Dartmouth's administration, led by the 16-member Board of Trustees and College President James Wright along with deans involved with student and faculty affairs, has focused on priorities including increasing diversity and expanding facilities in recent years.
The much-maligned Student Life Initiative is one example of how the administration sets goals and follows through with them over the years ahead. The Initiative, which was conceived by the trustees as a way to improve social options on campus, resulted in widespread changes for coed, fraternity and sorority houses on campus, including a prohibition of taps and stricter keg regulations, a moratorium on new single-sex houses and Winter-term rush. Starting this year, rush will take place again during the fall of students' sophomore year.
Wright, however, said he has "never tried to impose regulations on the Greek system," in an interview last January with The Dartmouth following his first five years in office.
Wright said the Initiative, which sparked student protests after its announcement, was "about trying to make the Greek system stronger. One of the success stories has been the way the Greek system has responded to challenges."
Much of the Initiative's implementation also involved Dean of the College James Larimore's office. Larimore is charged with overseeing, coordinating, planning and budgeting for student life programs so that student experiences inside and outside of the classroom are "the best [they] can be," according to the Dean of the College's website.
Wright's tenure is also marked by controversy over the abrupt cuts of the Dartmouth swimming and diving teams in November 2002. The came as part of a series of budget reductions, necessitated by poor returns on the College's endowment, and resulted in widespread student protest.
"It was not a decision that was made flippantly," Wright said, citing a series of meetings in which College administrators weighed options for reducing the athletic budget.
"It's fair to raise a question of process," Wright said when asked about student concern over their lack of input in making the decision. "I have no real explanation. I don't know how you would have set that up in a different way."
Provost Barry Scherr was also involved in decisions about budget cuts on campus. The provost is the College's chief academic officer and oversees the institution's academic integrity. Graduate schools, academic support units and academic institutes and centers report to the provost, according to his website.
The swimming and diving teams were eventually reinstated due to more than $2 million in donations. Former Student Body Vice President Noah Riner '06 applauded Wright for his involvement in the process as he assessed Wright's presidency several months ago.
"At first, the administration was really negative toward all efforts to bring the swim team back, but in the end, largely because of President Wright, we were able to reach a compromise and get the team back," Riner said.
Plans for Dartmouth academics have sparked debate on the relative importance of teaching versus research since Wright's announcement speech in April 1998, when he declared, "Dartmouth is a research university in all but name." In his interview with The Dartmouth, Wright dismissed the notion that a tradeoff exists between teaching and research.
According to Wright's five-year report, Dartmouth attracts more money for research today than it did when Wright took office. Research sponsorship, largely from federal grants and contracts, rose from $79 million in 1998 to $157 million in 2002.
Dean of the Faculty Carol Folt is also charged with working on these issues. Folt ultimately makes decisions on tenure and will likely oversee the construction of a new mathematics building and the expansion of art studios and life science laboratories within the next two years during which she will serve as dean. Folt's goals also include improved faculty compensation programs.
A hallmark of Wright's administration has been an emphasis on diversity. According to his five-year report, the College is more diverse now than it has ever been.
"Diversity is about more than admissions or recruiting or hiring. Diversity is about the experience here." Wright said. "I think it's become a more welcoming and tolerant place, but we continue to have work to do."
Now in his sixth year as president, Wright has not accomplished all that he set out to do when he took office.
"My frustration has been that we have not had the resources on all the things we set out to do," Wright said.
Wright, the 16th president in the College's Wheelock succession, has been at Dartmouth since 1969, when he joined the history department after receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. He became a full professor in 1980 and served as dean of the faculty from 1989 until 1997, when he was named acting provost and later provost. Wright was elected to the presidency in April 1998 and took office that August.
Wright's wife, Susan DeBevoise Wright, is also an important presence on campus. She spent many years as an adviser to students and now directs the Montgomery Endowment, which brings visiting scholars to campus to teach and interact with students each term.
The Board of Trustees will increase its membership by six seats within the next decade. The Board is currently chaired by William Neukom '64, chair of Seattle law firm Preston, Gates and Ellis and former Microsoft executive vice president for law and corporate affairs. Neukom was appointed to the Board in 1996 and is credited with giving the largest contribution to an academic program in the College's history last year to establish an institute of computational science.
