The recent 25th, 35th and 50th reunion classes brought heartening news to the Dartmouth community. The Classes of 1978, 1968 and 1953 broke records of donations set by previous gatherings. While this overture of alumni support breeds confidence about the future of our College, it also serves us well to remember that generous alumni felt alarmed by the budgetary crisis which we have faced in the past year. The onus now lies with the administration to use this windfall to right some of the mistakes that have been made and to refocus Dartmouth's financial attention on the fundamentals of our College, an alma mater for which graduates have so vigorously proven their devotion.
The marked increase in the donors' tendency to make unrestricted gifts to the College's operating budget, as opposed to the long-term capital planning budget involving expansive new construction and endowed chairs for research faculty, ought be viewed as a clear signal that Dartmouth graduates are worried. With the administration now planning to cut back on our venerated library system, including Sanborn, and roll back academic offerings, such as the Human Biology Program, both current and former students are justified in their concern over the intentions of Parkhurst officials. Summer term, with its sparse course circular, serves to illustrate the need for more courses, not fewer. Too many students cannot take classes necessary for their major while summering in Hanover. Indeed, during the same academic year in which it announced these significant cuts to Dartmouth's intellectual resources, the administration also saw fit to create a new bureaucratic position: the Dean of Pluralism and Leadership. While expanding the administrative staff is not inherently wrong, choosing to add to the payroll during a budget crisis is indicative of poor financial sense. The administration, and specifically the Office of the President, needs to be able to explain to students and alumni why every dollar spent on amusement rides on the Green is not better spent on our libraries and academic programs, especially when those dollars seem in such short supply. And while important commitments, such as financial aid, clearly withstand such scrutiny, others do not.
The encouraging donation numbers, then, while certainly good news, present the administration with something of a moral hazard. So long as alumni show willingness to shore up the fundamentals and fill the holes left behind by sharp budget cuts, an imaginative administration can continue to engage in financial adventurism. The swim team debacle proved that alumni would stand in for the administration during times of fiscal crisis, and Parkhurst got a swim team on the cheap by forcing alumni to shoulder the burden. The administration must be careful not to allow this to become a precedent. Not only is it simply wrong to call upon alumni to save major academic and athletic programs, it is also shortsighted. For while the Still North in the hearts of alumni may make them willing to help out during times of trouble, the Granite in their brains will eventually kick in, and they will tire of being used as financial crutches to make up for irresponsible fiscal planning.
