Five days after College President James Freedman announced he will step down after Commencement, the Board of Trustees is gearing up for what will likely be another secretive and exhaustive search for a new president.
No strict formula dictates how a presidential search should proceed. A search for a president is a rare occurrence -- there have been only 15 presidents in Dartmouth's 228 year history.
It is, however, likely that the Board of Trustees will follow procedures similar to those used in the searches that produced the last few presidents, according to Trustee Chairman Stephen Bosworth '61.
In the past three presidential searches, the Board formed a committee composed of Trustees, faculty, alumni and one or two students. Next, they established criteria for evaluating candidates. Finally, they review hundreds of applicants before making the final selection.
In 1969, the search for the successor to John Sloane Dickey began with the commissioning of the Presidential Analysis Committee, a group charged with anticipating the College's needs for the next 10 years.
After a 16 month search and a review of more than 200 applications from leaders in education, government and business, the committee chose John Kemeny to be the 13th president of the College.
Similarly, the 10 month search for Kemeny's successor throughout 1980 and 1981 began with identifying criteria for the presidential search. Former Trustee Walter Burke '44 told The Dartmouth in 1980 the new president should have "overall management and administrative ability, a familiarity with the academic world, particularly with Dartmouth, and a keen concern for the quality of life on campus."
The search committee deliberately sought not to place restrictions on the types of possible candidates -- including age, occupational background, or prior involvement with the College.
After reviewing 361 applications, a small percentage of the applicants were interviewed, and four names were presented to the Trustees. The Trustees chose David McLaughlin '54 -- the chairman of the Board -- as the College's 14th president.
The search for McLaughlin's successor -- which ultimately ended with the Board's unanimous selection of Freedman as Dartmouth's 15th president -- began with the redefining of the search criterion, focusing heavily on the need for a president with a "thorough understanding of the academic environment."
The committee solicited names of possible candidates in 66,000 letters to alumni, parents and friends of the College. Ads for the position were also placed in various newpapers, including The Chronicle of Higher Education and The New York Times.
According to former Trustee Chairman Norman McCulloch, Jr. '50, the six month search involved a review of 615 applicants, 38 of whom were interviewed, before the final decision was made.
