To the Editor:
The Dartmouth Editorial Board ("Verbum Ultimum," Jan. 7) poses the question: is a mediocre football team a reasonable trade-off for a stronger academic environment?
My answer is "no." We should expect excellence and a competitive effort in both arenas. I would not consider it acceptable to put poor faculty in the classroom in return for some other benefit. In addition, I think it is a false assumption that strong academics and a successful football program are mutually exclusive.
I have no interest in aspiring to beat the semi-professional teams in NCAA Division I-A, but our athletic teams should be given the opportunity to be competitive in their leagues. Anything less is simply a waste of time and money.
The administration says that athletics are an important part of "The Dartmouth Experience" and that preserving and improving it is so important that they need to raise $1.3 billion, which includes money to "strengthen the College's competitive standing in intercollegiate athletics." If those words are true then a mediocre program should not be acceptable to either the Trustees or the administration.
