College President James Freedman spoke about 30 members of Dartmouth's Jewish community Friday, after attending Sabbath services.
Speaking at Hillel House, the Jewish students' organization, Freedman recalled that when he was an undergraduate at Harvard University, there were virtually no Jewish faculty.
"What a different America," he said.
Freedman compared the situation then to Dartmouth today, where "we don't have a lot of Jewish faculty," he said.
Freedman said Dartmouth tries to recruit both Jewish faculty and students and cited the proposed construction of a Center for Jewish Life, which is scheduled to be finished in two years, as evidence.
He said it is important to have diverse faculty because it is important to give minority students more role models.
He mentioned Dartmouth's "reputation for anti-semitism" and the fact that Jews are "urban people" as the reason Dartmouth's Jewish population has hovered among the lowest in the Ivies.
Much of his talk dealt with the success Jews have had in a society that traditionally regards them as outsiders.
He cited the prominence of Jews in America, saying they were a driving force in many professions, as evidence that Jews have "arrived."
While this is good, Freedman said it may lead to a tendency for Jews to be less critical of society, now that they are successful in it.
Freedman also spoke about the future of Jews in America. He mentioned the tendency of American Jews to marry non-Jews and the increasing integration of Jews into American society.
At the end of the lecture, he took questions from the audience.
