Editor's Note: The following is excerpted from an interview conducted with then-trustee chairman David. T. McLaughlin Feb. 21, 1981 at the Hanover Inn, two days before the announcement of his new role as president was made.
THE DARTMOUTH: Many alumni, upset with changes that have occurred at Dartmouth, wish to remake the College into the institution they knew as undergraduates. Do you ever have that same feeling, and what would you say to such alumni?
DAVID T. McLAUGHLIN: I don't think I've ever had the sense that Dartmouth should be remade as it was back in the years when I was an undergraduate.
There are some constants that I think are awfully important: the value system and the total Dartmouth experience. To me, it's just as real today as it was then. I think alumni who are deeply concerned about one aspect of the College as they remembered it and would like to see that returned, really don't appreciate how much Dartmouth has changed, but in a way how much it hasn't changed.
They look at the changes but don't focus on the constant values. And I think if they would look at those more positively, they would answer some of the concerns that they raise. I think they are really asking the question, "Has Dartmouth fundamentally been altered by the enormous changes it has gone through?" I can't say that it has. And I think that's really the answer that's important to them.
THE D: Is that also true in the academic realm? Should the College's curriculum proceed on a more traditional or a more progressive path?
DTM: Dartmouth, unlike its sister institutions, probably has had more integrity with the core liberal arts structure than Harvard or Yale or others, who are now coming back to it.
Dartmouth really never left that -- they kept their distributive requirements, and they kept great strength with that. The College today academically is stronger than it has ever been, in the quality of the faculty and the depth of the curriculum that's offered.
There will always be changes in the curriculum, but I don't think the base philosophy of the educational system is any different. I think it's stronger. There are different options and alternatives now, in terms of doctorate degrees and the different majors that are offered. But that's just an indication that Dartmouth is changing in respect to the needs of the marketplace.
I think there are always people who say there isn't enough of one thing or another in the curriculum. But the College can't be all things to all people.
The integrity of the liberal arts system is really undiminished, and I think it's one of the great strengths of this institution.
THE D: Were there any experiences in your undergraduate years at Dartmouth that stand out in your mind?
DTM: I can remember vividly being a member of Palaeopitus, which was at one time part of the student government system.
Once a year, in a tradition of humility, I think, all the undergraduates lined up in a huge row starting on one end of the Green all the way down to the other, each with their belts. And Palaeopitus had to run the gauntlet. And I tell you, you ran as quickly as you could because it was really painful. It's not a big experience, it isn't here today, I don't yearn for a return of it. But it's one of the things I remember.
And it goes from this extreme to the other experience that I think was immensely important to me and that I will never forget: the whole Great Issues experience.
That was listening to leaders from government and the private side of our society debate critical issues that influenced us. We used to go back after those lectures and debate amongst ourselves. And it became really a galvanizing experience on the campus.
THE D: How about the Dartmouth Plan?
DTM: The Dartmouth Plan was innovative, it was creative, it was a very key element in providing the capacity of the institution to become coeducational. It was never perceived from the outset as something absolutely perfect. It was recognized at the beginning that it would have to go through some evolutionary changes, perfecting flaws or problems that were not foreseen and could not be foreseen. And I think that it is moving through that process of improvement. The numbers of options available under the Dartmouth Plan are probably excessive, given the pressures that it creates on the curriculum on one side, and the pace of the campus on the other.
But changes of that nature don't repudiate the plan itself. I think, from what I've seen, most students reflect an appreciation for the flexibility the Dartmouth Plan provides. But it may be that as the faculty, students and other constituencies look at the plan, they may find a need to change it, make it more restrictive in parts, but not throw out the concept itself.
(Editor's note: Under McLaughlin's tenure, the Dartmouth Plan witnessed major changes. McLaughlin created a period of mandatory residence during freshman and senior years, increased the number of credits required for graduation from 33 to 35 and made the summer after sophomore year a required term.)
THE D: The administration seems to have grown in relation to the student body over the last decade. Do you think the increase is necessary?
DTM: The relationship of administrators to students or faculty, whatever ratio you want, grew in various periods in Dartmouth's history, and certainly grew from the mid '50s to mid '60s.
It has grown in the early '70s because the complexities of running an institution today are much greater. There are a number of governmental pressures on the institution which force a response that wasn't necessary previously. The fact that the College is now coeducational has created some needs in areas that weren't there when it was all male.
It is my impression that the administration has not grown disproportionately to the size of the College. It has been constrained by the budge process in which the trustees participate. So I don't think that the administration has grown out of proportion.
THE D: Your term as trustee will expire in June. If you are not helping the College in any other capacity, how do you plan to help the College, and will you miss being a trustee?
DTM: I will have been a trustee for 10 years in June. I feel very strongly that if somebody has something to contribute in the trustee role, and if you haven't done it in 10 years, you probably aren't going to do it.
The College needs a turnover of new ideas to meet new challenges. Part of that will always come from a board that is turning in a new cycle. While I will miss the close association with Dartmouth and the other trustees, I in no way regret the fact that I'm leaving the Board, because I think it's exactly the right thing for an institution that that turnover does occur. It won't diminish my feelings toward Dartmouth at all.
I will be available to help the College in any way. Most trustees who have left the Board have done that in various capacities. Some have lived close to Hanover and have had the privilege and opportunity to continue to serve. So the affection and the connection with Dartmouth really doesn't diminish once you leave the board. People serve in different ways. But that service is somewhat dictated by what the College's needs are and how it asks different people to assist.
THE D: There has been a lot of change over the last 10 years, over which you have presided as a trustee. Do you think in the next few years there should be a breathing period? For example, has an increase in emphasis on the graduate schools made the College lose sight of its role as an undergraduate institution?
DTM: The primary emphasis should always be the undergraduate school.
We are unique among colleges in terms of the core commitment to the undergraduate education. It is manifested in the faculty, whose members are teachers as well as great scholars. But the priority has been teaching, and it has been to the undergraduate side.
The graduate programs that are here need to have the same excellence that the undergraduate program does. But they should always be reinforcing, and they should always be closely associated with the undergraduate side. Clearly that's true with the Medical School and with Thayer, where there's a huge undergraduate enrollment and undergraduate participation. It is somewhat less true with Tuck but this association is becoming increasingly more evident.
Dartmouth won't change visibly in the next decade as it has in the last decade, nor should it. We need to assimilate some of the kind of monumental changes -- year-round operation, coeducation and four-year medical schools -- within the fabric of the institution.
But John Dickey said at one point, "A college is always at its best when it's in the process of becoming." Dartmouth won't take a breather.
