With 30 years of experience at the College prior to his inauguration as the 16th president in the Wheelock succession, James Wright is using his Dartmouth knowledge to usher in some of the most controversial changes in the College's history.
From his days as a zinc miner to finally the post of President of the College, Wright has brought tenacity to every step of his way to the presidency.
In 1987 Wright chaired a committee on residential life which urged the College to build a new student center, reduce the influence of Greek houses on campus and increase the sense of community in residence halls.
He served as both acting dean of the faculty and acting provost until then President James Freedman appointed Wright provost without the usual search committee process.
This raised faculty ire, and resulted in Wright announcing he would resign after one year instead of becoming "a point of contention between [Freedman] and the faculty."
Wright talked to The Dartmouth last year about that experience. "It was not fun -- I would not want to urge that experience on anyone because you find yourself sort of the focus of attention and controversy and I think that nobody wants to become a symbol of divisions."
At the end of his one year, however, 60 percent of the faculty signed a petition supporting Wright as a full-term, four-year provost, although he did not rescind his decision to resign.
Wright's presidency, announced in April 1998, began with a controversial announcement speech that stressed the idea of Dartmouth as a research institution. This theme was picked up in his inauguration speech last September, but was softened slightly here.
In the September 24 inauguration speech, Wright emphasized a "dual commitment" to undergraduate teaching and research opportunities, calling Dartmouth "both a college and a university."
"We at Dartmouth are proud to call ourselves a college, recognizing that Dartmouth is a college that has many of the best characteristics of a university. We are a university in terms of our activities and our programs, but one that remains a college in name and its basic values and purposes," he said in his speech. "In this paradox, this tension, lies our identity and our strength."
The talk brought on by the idea of Dartmouth as a university pales in comparison with the announcement of the College's Board of Trustees' Initiative in February and Wright's front-page announcement in The Dartmouth to "end the Greek system as we know it."
Wright told The Dartmouth on the day of the Initiative's announcement "[Coeducation] would be the only thing that's happened here that probably would exceed this in terms of affecting the quality of the student experience at Dartmouth. And there definitely is no doubt in my mind that eight or 10 years from now the quality of the student experience as a result of these things will be far stronger than it is today."
The path to a presidency
Wright's childhood and path to Dartmouth in many ways has prepared him for the challenges of leading the College, as well as restructuring some of its core institutions.
The grandson of a miner, Wright worked in the mines of his hometown, Galena, Ill. "I certainly didn't start off on a trajectory where one might have predicted that I would be at this place at this time," Wright told The Dartmouth in an earlier interview.
His father worked as a bartender to finance his education, and Wright stayed in the mines throughout his career as a double-major in English and history at Wisconsin State University.
Wright told The Dartmouth last summer "I expected I would come back, get a job and be a member of the [Galena] community."
Instead his professors urged him to continue his education. His teachers had such an impact that Wright invited two of them, Roger Daniels and Tom Lundeen, to attend September's Inauguration and Convocation ceremonies.
Wright joined the Dartmouth faculty in 1969 as an assistant professor of history.
Last Winter term Wright again entered the classroom as a professor, after taking nearly a decade off from formal teaching.
Wright co-taught a history course on 20th Century American Political History, which was well-received by students.
Student Erica Blachman '00 commented on the class to The Dartmouth last Winter. She described Wright's manner as "friendly and down to earth."
She added that having access to both professors was "a great asset to the class" and called Wright "incredible -- a great professor."
In addition, in further steps to make himself more accessible to students, Wright re-instituted the tradition of greeting each incoming freshman at matriculation, and showing the first-year students around his Parkhurst office.
