Acting College President James Wright reaffirmed the College's support for affirmative action programs at a meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences yesterday afternoon.
At its first meeting since Fall term, the College's faculty also voted to establish a Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Languages and Literatures, a major in Linguistics and a new course-drop policy.
Speaking before the faculty, Wright said in recent months national debate has focused on how best to create equal opportunity for all and that he had spoken to the College's Board of Trustees about Dartmouth's stance on the issue.
"It may be timely to affirm Dartmouth's position," he said.
The College, Wright said, has a long standing tradition of what the Trustees described in the 1920s as a "selective admissions policy" to ensure the student body is geographically and racially diverse.
"The Board of Trustees supports and encourages the continuation of these efforts," he said.
Wright said the College fully intends to maintain its commitment to diversity in the future, as consistent with the law.
"It is my conviction that affirmative action in admissions is an opportunity, one that has enriched all of us immeasurably," he said.
Course drop proposal
At the meeting, the College's faculty approved, though not unanimously, a Committee on Instruction proposal that will allow students to drop courses more easily.
The proposal allows students to drop courses without consequence for the first two weeks of any term.
From the third week of the term until two weeks before the last class of the term, students will be able to drop a class without their professor's permission. The course will remain on the student's transcript with the notation "W," for "withdrew."
Students may also petition to withdraw from a course any time during the last two weeks of the term.
During the meeting, the faculty passed an amendment proposed by English Department Chair Bill Cook that requires students petitioning to withdraw from a course in the last two weeks of the term to obtain "a written response from the instructor in the course being dropped."
COI member Registrar Thomas Bickel said he hopes the new policy will encourage students to determine their course loads earlier and create a "level playing field" for all students.
Many professors said the proposal will benefit freshmen who may take a while to adjust to College life.
"It allows them to absorb the lesson without being creamed," one professor said.
A new department and major
Faculty members also approved proposals to establish a Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Languages and Literatures and to allow students to major in Linguistics.
The new Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Languages and Literatures will consist of most of the classes and professors currently in the Asian Studies Department, Bickel said in February.
Only the off-campus program in Fez, Morocco will remain in the Asian Studies Program after the creation of the new department.
The proposal for a new major in Linguistics was a response to the increased number of students who wished to major in Linguistics and a high number of students in introductory courses, Russian Professor Barry Scherr, the chair of the linguistics and cognitive science program, told The Dartmouth in March.
Previously, students who wished to major in linguistics had to apply for a special major.
Admissions
The faculty also heard a report by Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Karl Furstenberg.
Furstenberg told the faculty that it had been "a terrific year in admissions," despite recent attacks on affirmative action and financial aid that had made the admissions officers' jobs harder.
Furstenberg was greeted with applause from the faculty when he announced for the first time in College history, the number of women in the entering class could potentially exceed the number of men.
Minority applications, Fursten-berg said, were also very solid this year. But he said as competing universities place more emphasis on recruiting minority students, it will be harder for the College to keep up.
Appreciation
The faculty gave Wright and Acting Dean of the Faculty Karen Wetterhahn a standing ovation to thank them for their work during President James Freedman's sabbatical.
Freedman, who has been on sabbatical since January, returns to the College next month.
Wright thanked the faculty for their support during his wife Susan's recent illness. Susan Wright has been on medical leave from her post as assistant director of Career Services while recovering from breast cancer.
The faculty also recognized members who will leave the College at the end of the term, Classics Professor Norman Doenges, Philosophy Professor Willis Doney, French and Italian Professor David Sices and Mathematics Professor Laurie Snell.
