The Board of Trustees will meet this weekend for the first time since the release of the steering committee's recommendations report and discuss the suggestions among themselves and with students and faculty.
The steering committee report will consume a large amount of the weekend meeting time, as well as College financial matters -- including the likely decision on next year's tuition rates.
While the Trustee weekend coincides with Winter Carnival, Trustee Chair William H. King, Jr. '63 said the overlap is not a standard procedure, but this year the Trustees will even be in attendance for the opening ceremonies today.
"All of the Trustees are looking forward to Winter Carnival weekend, and it will be exciting because we have a lot of good things to talk about this time. We are very interested to see the reception of the Student Life Initiative and to see what other ideas it has spawned, which is a part of the process," King said. "Invigorating debate is a pleasure to see on campus."
This weekend marks the first Board meeting since the release of the recommendations report, assuring the report will be a topic of significant discussion, especially as comments and suggestions that others have made about the recommendations stream in, King said.
"This topic is of very significant interest to the Board, and we are considerably interested in finding out reactions. We will then take suggestions and craft our own response, which will come some time this spring, we hope," King said.
While the Board targets Spring term as a deadline to reach a conclusion, the final date might be extended based on the nature of their considerations.
"We are in a period of utilizing the report and listening to what other people have to say and the suggestions and different ideas this report generates," King said.
The Trustees will be available to meet informally with students at an open reception at the Top of the Hop tonight from 6 to 7 p.m.
With the exception of the fireside chats that usually feature only one Trustee, the reception is the first open interchange with Board members since the report's release exactly one month ago.
"This gives us an occasion to be available to individually talk about some of these issues, and to make sure people recognize they have an opportunity to talk to us when they want to," King said.
King said he expects all Trustees to be in Hanover this weekend, and that most of them should be in attendance at the reception tonight, after which they will walk out to the Green to observe the opening ceremonies.
The Trustees will meet all day tomorrow and for some of Saturday.
On the agenda is a meeting with faculty members to discuss the recommendations report with King and President of the College James Wright.
"This is another instance where we are meeting with interested groups who want to talk with us, and it's a part of our on-going process of listening to various groups," King said, noting other instances of feedback such as Trustee visits to alumni groups around the country.
"My encouragement is to all members of the Dartmouth community to please take that to heart and recognize that the Trustees are looking for their response so that we can make sure we have as broad a cross section of opinions as possible."
Saturday morning at 8 a.m. students will have the opportunity to have breakfast at the Hanover Inn with several Trustees, as is customarily done when the Board is in town.
Although a waiting list is not uncommon, Associate Dean of the College Janet Terp said she did not yet know how many students have signed up or which Trustees will dine with students.
The breakfast is decided on a first-come, first-served basis, and on average about six to eight Trustees attend, with one Trustee sitting at a table of eight students, Terp said.
King said other business, such as financial issues will be discussed in addition to the recommendations report. Committee meetings will also convene over the course of the weekend, some of which, like the Student Activities Committee, have student representatives.
The budget, the allocation of internal resources of the College and funding tensions are routine topics of discussion at Trustee meetings.
"It's important for us to get up to speed and to continue to think about the financial ramifications for different programs," King said.
The Trustees also generally set the following year's tuition rates at their February meeting.
Williams College made national news this year when it announced it would not raise tuition next year for the first time since 1955. This is in sharp contrast to the general trend of elite colleges and universities to continually raise tuition rates, even as endowments soar.