Varsity Athletes: From the Podium to the Chopping Block

Dartmouth Athletics will be dropping several varsity sports teams, President Phil Hanlon announced yesterday. Men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s golf, and men’s lightweight rowing will no longer be offered, reducing the College’s total number of varsity teams from 35 to just 30. 

Hanlon justified this decision by citing Dartmouth’s increasingly competitive admissions process. Dartmouth has seen record numbers of applicants and increasing yield in the past five years, even fielding its lowest admission rate ever for the class of 2023 at just 7.9%. 

“With 35 varsity teams and the smallest enrollment within the Ivy League, athletic recruitment at Dartmouth has begun to impact our ability to achieve the right balance between applicants who are accomplished in athletics and applicants who excel in other pursuits,” Hanlon writes. “To achieve greater flexibility in shaping the incoming class, I asked [Athletics Director] Harry [Sheehy] to reduce the number of recruited athletes in each entering class by 10%.”

The College’s decision echoes tensions between some regular students (often referred to in campus jargon as NARP’s—non-athletic regular people) and student-athletes that have festered on campus in recent years. Some students believe that athletic recruitment offers admissions opportunities for applicants of lesser academic merit, ultimately reflecting in poorer classroom performance.

The College’s decision echoes tensions between some regular students (often referred to in campus jargon as NARP’s—non-athletic regular people) and student-athletes that have festered on campus in recent years. Some students believe that athletic recruitment offers admissions opportunities for applicants of lesser academic merit, ultimately reflecting in poorer classroom performance. These beliefs have been espoused in highly controversial Op-Eds published by various campus papers (though notably not The Review). Athlete-supporters point out that student-athletes may not receive the same academic accolades due to the innumerable hours committed to their respective sports, giving them less time to dedicate to the classroom; their sport, however, still teaches valuable life skills, such as resilience, time management, and teamwork. Regardless of personal beliefs on the nature of student-athletes, Dartmouth’s student body—which is currently populated by roughly 25% student-athletes—will undergo a monumental shift due to Hanlon’s announcement. 

Athlete-supporters point out that student-athletes may not receive the same academic accolades due to the innumerable hours committed to their respective sports, giving them less time to dedicate to the classroom; their sport, however, still teaches valuable life skills, such as resilience, time management, and teamwork.

Hanlon continued to justify the decision to axe five varsity programs by pointing to Dartmouth’s financial challenges, many of which have been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. 

“The severe and sudden financial pressure created by the COVID-related institutional budget deficit, projected to be $150 million at the end of the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021, has dramatically accelerated our need to find savings across Dartmouth. This is forcing every school and division, including athletics, to make difficult decisions to adjust to a new financial reality.”

As Hanlon mentioned, many other elite schools have made changes to their athletic departments. Brown University and Stanford University also recently announced cuts to various varsity sports, each cutting 11 different teams. Brown, however, later reinstated three of their teams after facing backlash from the community. 

It is unclear how this decision will impact the enrollment of the affected student-athletes. As Hanlon references, Dartmouth offers club sports for both swimming and golf, two of the sports that received cuts to their varsity programs. While there is no lightweight rowing team, members from the now nonexistent men’s lightweight rowing team are permitted to try out for the heavyweight rowing team. While this information might offer some solace to a select few, many student-athletes will still surely be left heartbroken by the College’s abrupt decision to eliminate their beloved varsity sport. 

Moreover, certain athletes who have already reached out to The Review at the time of this publication have expressed their concerns that the College may not stop here. With promises to roll back the recruitment capabilities of all varsity teams, there is a belief in some circles that the College’s true intention is not to “lean-out” and “strengthen” the varsity athletic program, but to cripple it. 

There is a belief in some circles that the College’s true intention is not to “lean-out” and “strengthen” the varsity athletic program, but to cripple it. 

This may not spell the end of athletics at Dartmouth. Unlike other schools, club sports are not always a joke for the Big Green. This is best exemplified by the massive and continued success of the Men’s Rugby team which, despite its club status, remains well-funded by private donors and performs well on the national stage, arguably drawing more prestige to the College than many of our varsity athletic teams. More than just club teams, Dartmouth is unlikely to lose its sporty student culture. The best athletes on-campus do not grace Dartmouth’s varsity rosters, but those of the U.S. Olympic Team. Unassuming “NARPs” in our robust outdoors community regularly compete nationally and internationally as Ironmen, whitewater-kayakers, rock-climbers, and ultra-runners—that is if they aren’t already occupied summiting Everest. 

Nevertheless, it is undeniable that these changes to Varsity Athletics will constitute large-scale shifts in the composition of incoming Dartmouth classes. Thus while athletes, in general, may remain on the podium for the College, varsity athletes have certainly been moved to the chopping block.