Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
Support independent student journalism. Support independent student journalism. Support independent student journalism.
The Dartmouth
March 28, 2024 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Woon resigns as head of pluralism office

Dean Tommy Lee Woon
Dean Tommy Lee Woon

Woon told The Dartmouth that his decision centered on his wife's difficulties in finding a job in the Hanover area, saying that it would be easier for her to find work in an urban setting.

College administrators expressed their commitment to replacing Woon, who will depart in mid-August, and to maintaining the once-controversial office, which "aims to universalize diversity and leadership development," according to the OPAL website.

"We might not launch the search [for a replacement] right now but there should be absolutely no concern on anyone's part that this work will not continue," Dean of Student Life Holly Sateia said.

The creation of OPAL and Woon's deanship during a financial crunch in 2003 was criticized by some alumni and The Dartmouth Review as a waste of resources. Many critics argued that the College should spend money to save the then-floundering swim team or to relieve class crowding, rather than divert it to enlarge the administration.

Some students have also complained about the small turnouts at many OPAL events, such as a discussion on "sexual stereotypes and fetishes about Asians and Asian Americans."

The administration, however, has maintained its full support of the office, Sateia said, claiming it as "the model" for other institutions.

"Macalester recruited him because they want him to help them do what we're doing," Sateia said.

Woon said that OPAL has played an important role in developing the Dartmouth community by sponsoring programs and discussions involving minorities as well as Greeks, athletes and other groups. He said that OPAL's "comprehensive and integrated approach" may have won over early critics who expected the office to serve only minority students, pointing out that the majority of students involved at OPAL events are white.

"As people have gotten to know us they have discovered that we are very valuable to the entire campus," Woon said.

Dean of the College James Larimore said that OPAL's effect on campus can be recognized in the amount of interaction between different groups at Dartmouth. For example, Larimore described a discussion on immigration that OPAL organized between the College Republicans and Latino student group La Alianza Latina.

"My colleagues on other campuses were surprised that these groups were able to come together so easily," Larimore said.

Woon emphasized that his decision to move to Macalester was not based on any lack of support at the College.

"I love my job and I will be sad to leave," Woon said.