As College President James Wright prepares to leave Dartmouth after 40 years at the College, he will be remembered for his attempts to expand social and residential life, as well as for his improvements to financial aid and campus infrastructure. In recent years, his tenure as Dartmouth's 16th president has also been marked by alumni controversy and changes to the College's governance structure.
Wright will most likely be best known for his contentious Student Life Initiative, which sought to increase social options at the College and make Dartmouth's social environment more inclusive. The SLI, launched in 1999, placed a moratorium on the formation of single-sex Greek organizations.
This ban was met by student protest, as leaders of campus Greek organizations canceled all Winter Carnival parties that year and approximately 1,000 students marched to the lawn of Wright's residence on Webster Avenue.
Rexford Morey '99, then class president and current assistant director of the Blunt Alumni center, said much of the reaction against the policy was due to general misconceptions.
"I think there is still a lot of misunderstanding amongst alumni from that age that the College was out to get rid of the Greek system," he said. "I think that the Student Life Initiative was an attempt by the Trustees and a committee of students and administrators to offer alternatives to students, but the initial press put it in a negative light. In the end, if you look at the state of the Greek system today and student life, it had a positive impact."
Though the College lifted the moratorium in 2005, other aspects of the initiative remain, most notably changes to the College's alcohol policy. The SLI implemented stricter keg regulations and prohibited Greek organizations from having permanent taps in their basements.
Other components of the initiative include the development of first-year residential clusters and the building of new residence halls. Wright has overseen the construction of two new residential clusters, Tuck Mall and McLaughlin. The renovation of Alumni Gym and the construction of Haldeman and Kemeny Halls took place during Wright's tenure. These projects have cost over $1 billion, according to an e-mail sent by Chairman of the Board of Trustees Ed Haldeman '70.
Major changes to Dartmouth's financial aid policy announced this January will mark the final year of Wright's presidency. The new plan, which Wright called the "strongest in the nation" in an interview with The Dartmouth, will allow children of families who earn less than $75,000 per year to attend the College tuition-free and includes need-blind admissions for international students.
Wright's presidency also launched the Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience, the largest fundraising effort in the College's history, in 2002. The campaign, which had raised $1 billion as of December, aims to generate $1.3 billion by the end of 2009.
The campaign seeks to better the College in the areas of academic enterprise, residential and campus life, financial aid and annual giving.
In recent years, Wright's presidency has been characterized by controversy surrounding highly contested alumni elections to the Dartmouth Board of Trustees. In 2006, debate surrounding proposed changes to the alumni constitution made national news. These changes, which ultimately failed in a 2006 vote by College alumni, would have merged the Association of Alumni with the Dartmouth Alumni Council to create one unified Alumni Association and would have forced petition trustee candidates to declare their candidacy before the announcement of the Alumni Association's slate of candidates.
Changes to the composition of the Board of Trustees, announced Sept. 8, have also sparked nationally publicized controversy. The Alumni Association filed a lawsuit on Oct. 3 to prevent the College from adding eight additional seats appointed by the trustees to the Board.
Frank Gado '58, a member of the Executive Committee of the Alumni Association and the association's legal liaison, said he believes Wright's stepping down will not greatly affect the current lawsuit, as Wright is not primarily responsible for formulating the College's legal arguments. He said, however, that Wright's decisions influenced the events leading up to the lawsuit, namely the change in governance structure.
"It brings an era to an end. I see this as an opportunity as a new start, for a consolidation of the College's strength and an opportunity to confront the questions that really need to be confronted, having to do with the strengthening of undergraduate education because that is not the direction that the College has been going," Gado said. "Let's hope that the next president will surprise the world and come to terms with some of the issues and problems that beset higher education in this country, particularly at the undergraduate level."
The College's motion to dismiss this lawsuit failed on Friday.
Wright's tenure as president has also seen debate about whether Dartmouth should function primarily as an undergraduate college or as a research institution. Referring to Dartmouth as a "research university" in his 1998 inaugural address, Wright has said that a heightened focus on research would not compromise the level of teaching at the College.
Research sponsorship at the College, largely in the form of federal grants, has increased from $79 million in 1998 to $157 million in 2002.
Outside of the College, Wright has garnered widespread praise for his efforts to help wounded veterans pursue higher education. Wright helped create a program that provides money to employ college counselors at veterans' hospitals to aid wounded soldiers in pursuing higher education. As of Oct. 2, Wright had raised over $350,000 dollars and helped 50 veterans to enroll in institutions of higher learning, three of which are currently attending the College.
Wright received the New Englander of the Year Award from the New England Council on Oct. 1 and will receive the Semper Fidelis Award from the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation in April in recognition of his efforts to help wounded veterans.
Wright has served as College President since 1998, and has been employed by the College since 1969. Prior to assuming the presidency, Wright served as a history professor, dean of Faculty of Arts and Sciences and provost.
William Schpero contributed to the reporting of this article.
