Stronger Dartmouth on Sports

I feel I must clarify some things which the Stronger Dartmouth group is blurring, either purposely or mistakenly.

Figure skating and rugby are not varsity sports. They are club sports. This means that they receive minimal financial assistance from the college, and are funded primarily by the students themselves and/or their alumni supporters (I know rugby has a pretty active group of alumni boosters who are helping fund its new clubhouse at the intramural fields). That they are successful is a testament to the students, not the administration or the college, who by definition are not involved in any significant way with a club sport.

And yes, the turnaround in men’s basketball is great, and Terry Dunn certainly deserves any accolades that comes his way. Defeating Princeton is an accomplishment in any year, even one such as this where the Tigers are definitely in rebuilding mode. But for the Stronger Dartmouth people to boast about beating Columbia shows an inherent lack of knowledge about the Ivy League’s pecking order. Beating Columbia should be expected, not part of some great “hat trick.”

I don’t think anyone’s expecting all of our teams to win the Ivies every year. But finishing .500 once every recruiting cycle should not be cause for celebration.

Stronger Dartmouth sounds far too much like the soon-to-be ex-President of Union College Roger Hull (he is stepping down in June), who stated that anytime Union’s Division I hockey team finished the season over .400, it was a successful season.