After its quarterly meeting last weekend, The Dartmouth Board of Trustees announced that trustee Al Mulley '70 will lead the search committee for Dartmouth's 17th president.
The search falls at a time of highly publicized conflict about the College, after four years of turmoil surrounding alumni governance, which has now reached a fever pitch. At the same time, Dartmouth finds itself in a period of sleepy stagnancy. The College is plagued by administrative bloat, a shortage of faculty in the most popular departments, and the neglect of student interests and concerns in light of the explosive -- and expensive -- battle for control and popular support between the College's supporters and alumni critical of the College.
What Dartmouth needs is a breath of fresh air -- a president who can appeal to, and rise above, the competing alumni factions while invigorating a tired system with new ideas and a fresh take on a staid institution. Just as Dartmouth's students should expect to be challenged, so should its administration and practices. The only way to bring in a driven and innovative leader is to structure the search committee with an emphasis on true, ideological diversity among its members.
The upcoming search for Dartmouth's president will likely be the most contentious and exposed search process in the College's history; no matter what, it will be criticized. With that in mind, those selecting the committee members should give up now on any notion of bland political appointments.
The committee must represent a broad range of interests; this should not be a group of sycophantic yes-men who all contently agree on the future of the school. A petition trustee should be on the Board. So should a pro-Wright administrator. The selection of students should not be reduced to a checklist of token campus figureheads who fill a politically correct quota but add little to the broader discussion of what's best for the entire Dartmouth community. Professors should represent a mix of young and old, College veterans and newcomers.
We need a group of spirited students, faculty, administrators and alumni who are dedicated to and knowledgeable about the College, but who bring varying visions of its future to the table and readily engage in debate.
Wright's charge was student life; Freedman's, academics. What will the ultimate task and qualities of our next president be? Only a heterogeneous committee that has painstakingly wrangled over what is most important to every facet of Dartmouth life and the Dartmouth community can begin to tackle the task of selecting the administration's focus and leadership for the next 10 years.
