An Alumnus on Webster Ave At Last

Today, the Chair of the Dartmouth Board of Trustees announced to the student body that the 18th President of Dartmouth College had finally been selected.

It was with great trepidation that many students opened the email, only to be happily surprised that Interim President Carol Folt was indeed not the next choice. After the initial hurrah, however, it appears that the choice was not quite what people had expected. The Board of Trustees chose Phil Hanlon '77, a provost and professor at University of Michigan. Rumors of such big name alumni as Geithner, Paulson and Immelt had been a feature of campus gossip for years.

The future residence of President Hanlon

Yet, we here at The Dartmouth Review remain cautiously optimistic. After all, this is the first alumnus who has served as President of The College in 25 years. After the whirlwind arrival and departure of President Kim, it's about time we had a staid, dedicated and responsible President. Maybe we'll even see him walking around The Green upon occasion...

--JP Harrington

It's Official: Jim Yong Kim is to Head the World Bank

As gratifying as it is to have someone from Dartmouth go on to such a prestigious position, it still irks the campus that he's got the second shortest tenure of anyone in the Wheelock Succession. 

--Sterling C. Beard

New York Magazine on the Asian-American Achievement Gap

Maybe the title of this post is a little misleading. You might say - what achievement gap, don't Asian-Americans routinely score higher in all educational metrics than their student peers? The answer to that question is assuredly yes. So why the title? Because, as this fascinating article in the most recent New York Magazine details, the tables are quite turned once Asian-Americans graduate from college. I won't spoil the article's startling statistics or anecdotes - it's really a piece that deserves to be read in full. I will however say that the piece is of special resonance to us here at Dartmouth. While Dartmouth's Asian-American student population (14%) pales in comparison to Penn's (23%), the demographic is a significant one. Further, as the readers surely know, Dartmouth is the only Ivy League institution with an Asian-American president. Clearly for Jim Yong Kim, there has been no typical post-college achievement gap. The article, however would suggest that his success is more an anomaly than anything else. I won't spoil the details, though. Go ahead and read the article.

Looking Under Dartmouth's Hood

Just yesterday, Valley News published a delightful little piece on the Dartmouth budget titled “Engine Repair: Dartmouth’s Budget Turnaround.” While Valley News doesn’t want the College to implode (especially given that we are such a large part of the Upper Valley’s economy), they do complain vociferously about the dearth of information on the budget and the steps taken by Kim & Co. to close the budget gap.

While I also want more information about the inner workings of the somewhat mysterious and Goldberg-esque machine that is the College, I believe the article is somewhat misleading. Specifically, I am slightly troubled by their numbers. They describe the precipitous decline and modest recovery both in percentage terms – forgetting to note that a loss of 24% is far worse than a 10% gain. In fact, the endowment is still down about 23% from before the financial crisis. That’s far from rosy.

Although I may disagree with their presentation, I absolutely agree with them that more information is always good. Those of us who care about the College would like to understand the situation – and thus be better prepared to help or to offer advice. They also note that during the crisis, Kim shared much more information about the College, which inspired confidence in the Upper Valley and helpd the College through the difficult times. Why hasn't he continued this policy of openness?

They close the article on a rather sombre note, discussing the inherent difficulties in running an institution where expenditures per student are two times tuition. Something is going to have to change...this recent article by the Most Hated Man on Campus (Roger Lott) correctly points out the excesses of financial aid. It does seem somewhat unsustainable to be handing out educations worth over a million dollars for free. But I'm just a freshman, what do I know?

--J.P. Harrington