Perhaps the best way to describe the Dartmouth-Plan is "ordered chaos." This chaos results from more than 4,000 students and 500 faculty members picking and choosing which terms they will be on campus and which terms they will spend away from campus.
It is impossible to label the program as either "good" or "bad," but it is safe to say that the D-Plan directly affects every aspect of life at the College -- from requiring students to spend one summer in Hanover to overcrowded residence and dining halls every Fall term.
College administrators, who deal daily with the benefits and headaches that accompany the D-Plan, readily acknowledge the conflicts inherent in the plan. Even the D-Plan's most ardent supporters admit the plan has its drawbacks and the most vocal critics say the plan has some distinct benefits.
Increased flexibility for faculty and students and the way the D-Plan facilitates off-campus and foreign study programs are the major advantages to the D-Plan, according to most administrators.
But administrators caution these positives come with certain costs: the financial and bureaucratic effort necessary to run the system, the harmful consequences for community at Dartmouth and educational discontinuity.
"All of us pay a pretty high price in a variety of ways" to accommodate the D-Plan, said Dean of Freshmen Peter Goldsmith, who added he "wasn't sure if it was a price worth paying or not."
Regardless of whether or not they say they favor the D-Plan, most administrators agree that the system involves a series of tradeoffs.
"The other side of intellectual choice and flexibility is institutional chaos and discontinuity," Acting College President James Wright said in a recent interview with The Dartmouth.
'A Mixed Bag'
Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Karl Furstenberg summarized the predominant administrative opinion of the D-Plan when he said simply, "It's a mixed bag."
Dean of the College Lee Pelton said he would like to have additional information before he decided his opinion on the D-Plan. He said he would like to see a "comprehensive, thorough survey" to gauge students' opinions about the program and learn how they feel the D-Plan affects their lives.
But Pelton said the D-Plan has some obvious benefits, including flexibility, but these benefits are counteracted by other negative factors.
"The flexibility is wonderful and gives students the opportunity to take advantage of situations that they might not otherwise have, but this flexibility comes at a cost to the institutions, to the students and to the community," he said.
Wright said he agrees the choices provided by the D-Plan to students and faculty come at an institutional cost.
"There are times when the D-Plan and some of the consequences of the D-Plan drive some of us up the wall, and there are times when we very much enjoy the opportunities it provides," Wright said.
Dean of Residential Life Mary Turco said the D-Plan has the potential to enrich the students' academic experience. But she also said, to some extent, the D-Plan works against the College's concept of community.
Associate Dean of the Faculty for Arts and Sciences George Wolford said he would be torn if he had to decide whether to preserve or eliminate the D-Plan. "There are times when I've profited greatly from the flexibility," he said. "But there are times as dean when it drives you crazy."
The Advantage of Flexibility
Most administrators agree one of the greatest benefits of the D-Plan is the increased flexibility it gives to both students and faculty.
The D-Plan requires students to be in residence during the Fall, Winter and Spring terms of both their freshman and senior years.Students also have required residency during the summer following the sophomore year.
During the sophomore and junior years, however, students are free to take a leave term whenever they want.
Wright said the opportunity for students to freely structure their four years at the College is "unparalleled in any other institution."
Associate Dean of Freshmen Anthony Tillman said he also thinks the D-Plan allows a greater degree of flexibility that does not exist at other institutions. Tillman added the D-Plan provides an opportunity for students to be creative.
Besides providing flexibility to students in planning their time at the College, the D-Plan also provides similar flexibility to faculty, administrators say.
Wolford said this flexibility is "extremely appealing" to faculty members. Faculty members are required to be on campus three out of the four terms each year, but are free to choose which one of the four terms they wish to take off.
The flexibility of the D-Plan is also the driving force behind Dartmouth's successful foreign study programs. Many administrators say preserving these international programs is essential.
"I'm confident the D-Plan facilitates these programs and I would predict that if we abandoned the D-Plan that the interest in off-campus programs would decline steadily," Wolford said.
