College President James Freedman officially announced yesterday that he will take a six-month sabbatical starting January 1, 1995.
The College's Board of Trustees approved the sabbatical at its winter meeting in Washington, D.C. late last week and appointed Dean of Faculty James Wright to serve as acting president during Freedman's two-term recess.
Freedman appointed Karen Wetterhahn, the associate dean of faculty for the sciences, to serve as acting dean of the faculty when Wright presides over the presidency.
It will be Freedman's first extended period away from work since 1976-77, when he was teaching at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Freedman said next January is an appropriate time to take leave because the College's Will to Excel capital campaign will be near completion and because he wants to be here for Provost Lee Bollinger's first two terms at Dartmouth. Bollinger officially takes office July 1.
"It didn't seem sensible to do it immediately, to do it without any notice to the institution at all," Freedman said yesterday. "Nor did it seem sensible to do it while the capital campaign was still in mid-stream.
"It didn't seem sensible to do it in the fall because Lee Bollinger would be arriving July 1 as the new Provost and I thought ought to be here during his first academic term as provost. So I think I decided the best possible time I could do it was January 1. That means Lee Bollinger would have been here at least six months and I believe that the capital campaign will be pretty close to $400 million, substantially completed," Freedman said.
Although Freedman said he is looking forward to his sabbatical, the idea of a temporary leave was not his. He said the Board of Trustees presented the possibility to him two weeks ago.
"This is something the Board thought of and came to me with," Freedman said. "They had looked at the practices of other institutions - Columbia, Harvard and Wellesley - and found those institutions and others provided sabbatical to presidents on the same basis that faculty received sabbaticals, two terms after seven years."
At this time Freedman said he has no plans other than "the three R's" - reading, writing and rest.
"I want to go somewhere where I can affiliate with an academic institution, affiliate with a university and have an office I hope, and some colleagueship with the faculty there," he said.
But the six-month leave will not be a complete holiday. Freedman said the Board placed two conditions on his leave: "I am to return to preside at the 1995 Commencement and return for fundraising if the occasion arose," Freedman said.
Wright, who received official confirmation of his appointment from the president after the Board approved it, said he was pleased to step in and help.
"I just want to help us move along on the path he got us on," Wright said, referring to the visions Freedman has set for the College.
Wright said he has not had time to look at the job in detail but said he imagine the job is fairly structured.
"I would expect to do all the things he does ... and look for other opportunities to interact with students and hear their concerns," he said.
Wetterhahn said she was surprised by her appointment but pleased.
"I'm very happy and pleased to be able to serve in that position," she said.
Freedman supported both administrators. "I think they're both proven leaders," he said. "They both have a track record of academic leadership and I feel they'll both do an excellent job."
"The great risk is that people will realize they don't need you - they will realize things run better without you and they won't even notice you're gone," Freedman said.
"Jim has been such a successful dean. He is in his fifth year, he knows the institution thoroughly, he and I have worked very closely together and he has all the qualities you require in a president," Freedman added.
Freedman said he expects to come back to Hanover occasionally for short periods of time during his sabbatical, but "Jim Wright will be acting president and I really want to keep out of his way."
