I write on behalf of some 25 Dartmouth professors who are among those faculty both privileged enough to teach here and also to hold a Dartmouth undergraduate or graduate degree. As alumni, we have received the many letters and e-mails that are being sent "'round the girdled earth" concerning the current Association of Alumni executive committee election; as faculty, though, we experience every day the Dartmouth that is "on the ground." Indeed, we arguably experience every day the "ground" that lies at the heart and soul of Dartmouth: the classrooms, laboratories, studios, workshops, offices and countless other venues where professors and students come together to conduct the business of learning.
We would like to report back that the business of learning at Dartmouth is doing very well; in fact, it's doing better than we have ever seen in our many years on campus. Median class size is down from what it was even 10 years ago and certainly down from what it was when most of us were students. In addition, the size of the faculty is up: This means we professors have more time to spend giving our students the sort of individualized attention that is a hallmark of a Dartmouth education. The College has, moreover, provided us with the many resources that our students need us to have if we are to do our jobs well (specialized equipment, print and electronic resources, etc.). The College has been equally effective in providing us with the sort of high-quality teaching spaces that we need to facilitate good learning. The Admissions office has in turn ensured that these spaces are peopled with extraordinary undergraduates, with every year's class seeming to present a more impressive profile than the last. Finally, departments and programs are determined to hire the best and brightest faculty we can find to work with these students: Teachers who bring to their classrooms all the richness that a liberal arts education can offer and researchers who engage Dartmouth students in the often exhilarating project of creating new knowledge.
We are committed to seeing this Dartmouth go boldly forward into the next years and decades of the 21st century, and we deplore the sentiments of those who have required that the College divert its time and money (approximately $2 million) away from our academic mission to defend itself against the current AoA lawsuit. We furthermore fear the intentions of those who would, in the words of our local newspaper, the Valley News, "turn back the clock" at Dartmouth. This includes the 11 petition candidates who are running in the current AoA election who have pledged to continue the suit and whose larger goal, as stated by petition trustee Todd Zywicki '88, who has endorsed them, is "taking the academy back."
We don't want to be in court, and we don't want to go back. The "unity" slate, which has pledged to drop the AoA lawsuit, shares our profound pride in today's Dartmouth and the work we do here and is as committed as we are to taking that work forward.
