During its recent meetings preceding Commencement exercises earlier this month, the Board of Trustees elected a new chair, received a progress report on the Student Life Initiative and approved funds to expand the Kresge Fitness Center and begin other long-awaited facilities projects.
William Neukom '64, who joined the board as a charter trustee in 1996, will chair the board for a one-year term. The current chair of the Seattle law firm Preston Gates and Ellis, Neukom served as executive vice president of law and corporate affairs at Microsoft Corporation throughout the technology giant's antitrust battles with the federal government, and was the company's general counsel in the nearly decade-long Apple v. Microsoft case.
A vice chair of Dartmouth's ongoing capital campaign, Neukom made College history in March when he pledged $22 million, the largest gift ever for an academic program, establishing the Institute for Computational Science. Neukom was quoted at the time as saying he wanted to do something significant for Dartmouth, and that "investing some Microsoft equity in computational science seemed natural and appropriate."
According to outgoing Chair Susan Dentzer '77, who became a trustee emerita alongside her colleague Peter M. Fahey '68 following Commencement on June 13, Neukom's selection as chair comes after a year's worth of discussion among trustees as to which board member was best suited with leadership, time and interest.
"Bill is a terrific trustee and a wonderful human being and will be an extraordinary leader of the board," Dentzer said of her successor. "I could not be more pleased that he has taken on the important role of chairing the board."
The most urgent order of business Neukom will oversee as chair concerns matters of board organization and governance. Dentzer appointed Neukom to that task last winter, and he will now oversee recommendations made by the trustee group studying matters of meeting efficiency, internal and external communications and committee structures, all in the light of the recent plans to expand the board to 22 members over the next several years.
In addition to Neukom's election as chair, the Trustees attended to several matters concerning student life, not the least of which was a four-year progress report provided by Dean of the College James Larimore on the Student Life Initiative. The report was prepared one year in advance to its anticipated release, in the light of the departure of Dentzer and Fahey's departure, who together chaired the Committee on the Student Life Initiative. In the report, Larimore briefed the trustees on year-round operation, the CFS system and non-CFS organizations, social life, dining, athletics and recreation, alcohol policy, adjudication, hazing and diversity.
When asked about the progress she had seen since chairing the student life committee, Dentzer said she acknowledged a stark change from a system of minimum standards that "many houses were not even meeting" to "standards of excellence."
"We had said we wanted the CFS system to develop into something more in step with the values of our school, and the CFS system has stepped and done just that," Dentzer said.
President James Wright echoed Dentzer's praise.
"Student members ought to be complemented," Wright said. "Dean Larimore and I are extremely pleased with the CFS leadership and their responses."
In spite of recent developments and an ease of tensions between administrators and Greek leaders, Dentzer did acknowledge that much work remains in realizing the complicated goals set forth four years ago.
"Major things are yet to happen. Much of what we laid out in the SLI necessitates building new facilities, and much of the SLI is dependent on those facilities," Dentzer said.
With the SLI's facilities agenda far from complete and non-CFS social priorities yet to be realized, Dentzer said she believes the full effect of the SLI to be far from fruition.
One student life facility that will see a major overhaul in the near future is the Kresge Fitness Center, which the trustees agreed to expand using part of the $87 million in capital funds earmarked for facility improvements in the 2005 fiscal year.
"The expanded fitness facility is in response to student requests, which we felt should be met sooner rather than later," Wright said.
Expansion of the Kresge Fitness Center was the predominant issue in the Student Assembly's recent "Visions" report to the administration, and was the subject of numerous Assembly proposals that were repeatedly met with hesitation from gymnasium officials because of financial restrictions.
"This has not been a new issue for our board," Dentzer said. "We knew there was a need to expand the fitness center. It's just been a matter of timing and money."
The new funding allocation will go into effect immediately and will also enable upgrades in accessibility and space allocation within Alumni Gymnasium.
"From the board's perspective it's one of the ways we want to make the out-of-classroom experience even better," Neukom said.
The $87 million in capital expenditures will also finance construction of the Maynard Street residence halls, slated to begin later this year. Overall, the board approved $263.2 million budget for institution-wide capital expenditures.
For 2005 alone, the Board approved a budget totaling $331.2 million. Over $42 million is reserved to support the College's need-blind admissions policy. Another one million dollars was set aside at Wright's request. While sharing his priorities for the upcoming year, Wright expressed his desire to reward "exceptional teaching."
In an interview with The Dartmouth, Wright explained the College's constant efforts to "keep an eye" on faculty compensation and his work alongside the Committee on Faculty to protect adequate compensation.
Wright said he requested the allocation because he believes that individual incentives for faculty -- recognizing their character as demonstrated by "scholarship, service, and teaching" -- ought to be rewarded.
Neukom, who said he and the board continue to "fully support Jim Wright," agreed with the President's conviction.
"We want an unsurpassed learning experience with teacher-scholars who continue to be devout about being accessible," Neukom said. "The goal is and remains the same: to make Dartmouth the best undergraduate experience in the country."
