty and a very bright student body. However, there is work to be done aplenty with the substance of the out-of-classroom experiences. These flaws shortchange our students and negatively affect the perceptions of our external public including prospective faculty and students.

— Specifically, the Culture of Alcohol is a pervasive and tenacious characteristic of the Dartmouth Experience which is quickly embedded in each successive freshman class. I further maintain that the worst abuses of alcohol find their origins and nourishment in the fraternity system.

— Therefore, the message must go out to Internal and External publics that the Greek system has served its original purpose, has overstayed its welcome and must be completely replaced by residential and social alternatives more consistent with and supportive of the College's academic purposes.

For I am persuaded that until we shed the destructive, wasteful, adolescent culture of Drunkenness by Objective, Dartmouth will never achieve the out-of-classroom civility, openness of social interaction and mature exploration of life's most vexing and appealing alternatives that are characteristic of the student bodies of many of our peer institutions. We are late in recognition of this.

Possible Solutions

— First of all, I have none, but I am confident that if the committee and the Trustees recognize the problem, the solutions will emerge. I suspect the latter will have some of the following characteristics:

— All students will be affected and must be served. This is not exclusively a fraternity issue.

— Such a cultural modification may take 5-15 years to implement, and is, I feel, far larger with more widespread implications than we now realize.

— The increase in new facilities and social alternatives must take place before, or in lockstep with, the decline of the Greek System. Change must be gradual.

— Nothing need delay the rigorous enforcement by the College administration of whatever alcohol policy is in effect. It is clear that self-policing will not work, and I maintain that we should not rely on state or town police to enforce a policy that is so vital to so many interests of the College. Presumably the College Alcohol Policy reflects the law of the state; we have only to enforce that policy vigorously and unambiguously.

— I strongly urge the hiring of outside consultants. They can provide expertise, objectivity and credibility to the recommendations of internal, "Dartmouth-Only" committees. I feel there is a naive but rock-hard conviction that no one who has not attended the College can possibly add anything of substance or value to College issues. I think this is nonsense and since it is predictable that the recommendations of the Committee and the Trustees will not be universally applauded, the issues of objectivity and credibility may well be a powerful plus.

— Finally, since change is implicit in the work you are about, I hope we will see a Dartmouth significantly different in many ways when your ultimate recommendations are implemented. Therefore, I urge you to "think no small thoughts" and to raise your sights and expectations. You are contributing to the evolution of one of the finest educational institutions in the world, and that very clearly demands the best from each one of you. Good luck, it goes without saying that I will help in any way that I can.

'Think No Small Thoughts'

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