"We have too good an enterprise, we have too much to do together, to get caught up in feuds [and] misunderstandings that sap our energy and erode our purposes," Wright told the audience of over 120 alumni.
Speaking before Wright, Vice President of Alumni Relations David Spalding '76 announced that the Alumni Association Executive Committee will launch a new weblog Tuesday for alumni to debate proposed changes to the Alumni Association constitution.
Spalding, who assumed the Alumni Relations post four months ago, called the launch of the blog a "very important opportunity to take part in the debate on Dartmouth's future."
This week, letters will go out inviting alumni to participate in the forum, while e-mails will be sent to the approximately 40,000 alumni with BlitzMail accounts, Spalding said.
The opening of the forum is a precursor to a Feb. 12 Alumni Association meeting, during which alumni who travel to Hanover will be asked to vote on a proposal to allow all-media voting on future alumni constitution questions. Currently, matters can only be voted on by alumni physically present in Hanover.
The Winter Carnival weekend meeting will pave the way for a second attempt by alumni to merge the Alumni Council with the Alumni Association following a failed 2004 effort.
After his address, Wright said that while he encourages alumni to resolve any conflicts over the constitution being drafted, he is indifferent as to how they resolve their governance issues.
"I just don't like to see conflict," he said.
In his address, Wright also lauded the Dartmouth education as "the strongest student learning experience in the country" and cited a Booz Allen Hamilton report from last year that listed Dartmouth as one of the ten most enduring institutions in the world.
"Enduring is about more than merely hanging around," Wright said. "It is about having ambition, always having ambition."
Key among those ambitions is growing the faculty, Wright said, citing enrollment pressures and ballooning class sizes as main obstacles the College has to deal with.
"Dean [of the Faculty Carol] Folt is working aggressively to resolve these issues," Wright said.
Wright also reviewed recent progress in the College's relationship with the Greek system, including last year's move of rush back to Fall term from winter, more loans for physical plant renovations and the ongoing development of a seventh sorority. Wright attributed the progress to the success of the Student Life Initiative that was launched in his first year as President.
The SLI, Wright said, was intended to combat a "breaking down into subcommunities rather than a Dartmouth community" outside the classroom. He commended coed, fraternity and sorority groups for subsequently making themselves "a part of Dartmouth, rather than apart from."
"Those organizations stepped up and met the challenge we put to them, and they did it really well," Wright said.
Although it "quite frankly stumbled coming right out of the box," Wright said the SLI has achieved its purpose of creating a more unified experience for students outside the classroom.
"The Student Life Initiative was successful and it's time to move on," he said.
The eighth-year College President also praised the scale of construction projects on campus, including the McLaughlin and Tuck Mall dorm clusters and several academic buildings. At the same time, he said it is important to maintain the campus's trademark looks.
"We have to have an eye on protecting the aesthetic of this campus," he said.
In response to a question about the College's building projects in downtown Hanover, Wright said that he sees Lebanon Street as the southern boundary of the campus and that the College purchased downtown property in 1999 out of concern that another developer would step in.
"The last thing I want is for Dartmouth to spill down Main Street," Wright said.
