Dartmouth Alumni Council,
Hanover, May 20 - 22, 2010
To members of the
post-55-year reunion classes:
As your Alumni Council representatives, Jay Davis '54 and I attended the 200th
meeting of the Dartmouth Alumni Council held in Hanover May 20 - 22, 2010.
The Council's Communications Committee's summary report of the meeting is
available on the internet as are the
full minutes of the meeting and its various sessions. In addition, Jay and I
are appending further observations herewith.
Please feel free to e-mail
us your comments and feedback.
Jim Schaefer, '48'49TU
Comments by Jim Schaefer:
Lest there be doubt, we all, as Alumni, have a clear conduit to the highest
level at the College, if we want it. The system is in place, more smoothly
effected than ever, for you to make your views heard by the Board of Trustees,
through the Alumni Council and its Alumni Liaison Committee. That's not to say
the Trustees will necessarily like what they hear or act as we wish... but they
will get to hear our views. One good way to be heard is through us, your Alumni
Council representatives.
The recent Trustee election result was, of course, heartening to the Trustees
and the administration. Yet it should be noted that a sizable percentage of
alums, far from a majority of course, voted contrary to the Board
recommendation. It seems to me that this is not unhealthy. It demonstrates a
continued active loyal "opposition" minority, far from in control, yet of
sufficient size to encourage the Board to move with discretion and consideration
of the Dartmouth alumni body entire.
Sports, especially football, are not inherently important to the mission of the
College, yet they are of traditional special interest to alums. And of late, the
subject seemed to have slipped from good sportsmanship to embarrassment.
This is changing. The following factoids, gleaned from several sources and not
the "position" of anyone in Hanover, are almost embarrassingly positive: The
Friends of Dartmouth Football, which raised less money last year than any of the
other Ivies, this year seems on the way perhaps to raising more money than any
other Ivy.
More athletic factoids: the new fieldhouse facilities are generally considered
the best in the Ivy League, among the best nationally…the revised football
schedule no longer dooms the Green to early season opponents of generally more
powerful programs…additions to the coaching staff seem strong and perhaps
especially effective in recruiting…the incoming freshman class looks to be a
powerhouse of sorts, including a quarterback who was among the most heavily
publicized in the country…and (not for attribution or approbation here) about
20% of the incoming freshmen are athletic recruits.
Regarding student social life, one gathers from discussions with students in
committee meetings that things have tightened, since the campus rules enforcing
of yore. Modern students seem especially aggrieved by the Hanover Police, yclept
locally as the "H-Po". This could reflect - depending on one's view of the evils
of drink - our national hypocrisy in letting 18 year olds vote and die in
service, but arresting them when they raise a toast. In any event, the "H-Po"
seems headed for its own Ivy League title of sorts since, if the facts were
rightly heard, they had more arrests for student drinking over a recent period
than in the whole of the other seven Ivies. Of course, by way of perspective,
the collegiate craze of "beer pong" was invented, we're told, on West Wheelock
Street.
On a more exemplary note, our contemporary students are outstanding and do
clearly find time for scholarship. I monitored a class in the Physics on the
subject of atomic structure, taught by an excellent professor whose student
rapport was extraordinary, as were the students themselves. I didn't much
understand a word anyone said.
On the whole things in Hanover are in splendid shape. It is still a magnificent
place to spend one's college years.
Jim Schaefer, '48, TU'49
Comments by Jay Davis '54:
MAY ALUMNI COUNCIL MEETING NOTES
Although I participate in sports, having skied for almost 70 years and am still
at it, a former boat owner and sailor, and a now and then biker, hiker, and
tennis player, I'm not a very good sports spectator or student of team sports,
and that includes Dartmouth team sports.
And so I was very surprised that my main learning at this meeting was all about
athletics, their importance to today's Dartmouth experience, the reasons for the
amount of money and time that has been put into improving facilities, and the
positive outlook of the Athletic Department under the impressive leadership of
Acting Director Bob Ceplikas '78.
In a nutshell, there is reason to be very upbeat and hopeful about the future of
Dartmouth athletics, and that includes football.
My first athletic event was a "Dinner Discussion Group with Students" that I
chose to attend in Rockefeller Center on Friday evening. (I knew I needed to
know more about the subject.) We - I'd say 5 or 6 student athletes, and 15 or so
alumni councilors - met at 5 pm and sat around a large conference room table
eating sandwiches and talking athletics until 7 pm. Bob was there, and a
discussion leader, but the students were the center of attention as they
answered questions and expressed their views on athletics at the College. These
student/athletes had a very positive attitude towards the athletic programs at
the College. We left sharing their excitement.
The second event was a presentation by Bob at the plenary session on Saturday
morning -"State of Play - An Athletics Update". He gave what was by far the most
informative, well presented presentation of the entire 2 days of presentations.
First, a couple of facts: there are 34 varsity teams, and 34 club teams at the
College, involving 1250 students, plus intramural sports. 50% of the student
body participates in sports. The College funds varsity sports, but makes only
small contributions to club sports which are entirely student run and have
budgets in the $20 thousand range, except rugby that has a budget of over $100
thousand.
Being on a varsity team is "a struggle" but actually improves one's academic
performance. One must be extremely well organized to do both; time management is
essential. There is no academic slack given to athletes, but they can plan
courses around their sport requirements. The D plan does allow athletes to study
abroad which is an advantage over other colleges.
The rest of the discussion was mainly around facilities and recruiting and the
importance of the former on the latter. Dartmouth has made a tremendous
investment in facilities through the generosity of the alumni. I won't list them
all here but it is a very extensive list of buildings (Fallon for one) and
fields (baseball for another). As a result, there is a very talented group of
freshman and sophomore athletes now on campus, and we are getting and holding
better coaches. Indoor practice space is the next big issue as Leverone field
house is the most used facility vs. our southern neighbors who have more outdoor
practice time available.
Ivy League rules prohibit the use of College funds to bring prospects to the
campus on recruiting visits; hence the importance of the Athletic Sponsor
Program. The students thought that a campus visit was one of the key reasons
they chose Dartmouth. Alumni attendance at games is another contribution that we
can make that is much appreciated by athletes.
The results of all this effort should begin to show up soon. Buddy Teevens was
given high praise for having changed the culture. The bottom line: become a
(financial) friend of Dartmouth sports, and go to the games to support the
teams. See you in the stands this fall!!!