Wolford said part of Dartmouth's uniqueness is the opportunities for College students to study around the world through Language Study Abroad programs and Foreign Study Programs.
"One of the things that makes us clearly stand out is our commitment to off-campus programs and language instruction abroad," Wolford said.
Vice President and Treasurer Lyn Hutton said the D-Plan fosters and supports foreign study programs, and the College would not want to lose these programs should the D-Plan ever be modified. She said preserving off-campus programs is a high priority for the College
Furstenberg said he thinks the international study programs -- and hence the D-Plan -- attracts students to apply to the College.
"I don't think we could do all we do with international study without the D-Plan, and that in turn is a very attractive option for prospective students," Furstenberg said.
Administrative Nightmares
The D-Plan creates much more administrative work than a traditional academic schedule, primarily because the College starts up and shuts down four times a year and hundreds of students shuffle on and off campus each term.
Hutton said there is evidence to suggest the administrative burden of maintaining the D-Plan is more costly than maintaining a regular semester system.
Hutton, in an interview from Washington, D.C., said she did not have the necessary information with her to specify the additional costs necessitated by the D-Plan. But she said the extra costs do not come from starting up and shutting down four times a year; rather, the result from the constant shuffling of students.
For the Office of Residential Life, the D-Plan means doing room assignments four times a year, and keeping track of which rooms become available at the end of each term as students vacate them for their leave terms.
Turco said ORL actually does housing eight times a year, including four interim housing periods for students who need to be in residence between terms.
Director of Housing Services Lynn Rosenblum estimates that 400 students leave campus at the end of Fall and Winter terms and another 400 students return to campus for the beginning of Winter and Spring terms.
Beatty said the D-Plan makes ORL a chaotic place to work.
"For our office, we have to almost start from scratch four times a year just to do the housing, where on most colleges and university campuses they gear up to do housing just once," Beatty said.
Beatty said he is in favor of a major modification of the D-Plan and did not rule out throwing it out entirely. "I guess I can't help but wonder if the D-Plan hasn't outlived its usefulness at Dartmouth," he said.
Rosenblum also said she favors an alternate system to the D-Plan to reduce the chaos associated with assigning rooms four times a year.
"It would be nice if we were only doing assignments for the fall for the bulk of students and not again in the winter and spring," Rosenblum said. "Administratively, it adds a considerable amount to an already full calendar."
The D-Plan also means the Registrar's Office handles student registration and course selection four times a year. In addition, the Registrar's Office approves and maintains students' D-Plans.
But Registrar Thomas Bickel said his office is able to handle theadministrative responsibilities caused by the D-Plan.
"Whatever plan we have as far as course registration is concerned, we have the same number of students signing up for the same number of courses each year," Bickel said. "So spreading it out over four terms is almost spreading out the work we would have to do anyhow."
"From that point of view it's not clear to me that the D-Plan makes things worse," he added.
Breakup of Continuity?
While most administrators hailed the flexibility of the D-Plan as a strength, almost as many administrators said the D-Plan splinters friendships and relationships and breaks up educational continuity.
Deputy Provost Bruce Pipes said the transient nature of the D-Plan undermines educational continuity. This lack of continuity can be particularly harmful to science and math majors, he said, whose sequential courses are built upon knowledge learned in lower-level classes.
Pelton said the biggest concern the D-Plan presents to his office is "the way in which community is fragmented."
"You make close friends your freshman year and then your sophomore year, you and your friends go in different directions," Pelton said. "The sense of community and friendship is discontinuous with the D-Plan."
Associate Dean of Residential Life Bud Beatty said the D-Plan causes people to constantly change their living accommodations. As a result, students "can't set down any roots," which makes it hard to develop any sense of community, he said.
"As an entering student, at least you have the chance to be here for three terms and as a senior, you have the chance to be here for three terms, but as a sophomore or junior you're coming and going," he said.
Turco said the community suffers and the individual students are placed at a disadvantage as a result of the D-Plan.
The D-Plan can be somewhat helpful to community by encouraging students to mix with one another and make new friends, she said. But there is little time for people to become acquainted with their new neighbors before they move to an off-term or another residence hall.
