At yesterday's meeting of the faculty of arts and sciences, faculty heard Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Karl Furstenberg explain the statistics for the Class of 2000, received news about a donation that will provide new computers for faculty and recognized the contribution of eight faculty members who are due to retire.
Furstenberg told about 70 faculty members at the meeting that he is "quite disappointed" with minority representation in the Class of 2000 at a meeting of the faculty of arts and sciences yesterday.
Dartmouth lagged far behind its peer institutions in enrolling students of color, in part because of the hate incidents that occurred during Winter term, Furstenberg said.
While the Class of 2000 is 17.8 percent minority students, 40 percent of Stanford University's freshman class and 35 percent of Harvard University's freshman class are minorities.
There was a particularly low yield among African-American and Latino applicants, he said.
History Professor Marysa Navarro, who said she is disturbed by the dearth of minorities in the incoming class, asked Furstenberg why so few minorities matriculated. Furstenberg said many minority students admitted to Dartmouth chose to attend other highly selective schools, despite admissions officers' efforts to recruit minorities.
Furstenberg said he thinks the low yield is due to the College's remote geographical location and to the "ugly incidents on campus in mid-winter."
"That gets out and has an effect" on admissions, he told the faculty.
Native Americans are underrepresented in part because of newly-established Native American programs at Harvard and Brown.
Furstenberg said the College will try to "reach out" to minorities next year.
He said the admissions office will use minority alumni and parents of Dartmouth students to increase the school's appeal to minorities.
"This has been an interesting and challenging year for admissions officers," Furstenberg said.
He said the College has experienced a phenomenal growth of applicants, with applications up 40 percent from five years ago.
"For the first time in history we rejected four out of five applicants," Furstenberg said.
He said the applicant pool has also grown in strength.
Seven incoming freshmen achieved perfect scores on the Scholastic Achievement Test. Almost 200 earned an 800 on the math or verbal section
Furstenberg said 26 percent of the Class of 2000 were athletic team captains, 15 percent had performed community service, 9 percent were editors of their newspapers and 8 percent were student council presidents.
Members of the Class of 2000 have many unique and special talents, Furstenberg said.
Daniel Boone IV, the great, great grandson of the legendary pioneer Daniel Boone, is a member of the class. A descent of Sampson Occom, one of the founders of the College, is also part of the class.
Other members of the class include a champion dogsled racer, a professional square dance caller, a Bosnian refugee, several professional clowns and three sets of twins.
The percentage of students who matriculated to the College increased to 49 percent from last year's 46 percent, Furstenberg said.
He said most students who were accepted and decided not to come to the College went to Harvard.
Furstenberg said 35 percent of the class was accepted early decision. He said Harvard took 60 percent of its class early decision and Princeton took 50 percent early decision.
Furstenberg said he was surprised by this and said it "sent shockwaves to secondary schools" and may cause a surge in early decision applicants next year.
At yesterday's meeting, English Professor James Heffernan reported on the Dartmouth Faculty Scholarship, which will be awarded to a member of the Class of 2000. Dean of the Faculty James Wright announced that Russell Carson '65 has donated $1 million so faculty can own computers on par with their students' machines.
Faculty will have the option to purchase a new computer at least equivalent to those offered in the freshman package. The announcement provoked a burst of applause from the faculty.
Wright also thanked eight faculty members who will retire June 30. These include Studio Art Professor Varujan Boghosian, Economics Professor Meredith Clement, Education Professor Faith Dunne, German Professor Werner Hoffmeister, Geography Professor Vincent Malmstrom, Sociology Professors Robert Sokol and San Udy and History Professor Charles Wood.
