SLI: An Alumni View

by William Tell '56

As we enter the twenty-first century, Dartmouth is confronted with the challenge of best adapting its goals, policies, and priorities to maintain its preeminence in the face of powerful and accelerating forces of global change.

Lacking the size of endowment and alumni annual giving levels of its peer institutions, it is especially important that the Board of Trustees in launching this new initiative, consuming as much as one-third of the capital funds raised in the Will to Excel campaign of the 1990s, has got the priorities right. There is no assurance that the booming economy accompanied by a stock market at record levels will continue indefinitely.

Of equal concern is the downward trend in alumni annual giving which last year further declined to only 48.3 percent.

Neither Dartmouth's Board nor the Student Life Initiative Committee Report provides any analysis of the projected capital and operating costs of this program, the potential further erosion in future alumni financial support, and, perhaps most importantly, the opportunity cost of opting to make such a major expenditure to address local community problems, most of which are not unique to Dartmouth. The Committee Report expressly states that no budget constraints were imposed.

Rather than strengthening the College's position in the fields of technology, science, and engineering, the areas now more heavily weighted in the U.S. News and World Report rankings, we are now moving ahead on a 1989 faculty-generated proposal to the Board. A January 19, 2000 New York Times article reports on Yale's plans to invest at least $500 million in response to a “New Age of Science.” Yale's president, Richard C. Levin, in explaining this action, stated, “Yale is committed to remain on everyone's short list of the best universities in the world. In the twenty-first century, you must excel in science and engineering to maintain that position.”

The Times article also reported E. William Colglazier, executive officer of the National Academy of Sciences, as stating that many universities were recognizing the need to spend more money on science as “this is the wave of the future and we'll see more of these announcements.”

During an earlier period, Dartmouth had a leading position in computers, but that has long since passed.

My point is not that Dartmouth should be attempting to mimic Yale, but rather that the process set by the board should also be carefully considering what alternative programs to the proposed Student Life Initiative might better position Dartmouth for leadership in the new century and be a better utilization of its available resources.

It is unfortunate that in the solicitation of alumni funds for the Will to Excel campaign there was no indication of the Board's plans to spend a significant amount of money raised to end the Greek system “as we know it” and to embark on “the most significant change at Dartmouth College since coeducation.” If such disclosure had been made at that time, there would have been an opportunity for discussion and debate of some of the issues identified above. For the constituencies of the College to come together in support of the priority initiatives needed to strengthen Dartmouth in the future a broader and more comprehensive analysis is required. It is not too late.

I suggest that the Alumni Council recommend that the Board not rush to final approval of the Student Life Initiative at its April meeting, but rather take advantage of the additional time at its summer retreat. This would not only permit the Board to evaluate more carefully the many complex issues raised by the Student Life Initiative, but also to consider what alternative programs and projects might better prepare and position the College for the demanding new leadership challenges for higher education that lie ahead.

The Alumni Council should be given an opportunity to meaningfully participate in this additional dimension of final decision-making as enthusiastic alumni support has been critical to Dartmouth's success in the twentieth century and this surely will also be true in the future.