The trustees' participation in the Tucker Foundation's 50th anniversary celebration was the highlight of their spring meeting, which took place at the end of last week.
While still finding time to meet with faculty committees, Student Assembly and Graduate Student Council leaders as well as receiving financial and facilities updates, the trustees attended poet Maya Angelou's keynote address and the following dinner reception.
The trustees' reaction to Angelou's speech was overwhelmingly positive.
"I thought it was spectacular -- a good kick-off to a weekend of fundamental importance to the College," trustee David Shribman said.
President James Wright described the speech as "one of the most powerful lectures, though it was more than a lecture, I've ever seen."
Although trustees had the opportunity to talk with many Dartmouth community members, this Spring's meeting held few surprises for trustees or those with whom they met, according to President Wright.
"This was not a board meeting with a lot of action items on the agenda," he said.
Nevertheless, the board did make financial decisions that will affect students and faculty alike. Additional funds were granted for the construction of dorms to the north of Maynard Street, for the renovation and expansion of the Hopkins Center and for building new laboratory and faculty space for the medical school and the life sciences.
The trustees also asked departments -- including those of the president and the provost -- to make budget cuts due to the recent economic downturn, Shribman said.
Wright said that the College's budget is "on course," adding, "We've had to make some adjustments and reductions ... but there will be no real consequences."
Chairman of the Board of Trustees Susan Dentzer said she expected each department would be able to absorb the cuts.
The Phi Tau fraternity corporation came up in this weekend's discussion as the trustees approved a plan to acquire the eastern end of Phi Tau's property in return for building a new house of equal size closer to the street. The College plans to use Phi Tau's current location to build the future Kemeny Hall.
"It's long been understood the fraternity would have to be moved in order to continue with the expansion with the North Campus," Dentzer said.
Members of Phi Tau are excited by the prospect of replacing their current house, which was built in the 1920's, Phi Tau brother Richard Callahan '03 said.
Phi Tau president Jocelyn Miller '03 said that the fraternity has been working with the College on construction plans for the past year, so the trustees' decision was not surprising.
The half-hour meeting between the trustees and the leaders of the Assembly and the GSC focused on issues of diversity, student space, teaching vs. research and student-trustee accessibility, according to Student Body President Molly Stutzman.
Time constraints stemming from the trustees' busy itinerary of Tucker events limited the discussion, but Stutzman said she liked the "give-and-take" atmosphere of the meeting.
"The format was different this year -- this is the first time I've been in front of the entire board. As much as possible, we tried to make it a conversation," Stutzman said.
According to Stutzman, trustees asked Assembly and GSU leaders questions about student opinion, such as the current perception of the Greek system, the need for diversity and the image of the board itself.
In response, Stutzman and her colleagues emphasized the wide variety of student opinions concerning the Greek system but pointed out that most students understood both the problems and importance of Greek houses as a part of campus life.
Stutzman mentioned the creation of a trustee BlitzMail bulletin as a possible step toward making the Board more accessible to students. "One real issue with the trustees is that students don't know about the role the trustees play because they made so many hands-on decision with the SLI," Stutzman said.
This weekend the trustees also approved the College's revised mission statement, which Wright said he hopes will be widely available within a month. He said that student and faculty input needs to be considered, but the statement will remain substantially in its current form.
