A chain reaction of administrative resignations and flare-ups by students and faculty over controversial College policies and plans helped mark an event-filled Fall term.
College President James O. Freedman announced Sept. 25 that he will step down after Commencement in June, citing as a reason the job's heavy toll on his personal and intellectual life. The Board of Trustees is likely to announce his replacement during the spring.
Freedman, Dartmouth's 15th president, is currently the longest-reigning Ivy League president. He was inaugurated in 1987.
In another unexpected administrative announcement, College Provost James Wright, after two months in office, informed Freedman that he would step down from his position.
The announcement stemmed from faculty criticism that Freedman deviated from the normal procedures by appointing Wright as permanent provost while he was serving as acting provost without first forming a search committee.
The Board of Trustees has suspended the search for a new provost until Freedman's replacement takes office.
Pete Napolitano resigned after 10 years of service at the helm of the financially-troubled Dartmouth Dining Services, which accrued a budget deficit of $600,000 in the fiscal 1996 year. He accepted a new position at Middlebury College in Vermont, and Tucker Rossiter took over as head of DDS.
Chairman of the Board of Trustees Stephen Bosworth was sworn in as the U.S. ambassador to South Korea on November 7. While many feared he would resign as chairman of the Board, he said he will stay in his position for the remainder of his term, which expires in June.
Policies and plans
The College Committee on Alcohol and Other Drugs made recommendations to Dean of the College Lee Pelton that the College restrict kegs at parties and allow Safety and Security officers to monitor Greek parties.
Implementation of the CCAOD's controversial recommendations, when finalized, will probably occur in the spring at Pelton's discretion.
Despite a firestorm of criticism from many students and faculty members regarding the architectural plans for the $50 million Berry Library, the College's Board of Trustees issued a statement Nov. 17 reaffirming its commitment to the current design.
Berry's construction should begin this spring as scheduled, although not all plans are finalized. The Kiewit Computation Center could be demolished to make room for an addition at the west end of Berry, if College officials approve the plans. The College is currently considering ways to relocate computing services.
Five years after the Board of Trustees approved the construction of a new home for the College's Hillel Association, the $4 million Roth Center for Jewish Life officially opened on Nov 7.
The sisters of the previously unhoused national sorority Alpha Xi Delta moved into the house at 6 Webster Ave. formerly occupied by Beta Theta Pi fraternity at the beginning of Winter term.
Injuries, lawsuits, coeducation
Two students sustained critical injuries Fall term. After a near-fatal climbing accident on Oct. 12 on the Cannon Mountain ledges, Dan Becker '00 was released from Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and passed the remainder of the term on medical leave.
Adam Dansiger '00 remains in a coma after sustaining massive head injuries in a one-car accident on Oct. 20, when he was thrown from the automobile.
Track team members Luke Gonzales '01 and David Chalmers '01 were arrested for keeping the field-rushing tradition alive at the Cornell-Dartmouth football game. A Hanover Police car crashed into a parked car and a Safety and Security car wrecked its front end on a dirt road near the Leverone Field House while pursuing Chalmers.
Former Dartmouth Review Editor-in-Chief E. Davis Brewer '95 began a six-month jail sentence Nov. 24 for embezzling an alleged sum of $8,500 from the off-campus conservative weekly to pay his tuition bills and other personal expenses during his term as editor.
After printing comments many students considered racist, the Jack-O-Lantern humor magazine eventually avoided derecognition by the Committee on Student Organizations. To receive funding for Winter term, it must modify its editorial system.
Although many people at the College are eagerly anticipating the construction of the new rugby house, Frederick Crory, a Hanover resident whose property on Reservoir Road is adjacent to the proposed site for the rugby house, has filed suit against the Town of Hanover in an effort to block the start of construction.
Mathematics Lecturer John Finn filed a lawsuit against several parties in Vermont challenging charges filed against him in 1994 accusing him of growing marijuana at his home in Thetford, Vt.
The College agreed in September to pay $9,000 in penalties for serious safety violations related to the June death of Chemistry Professor Karen Wetterhahn, who was poisoned by dimethylmercury in her Dartmouth laboratory.
As one of the highlights of the College's 25th anniversary of coeducation celebration, actress Meryl Streep, winner of two Academy Awards and a nine-time Oscar nominee, was honored with the Dartmouth Film Award. Hundreds of women alumni returned to campus to participate in the weekend's events.
