College President James Freedman stressed the importance of faculty research and reaffirmed the College's commitment to affirmative action yesterday in his annual State of the College address.
"I appreciate that some institutions regard publication as a distraction," he said. "This cannot be true of Dartmouth."
In his speech, delivered at the general faculty meeting in Alumni Hall, Freedman said teaching and scholarship are two facets of the same activity.
Nothing excites students more than when faculty profess their own ideas, Freedman said, and nothing aids professors more in their research than clarifying their scholarship through teaching.
In his comments on affirmative action, Freedman said verbal attacks on higher education have recently grown in intensity and frequency, causing some institutions to question their commitment to affirmation action.
He said America has arrived at a "historical moment when affirmation action has come under attack."
Freedman said affirmative action is "absolutely critical" in increasing diversity at the College and Dartmouth has a "moral right" to remain committed to it.
Freedman, who was on sabbatical from January 1 to June 30, said the College has recently experienced a "wonderful string of events of good fortune.
He cited President Bill Clinton's speech at Commencement and the appointments of Paul Danos as dean of the Tuck School of Business Administration and Elsa Garmire as dean of the Thayer School of Engineering as events about which he is particularly happy.
Freedman also mentioned his pleasure at the admission of the strongest first-year class in the history of the College and Dartmouth's rankings in this year's US News and World Report survey.
According to the US News survey, Dartmouth ranked seventh in the national university category and ranked first in the magazine's new "teaching" category.
"I congratulate all of you on that achievement," Freedman said.
Preparing for the future
Freedman spent the second half of his speech discussing how the College is planning for the 21st century.
"We are trying very hard to assure the Board of Trustees that we are looking to the future and not resting on our laurels," Freedman said.
He said the College is engaging in a "continual process of assessing our strengths and weaknesses" to prepare for the future.
In 1989, the College decided to conduct external reviews of every department, Freedman said. So far, 28 departmental reviews have been completed and 10 more reviews are scheduled to be conducted in the next two year.
By the end of the review process, the College will integrate the 40 department reviews into one document for the deanery, he said.
Freedman also said admissions policies have also helped prepare for the future. "Nothing is more important than the students we admit," he said.
The Class of 1999 is the strongest class academically in the College's history. The median SAT of students admitted was 1360 compared to the Class of 1995 median score of 1310.
The president also commented on the achievement of gender parity with the Class of 1999, which has four more women that men.
Freedman said the number of applicants has climbed to 10,000 and he believes the number will continue to increase now that Dartmouth is on the Common Application and that applications are available over the World Wide Web.
The implementation of the new curriculum and the increase in individual study opportunities have also helped the College prepare for the 21st century, Freedman said. In particular, he cited the Presidential Scholar Program and the Women in Science Project.
Freedman said while Dartmouth has worked to enrich the College's intellectual environment, it is difficult to quantify the environment of a school.
Judging from "the anecdotal stories you [the faculty] tell me, our students seem intellectually more lively, more aggressive and more energetic than in the past," he said.
"We should take this as a cue from our students to be as rigorous and demanding as we can possibly be," he said.
Freedman also said prudent financial management is helping the College prepare for the future, citing nine years of a balanced budget.
Freedman said the Board of Trustees is also concerned about the College's high tuition. Dartmouth is currently the third most expensive Ivy League institution in terms of tuition and room and board, he said.
