James Wright's Problematic Past

by Barrett Thornhill and Alexander Wilson

Yesterday James Wright was announced as the 16th President of Dartmouth College in a Special Meeting of the General Faculty. Wright has been perhaps the most loyal administrative supporter of President James Freedman throughout Freedman’s tenure.

Trustee William King ’63, Chairman of the Presidential Search Committee, said that, “we could find no one as capable as Jim Wright.”

Wright has longtime ties to the College, arriving as an Assistant History Professor in 1969 after receiving an undergraduate degree from Wisconsin State University and his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Since then he has served under four different presidents.

From 1979 to 1980 he chaired a committee which proposed a reevaluation of the honors program and the institution of a Non-Western requirement, both of which were eventually approved by the College.

Wright served as Associate Dean of Faculty for the Social Sciences from 1981-85. Afterwards he returned to his self-described first love: teaching. In 1989 he was elected Chairman of the History Department. However, when he was appointed Dean of Faculty by Freedman that same year, he found that time constraints mandated that he give up teaching to dedicate his time to Parkhurst duties.

He eventually served two full four-year terms as Dean of Faculty. In his speech yesterday he said, “It is important to know that I still today consider myself —and will always consider myself—first and foremost a faculty member, a teacher, and a historian.”

In 1991 Wright was chairman of the search committee which picked Lee Pelton as Dean of the College.

Upon the start Freedman’s six month sabbatical in 1995, Jim Wright was chosen to serve as acting President. At the time Freedmen said of Wright, “He is a kind and unusual man who will bring tremendous energy to the post.” During this period Wright continued with the programs initiated by Freedman, and instituted no policy changes.

In 1997 he was appointed acting Provost, after the departure of Lee Bollinger, and later permanent Provost. He later resigned amidst faculty uproar over the unorthodox method of his selection. Instead of going through the usual search process, Freedman had unilaterally appointed him to a four-year term.

Wright made a name for himself as an administrator in 1987, when an ad hoc committee, under his leadership, issued a report on residential life, commonly known as the “Wright Report.” This report’s three main recommendations continue to profoundly affect campus life today. The current cluster system of residential life, and the housing lottery are a direct result of the report. Single-sex residence were also banned in keeping with the reports guidelines.

Wright’s report also began the current campaign to reduce the role of alcohol in the social environment campus. The keg ban of the early 1990’s and the recent CCAOD report contain the essential recommendations of the Wright Report. Fraternities and Sororities were also targeted in the report, which recommended increased support of co-ed organizations, the elimination of rush prior to Sophomore spring, and regular evaluations of Greek organizations to determine their worthiness of College recognition.

In 1994 another ad hoc committee backed by Wright proposed major changes to the Dartmouth curriculum. These changes, later implemented by Freedman, focused around the expansion of the College’s requirements from a group of basic courses in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Sciences, to the current distributive system.

Wright has long been an ardent supporter of increased diversity on campus. As he wrote while serving as acting President, “Dartmouth has undertaken affirmative steps to increase the number of minorities and women on our campus not because it must, but because it remains firmly convinced that it can accomplish its educational and academic purposes most effectively when it is strengthened by the diversity of its faculty, administration, and staff.”

On most of the issues Wright has been assigned to address, he has been firmly in line with the policies of President Freedman, who in turn has supported Wright’s proposals. This similarity of opinion may be the basis for the partnership, and friendship, which has characterized their relationship since the start of Freedman’s administration.

In his inaugural speech Wright acknowledged his debt to, and support of the policies of, President Freedman. He said, “The Freedman Presidency has been marked by a growth in the intellectual distinction of Dartmouth and by the recognition that it is now a place more open to difference and less defined by contention. Even as the institution is richer because of their contributions, so too all of us are enriched who have come to know them personally.”

In presenting his plans for the future of Dartmouth, Wright espoused most of the same principles that characterized Freedman’s presidency, especially increased intellectualism and diversity.

At the same time he expressed a desire to avoid resting on the successes of previous presidents. He said, “Our legacy is wonderful but our task is unfinished — it will always be unfinished. Now we must focus upon the next century and prepare ourselves for the challenges that it will surely bring. We need to affirm the importance of the liberal arts in this world of change.”

It remains to be seen if he will affirm that importance in a manner distinct from that of Freedman’s administration.