While the Hanover Inn's Take a Professor to Lunch program was cancelled in August due to cuts in Dartmouth's budget, the popular program is scheduled to resume next Monday. Administrators interviewed by The Dartmouth said that students may interpret the story of Take a Professor to Lunch as a sign that students' voices matter in determining what programs must go to the budget cuts.
Dick DuMez, food and beverage administrative director at the Hanover Inn, and Adam Keller, acting vice-president of the College, said that student concern about the cancellation of the program encouraged administrators to bring it back.
Earlier this week, Keller, DuMez and Dean of the College James Larimore met to discuss the program and its value to students.
"It was something that students missed," Keller said, noting that the loss of a program that benefited students "far outweighed the savings incurred."
Keller also noted the importance of bringing students and professors together to discuss academic questions one-on-one, in a setting less formal than a traditional classroom.
Student Body President Janos Marton '04 was pleased to see the revival of the program.
Although the Assembly had not yet had a chance to respond formally to the program's cancellation, Marton said that some members of the Assembly had discussed using Undergraduate Finance Committee funds to restore the program. "I'm glad it didn't come to that," he said.
Both Keller and DuMez said that students concerned about the potential impact of other budget cuts on their lives, such as the proposal to transform Sanborn Library into a reading room announced recently, can draw encouragement from the story of Take a Professor to Lunch.
Keller said that the revival of Take a Professor to Lunch "reflects what is true about all of the budget cuts -- that the College is concerned about making reductions have as little impact on student life as possible."
DuMez called the re-establishment of the program "very encouraging" and noted that he believes that Dartmouth will carry out all of its plans to improve student life, including plans for the construction of new social spaces for interaction among students and faculty, despite the obstacle of budget cuts.
The program will be scaled back slightly. Students will be able to take professors to lunch only on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, instead of four days a week as before.
The Inn will offer five vouchers each day, DuMez said.
Between 400 and 450 different students participated in Take a Professor to Lunch last year, according to DuMez.
Take a Professor to Lunch was by far the most popular of all of the Hanover Inn's programs, Dumez told The Dartmouth in a 2001 interview.
DuMez declined to provide specific numbers about the cost of the Take a Professor to Lunch program, citing the confidentiality of Dartmouth's financial information. He did suggest, though, that the program was not inexpensive.
He said that the program was definitely the most expensive of all of the Hanover Inn's promotional programs, its costs exceeding those of programs like FAST Food and book-and-author luncheons. DuMez added that the Inn spent more than 50 percent of its promotional events budget on Take a Professor to Lunch.
The program was started in 2000 by Linda Kennedy of the Student Activities Office as part of the Student Life Initiative, according to DuMez.
