Once again, Joseph Asch has shown a casual disregard for factual accuracy in describing what is happening at Dartmouth ("Be Specific, Please," March 8). To the extent that he has misrepresented important issues, I feel the need to respond.
Asch asks for specifics on course enrollments. Here they are.
The undergraduate body has remained relatively constant over the past five years at around 4,100 students. At any one time, approximately 3,800 students are on campus with the fall and spring terms being the most popular and winter the least popular. Each year, between 650 and 700 students participate in an off-campus program -- Dartmouth is the leader in the Ivy League in sending students abroad, as we see this as a critical component of a Dartmouth education.
Over the past five years, we have added 25 positions to the faculty -- in economics, Spanish, biology, computer science and philosophy among other departments -- and have funding in place for 10 additional positions. Since 1991 the faculty has grown by 16 percent while student enrollments increased by five percent. We have more faculty working with students today than was the case 15 years ago.
Between 2000 and 2004, the number of course sections offered annually rose from 2,054 to 2,095 as faculty and departments expanded the curriculum to meet student interest and societal needs. Hence, we have new programs in cognitive neuroscience and Jewish studies, and new courses on computer security and privacy, computational molecular biology and new media that did not exist 15 years ago.
Of the more than 2,000 offerings last year, about 40 percent had enrollment caps. Both faculty and departments impose limits on courses, which can range from five to 220, for a number of reasons. The course could be a seminar, art class or introductory language course where small numbers are critical. Some departments have decided for pedagogical reasons that they do not want to teach courses larger than a certain number, and so they cap all of their courses. Finally, room size also limits enrollments.
Most courses with caps can accommodate all students who wish to enroll. Of those courses offered last year, 10 percent met or exceeded their limits. For this coming spring term, 8 percent of courses have met their caps. About half of these courses are in the introductory languages, where we routinely add new sections to accommodate the need, and first-year seminars. Faculty often raise their enrollment limit on the remaining courses, and so there are a small number of courses, between two and four percent, where the oversubscription results in students having to defer taking a desired course. Is this number too high? There has never been a time when any student could take any course at whatever moment he or she wanted. As long as I have taught at Dartmouth -- over 30 years -- some faculty have had to close their courses and students have had to look elsewhere.
Certainly, this situation can be frustrating for students. It is the case that the vast majority of students denied access to a course the first year do get into that course the following term or year because most faculty give priority to majors and seniors.
But Dean of the Faculty Carol Folt and her colleagues in the Dean of the Faculty Office are taking a systematic look at course enrollments to decide where to put resources and how to address these issues. Our plan for future expansion of the Arts and Sciences faculty is a core priority of the Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience. We have made a lot of progress toward meeting this goal, which will enable more students to work individually with faculty and will also allow the College to develop new areas of knowledge.
In closing, I would point out that Asch's final comment about student and faculty discontent again misrepresents the real situation on campus. The Dartmouth Editorial Board concluded recently that while "Dartmouth isn't perfect," it "remains the unique experience it is purported to be -- especially in comparison to its peer institutions" ("Verbum Ultimum," Feb. 4). Student satisfaction data indicate that the vast majority of students enjoy their Dartmouth experience, and the College continues to attract and retain the very best faculty.
