The Dartmouth Outing Club has successfully increased the diversity of its freshman trip leaders, according to Gen Kanai '95, director of the D.O.C. trips program.
About 950 members of the Class of 1998 are expected to participate in D.O.C. trips between September 2 and 15 before arriving on campus for orientation, Kanai said.
A total of 250 upperclass students applied to be trip leaders, Kanai said, including students, faculty and alumni. The D.O.C. accepted 151 people, of which about 120 will lead trips and the rest will comprise the support staff.
Kanai said he was pleased with the diversity of the leaders selected.
In previous years, Kanai said, the D.O.C. was concerned that the trip leaders were not diverse in terms of racial and ethnic background.
Kanai and Martha Douple '94, the 1993 D.O.C. trips program director, spoke with various campus groups during Spring term in an attempt to involve a wider range of people in the D.O.C. trips program.
"This was an attempt to increase awareness about the program in hopes that we would draw applicants from a wider spectrum of the campus. This was not an affirmative action type exercise," Kanai said. "It was successful."
Kanai said applicants are evaluated with a number of criteria, including level of first-aid certification, involvement in extracurricular College activities, experience in outing activities, organized instructional courses related to outdoor activities and references from faculty and students.
Campus minority group leaders said they were pleased with the efforts of the D.O.C.
"Some D.O.C. representatives came to one of our weekly meetings to make a presentation," said Tracy Canard '96, vice president of Native Americans at Dartmouth. "It certainly seemed like they were making a concerned effort."
The Outing Club selected 92 women as trip leaders out of the 136 women who applied and 59 men from the 101 men who applied, Kanai said.
Most of the leaders are students, although one trip will be led by an alumnus and a second year Dartmouth Medical School student will lead another trip, he said.
A diverse group of leaders is also important for the integrity of the program, according to Burgie Howard '86, associate director of alumni affairs and a former trip leader.
"The trips are a powerful forum for sending a message to incoming classes," Howard said. "If people feel they are in the margin and want to move into the mainstream, then this is a good opportunity."
Howard said he attributes the lack of diversity in the D.O.C. to the perception that leading a trip is only for "hard-core outdoorsmen." But, he said, "Skills that people bring as a leader are more valuable than skills as a camper."
