Many faculty members said the resignation of College President James O. Freedman is a great loss to both Dartmouth and higher education.
"I'm devastated," Government Chair Lynn Mather said. "He's been a fantastic president and I'm terribly sorry that he's stepping down."
"It's an extremely tough job and I can only imagine that he's exhausted," said Physics and Astronomy professor Delo Mook.
Faculty members praised Freedman's dedication to improving the quality of education at Dartmouth.
Former College Provost and current University of Michigan President Lee Bollinger said Freedman "has played a very unique role in American higher education."
"He has from the beginning stressed that the intellectual life is the ideal toward which all of us should aspire," Bollinger said. "He has made that case again and again."
Dean of the College Lee Pelton said Freedman "clearly understood that the most fundamental relationship at a place like Dartmouth exists in the intellectual intimacy of students and faculty."
"He understood that education is a personal possession, a habit, a way of thinking and living," Pelton said.
English Professor Peter Saccio called the new curriculum that Freedman had introduced three years ago a "first class achievement," and Associate Professor of History Annelise Orleck said Freedman has "created a much more fertile ground for intellectual exchange."
Professor Emeritus of English Jeffrey Hart, a member of The Dartmouth Review's governing board, said although he is not a "great fan of Freedman, his redeeming qualities are that he was very good at recruiting good faculty members, especially in economics."
For both Bollinger and Pelton, Freedman's resignation was more personal.
"The president was not only a friend whom I had the pleasure to work with for six years, but he was also a leader whom I respected," Pelton said.
Bollinger said he especially remembered the extraordinary strength, consideration and courage Freedman showed during the time of his illness in 1995.
Freedman was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and took a six-month sabbatical before returning to the College in June of 1995.
"One moment in which he really rose to the heights would be during his Commencement speech to the graduates the year when he was undergoing chemotherapy for cancer," Bollinger said. "One would assume that the impulse for generosity would decline during that time, but I found that to be the opposite with Jim."
Professor of International Business at the Amos Tuck School of Business Joseph Massey -- whom Freedman accompanied on a trip to Vietnam last March -- said Freedman's commitment to intellectual life and diversity in the world of academics will be a "great loss" to Dartmouth.