"I wonder how much it supports the academic achievement of the students to be frequently concerned about their housing situation and their roommate situation," she said. "I think it works against our concept of community in some ways."
Assistant Dean of the College Teoby Gomez said long-term relationships, especially romantic ones, are also more difficult to maintain because of the D-Plan. Sometimes people can be separated for as many as three terms because of the D-Plan, he said.
Sophomore Summer
The D-Plan requires students to be in residence at the College during the Summer term following their sophomore year. Like most other aspects of the D-Plan, administrators say the summer-residency requirement has its advantages and disadvantages.
Provost Lee Bollinger noted that the College runs at full steam year-round, and although there are fewer students in residence during the summer, there is not much opportunity to "refresh and reflect on the academic year just passed."
Wolford noted "in the old days" before the D-Plan, the summer was a "quiet, peaceful time" where faculty and administrators could relax and contemplate. Now, Wolford said, although there are fewer students in residence, the pace never slows at all.
Pelton said the non-stop pace of year-round operations does not allow for the College to reflect, prepare or plan.
"Whereas many of our peers have the summer as a time to get ready for the new year and to assess what has happened the year before, there is very little time for that here," Pelton said.
But other administrators noted several advantages to the sophomore Summer term. For instance, Furstenberg said having students on campus in the summer acts as a recruiting tool for prospective students visiting the College.
Because sophomore summer is an island in the turbulent sophomore and junior years, Tillman said it allows students in rekindling old friendships and relationships.
"It gives the opportunity for people who have been dispersed during sophomore year to get back together and rebuild some ties that may have been severed," Tillman said.
The Effect on Student Leaders
Because the D-Plan requires at least one non-Summer leave term during the sophomore or junior year, most students are not in residence three consecutive terms during their second or third year at the College.
This presents an enormous problem to social and extracurricular organizations -- there is the possibility of having student leaders who cannot serve continuously throughout the year.
Dean of Student Life Holly Sateia said the D-Plan presents many challenges student organizations, particularly in developing student leadership.
Sateia noted many organizations struggle with the transition from term to term because "just when a group gels and comes together with its plans, they're suddenly off to every corner of the earth."
But Sateia said the D-Plan can have positive effects for student leaders, because it introduces them to other cultures where they can acquire new ideas or different leadership styles.
Sateia said she would like to see the College work harder at making the D-Plan work better for students, but overall she said she has a generally positive impression of the D-Plan.
The D-Plan also effectively reduces the pool of students from which student leaders can be chosen, since certain positions -- likestudent interns in College offices -- necessitate the student be on campus for three straight terms.
Associate Dean of Residential Life Deb Reinders said presidents of Coed, Fraternity and Sorority organizations are often not able to serve three consecutive terms.
"It would be much smoother and easier if they were in residence the full three terms, but because of the D-Plan options for the junior class, it doesn't always work that way," Reinders said.
Reinders said the discontinuity caused by the D-Plan generally does not affect CFS presidents, but noted she has observed transition difficulties with other Greek officers, such as treasurer, house manager and social chair.
But she said the Summer term is valuable to future officers of Greek organizations because it gives members of the sophomore class a chance to lead.
"It gives [the sophomores] a small slice of what it is like to be a leader," Reinders said. "It allows the members to get to know who's doing well in positions of leadership."
Maintaining Physical Plant
Because the College operates 12 months a year, all of its residence halls, laboratories, classrooms and other facilities are used more than they would be under a traditional semester system.
Several administrators said this usage is a disadvantage of the D-Plan, because it makes it more difficult to renovate College buildings.
Turco said the College is under "tremendous pressure to do both annual cyclical maintenance and planned renovation," and such maintenance and renovation is difficult given year-round operation.
Most College construction begins in the summer. The College takes a given building off-line for the Summer term and aims to complete the renovations by the time students return to campus for Fall term.
According to Turco, this is extremely difficult because there is only a window of nine or 10 weeks to complete the construction.
