What will be the most popular response to last Friday's letter from Board Chairman Ed Haldeman '70 soliciting presidential search criteria from the Dartmouth community?
There's not going to be one particular quality of note because Dartmouth students and alumni are too fractured in focus to agree on anything: Some are going to want someone with a strong stance on the alumni lawsuit and others, someone willing to cooperate with Beta, etc. Our next president is going to be a dark horse who nobody has heard about.
--Chris Talamo '11
The biggest issue to many people is housing and social spaces. The new president must be able to navigate the treacherous waters of Dartmouth's Greek life as we go through the next generation of construction.
--Brian Solomon '11
I think that people will probably say, in so many words, that a good ear is the most desirable quality in the new president. If the new president listens to a wide range of voices, giving each one a fair hearing -- and does not blindly pursue his or her own personal vision for the College -- it might be possible for him or her to avoid future disasters akin to the Student Life Initiative.
--Samuel Buntz '11
Dartmouth kids will want more than just a savvy and distant technocrat who negotiates with the Board of Trustees, fattens the College's coffers and oversees new construction projects. For the 17th member of the Wheelock Succession, undergrads will vie for a natural politician -- in the best sense of the word -- who can effortlessly schmooze with students in Collis Cafe and hear their concerns unfiltered.
--Daniel Belkin '08
Most popular response: A president who won't try to get rid of the Greek scene with something like the SLI. Second most popular response: Someone who tries to get rid of the Greek scene.
--Zachary Gotttlieb '10
Most popular response: Someone who will address the inequality in social spaces and who will continue to push Dartmouth into the future.
--Phil Aubart '10
As a freshman, it's really hard to judge what everyone wants in a president. But maybe that's the problem -- perhaps mainstream Dartmouth is too apathetic about the issue for Haldeman to really know what we're looking for.
--Jordan Osserman '11
The most popular response to Haldeman's letter will be that the next president of Dartmouth must be someone who is intimately attuned to and willing to take on the issues -- both social and economic -- facing Dartmouth students of today rather than simply those which are touted by vocal yet diminutive alumni groups.
--Evan Meyerson '08
The next president should be willing to engage with and be accesible to the student body. The best way that our president can gather information about problems within the College is to converse with students him or herself.
--Denise Hotta-Moung '11
Most people probably haven't read Haldeman's letter, to be honest. But I think they would all agree that Dartmouth's next president should try to encourage more transparency vis-a-vis administrative decisions that involve current students.
--Lydia Chammas '09
The most important quality in the next president is his or her ability to find and retain quality professors first for overburdened departments -- Government, Economics -- and second for underrepresented departments -- African and African American studies, for example.
--Nathan Bruschi '10
