Can you imagine other schools implementing a plan similar to Dartmouth's Student Life Initiative after all of the controversy that it has caused?
In fact, some schools have looked to Hanover to see what has happened with the change.
"Dartmouth is not alone in looking at what we want to offer students outside of the classroom," Dean of Student Life Holly Sateia said.
Sateia points out that the College has gone out to try something different. "People are really pretty excited about what's going on at Dartmouth because it's a bit risky," she said. However, it's generally risky to talk about change at any institution.
Change is a challenge to bring up, and it is often a slow process on college campuses backed by extensive research.
Sateia met with Smith College's Board of Trustees about a year ago to discuss student life there and the experiences Dartmouth has had with the SLI.
At the time of discussion, Ruth Simmons, now president at Brown University, was the president of Smith College. Smith is an all women's college in Massachusetts.
When Sateia spoke at the Smith Trustees' annual meeting in New York, she told them about what Dartmouth has learned in the process. The Smith officials were interested in enhancing residential life, according to Sateia.
Some commonalties were seen between the two schools. Each school wants "student experiences to be seamless," Sateia said. "You can go to class and have interesting discussions and also have them in the residence halls and at the gym," Sateia continued.
Although Smith has not officially announced plans for an initiative-like project, Nancy Asai, Smith Dean of Residential Life, reported that her college is always concerned about making the experience at the school well rounded.
For several years now there has been an interest on college campuses to improve student life because it enhances the overall experience. Sateia referred to Dartmouth President James Wright's desire for the out-of-classroom experience to match the excellence of the academic teaching.
"Dartmouth has always talked about offering a holistic education," Sateia said.
But one important point that Sateia noted is that "every college has its own culture." There is no way to take a program at one college and apply it directly to another, she said.
It is imperative to understand the composition of the students and the specific needs of the campus, she continued.
Overall, Sateia stressed on the importance of each school ensuring they are doing the best to provide a good environment for their students.
"I want our campus to be the very best community it can be," Sateia said.
