Six top administrators fielded students' questions on grade inflation, alcohol violations and the Student Life Initiative, among other topics, Monday night at a town hall meeting held in Alumni Hall and organized by the Student Assembly.
Over 100 students and other community members attended the event, in which College President James Wright, Provost Barry Scherr, Dean of the College James Larimore, Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman, College Proctor Harry Kinne and Dean of the Faculty Carol Folt addressed a variety of concerns raised through a combination of pre-selected and audience questions.
Wright opened the meeting by naming the provision of "the strongest undergraduate experience in the country" as the College's top goal.
"The state of the College is very strong," Wright said.
Folt said she felt there are a lot of misunderstandings at Dartmouth concerning class sizes. She cited the fact that 75 percent of classes are under 22 students as evidence of the misconception many students have that class sizes are ballooning. Although 32 percent of classes are taught at the intro level, she said, many, like composition classes, are capped.
"We're starting in a pretty great situation, given our class sizes," Folt said, noting that her office will need to "strategize again and think of this small-course, large-course balance."
Redman offered updates on building projects in his opening remarks, including a brief presentation on the McLaughlin residential cluster, under construction north of Maynard Street. Redman said he expects the project to be completed by the fall and the construction of a two-building cluster to kick off on Tuck Mall across from the Gold Coast cluster before spring break.
Will McMahon '08 asked whether or not grade inflation is an issue at Dartmouth. Recently Princeton University announced that it would set quotas for all its departments, regulating how many students fall into each grade bracket in their courses.
Folt said the College's 1994 decision to make the median grades for all courses public was a "huge thing to do" and that several peer institutions are looking to Dartmouth as an example as they consider employing similar policies to ameliorate grade inflation.
Joe Rago '05 asked Wright to comment on the SLI and the College's plans to allegedly "diminish the importance of the Dartmouth family." Since its inception in 1999 and especially since its passage five years ago, the initiative has elicited reactions from students claiming it has anti-Greek overtones and intends to change the character of the College.
"We need to continue to work with the organizations to make them a stronger part of this community," Wright said, adding he was "very pleased with the progress most of the organizations have made."
Wright said he has been working constructively with alumni and Greek house leadership and that recent changes in the system, including the shift of rush from sophomore winter back to sophomore fall this year, have been the result of the proposals of Greek leaders.
"I'm just sorry that people keep looking for secret plans," Wright said.
Andrew Eastman '07 followed with a question for Kinne, asking why Harvard reported half as many alcohol violations as Dartmouth did last year despite the fact that Dartmouth's student body is a little more than half as large.
"Do Dartmouth students really drink twice as much?" Eastman asked. "Or is it possible that our specific alcohol policy is twice as easy to break?"
Kinne responded that the numbers are tied to laws that vary between states and adjudication policies that vary from school to school. Two new state laws may have also contributed to the 419 violations in the 2003-2004 school year, he said, up from 261 the year before.
"My preference would be an 18-year-old drinking age," Wright said. "I don't think the College should be in the position it's in."
Organizer David Zubricki '07 said he was pleased with the turnout and the administrators' participation, adding that the Assembly hopes to make the town meeting an annual event.
"When you get people here to ask questions honestly and openly, you're going to get tough questions," Zubricki said.
