To the Editor:
Allow me to clarify a misunderstanding in yesterday's issue of The Dartmouth regarding Thayer School's participation in the U.S. News and World Report survey of graduate schools. ["Garmire: Release the Numbers," March 4, 1997, The Dartmouth]
Thayer School did, in fact, provide the data that U.S. News and World Report requested for its graduate schools rankings issue. I, along with a number of other deans, chose not to complete a separate questionnaire, which asked subjective opinions about other institutions' reputations. I did not withhold factual information nor in anyway "compromise the exchange of free ideas." I applaud students' efforts to make informed decisions based on the facts, and insofar as surveys provide the facts they can be quite useful.
