The Dartmouth announced this week that it will begin leasing its office space on the second floor of Robinson Hall, reinforcing its independence from the College.
The newspaper, which has been editorially independent from Dartmouth since 1913, has never previously held a lease agreement with the College. President of The Dartmouth Jake Elberg '00 said the lease agreement comes after several months of discussion and planning.
"We have been independent for a long time, but this makes it official," Elberg said. "The lease prevents any sort of editorial conflict that could arise between the paper and the College from interfering with our place in Robinson Hall."
Elberg emphasized that "while we're now completely independent from the College ... this is not something that will make a difference in the way the paper is run."
"We look forward to continuing to have good relations with the College," he said. "The College has respected our independence for a long time even without a lease in place."
The Dartmouth has been located on the second floor of Robinson Hall since 1996. Before that time the offices were on the building's first floor. But never has The Dartmouth paid for use of the space, and never has any long-term deal been in place.
"We're happy to be in a financial situation where we can afford to pay for the space we use," Elberg said. "It's the way things should be."
Although it has been more than 60 years since College officials have attempted to exert control over The Dartmouth's editorial policy, Elberg said the safeguard of the lease was important.
"We wanted to be sure that no matter what we said there could be no action taken against us. Though in the recent past we have felt absolutely no pressure from the administration," Elberg said.
Vice President Treasurer of the College Win Johnson '67, who also serves on The Dartmouth's Board of Proprietors, said he thought the impetus behind the decision may have been affected by the fact that other Ivy League newspapers either lease their office space from their respective schools or own private facilities, and Elberg agreed.
"For a newspaper to be truly independent from the college it's covering, it should not be receiving something so valuable as space for free," Elberg said.
Elberg said it was preferable to secure a lease for the space in Robinson Hall rather than look for space off-campus because of the history of a connection between The Dartmouth and Robinson Hall. The Dartmouth has been in Robinson Hall for more than 80 years.
