Acting Dean of the College Dan Nelson said he is confident the undergraduate experience will be improved as a result of the Board of Trustee's decision to drastically change the College's residential life and Greek system -- a bombshell announcement made Tuesday.
Nelson told The Dartmouth he received notification of the decision and the Trustee's accompanying five guiding principals "not long before the students did" but refused to be more specific as to when he was precisely informed.
"I had no idea before I saw the letter what the Trustees were proposing," Nelson said but added, "the principles they articulated didn't surprise me in the least."
"This statement by the Board is not an isolated response to trying to enhance the excellence of the overall experience for students," Nelson, a member of the class of '75, said. "My class was the last all-male class to be admitted ... that put into effect a whole new phase of thinking. This is a piece of all that."
However Nelson said some elements of the Trustee's guidelines are still a departure from the College's tradition, even that of the last 26 years. "What is new is that the residential and social system, including the [Greek] system, should be substantially coeducational."
Nelson called the five outlined guidelines "really fundamental principles and I wholeheartedly endorse them."
He said he was pleased the Trustees did not make any firm decisions on how changes should be implemented and what the final product should look like, but instead looked to students for guidance.
"I've got a lot of work to do in the coming months to promote and convey these ideas," Nelson said. "In some respects it would have been easier if the Trustees said here's what's going to be."
A special task force is being headed by Nelson to solicit student and community response to the Trustee announcement. The College has also established an Internet site where students and alumni can post opinions and comments.
"I hope the many, many alumni ... will respond with their ideas -- and they've got good ideas," Nelson said. "I think the perspectives will cover the whole spectrum of ideas."
These drastic proposals for overhauls of the residential structure of Dartmouth -- from dining to dormitories to fraternities -- have come just five months after College President James Wright formally assumed his position last September.
Nelson said many changes are reasonable to expect with a new president but said "this isn't being driven by a single president. This is the Board of Trustees."
Other administrators who oversee areas of the College affected by the plan, including Acting Dean of Residential Life Mary Liscinsky and Assistant Dean of Residential Life Deb Reinders, directed all requests for comment to Nelson.
