Dartmouth's Board of Trustees will arrive on campus today to discuss a variety of issues -- including student alcohol use -- and participate in several public events.
Although most of the Trustees' time between today and Saturday is devoted to closed executive sessions, the group will attend the opening of the Moore Theater Friday and have breakfast with students Sunday morning.
The Trustees will discuss alcohol use on campus at a meeting Friday with the members of the Committee on Student Affairs, said Cheryl Reynolds, Board of Trustees secretary.
But Reynolds said the meeting would only be a discussion and that the Trustees would not make any decisions or take any action regarding alcohol.
Reynolds would not discuss other specific agenda issues but said alcohol was not necessarily the most important one the Board would consider. "I'd say that its an important issue ... but everything on the agenda is important," she said.
College Spokesman Alex Huppe said two experts on alcohol abuse from Columbia University will make a presentation to the Trustees during the discussion. Janet Sims, the director of the Health Resource Center, will present the Trustees with the results of a comprehensive alcohol survey of Dartmouth students conducted last spring.
Huppe said both Chairman of the Board E. John Rosenwald and Trustee Andrew Sigler were involved in the Columbia University report on national alcohol use on college campuses.
The Trustees' official business today will be dominated by committee meetings -- specifically the reports of the Finance and Nominating Committees, the Audit Subcommittee and the Council on Investor Responsibility, Huppe said.
The Trustees will meet in executive session on Friday and Saturday and may decide to include senior College administrators, like the provost, the vice presidents or senior deans, depending on the particular issues being discussed, Reynolds said.
The Trustees will also hear a report from Mary Childers, director of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action, on the College's affirmative action plan.
Dean of the College Lee Pelton will discuss the recommendations of the Committee on the First-Year Experience with the Trustees Friday afternoon, Huppe said.
The meetings partly deal with reports and administrative matters such as honorary degrees and appointments to the board of overseers and visitors, Huppe said.
Huppe also emphasized the Trustees' broad responsibility for insuring Dartmouth's future, adding "their purpose is to maintain the long-range direction of Dartmouth."
Huppe would not speculate as to any decisions the Trustees might make this weekend.
At 4 p.m. today, three Trustees will participate in an open discussion called "A Trustee's View Of Dartmouth."
The discussion will feature Rosenwald and Trustees Ann Fritz Hackett and Kate Stith-Cabranes and will be moderated by Rockefeller Student Council Chair Jim Brennan '96.
Reynolds said the Trustees will talk about the experiences as Trustees and "hopefully entertain questions about the global issues of higher education."