Current and former members of the Dartmouth Outing Club submitted a letter to College President James Wright, Dean of the College Tom Crady and acting Dean of Student Life Joe Cassidy on Thursday requesting that the administration read and respond to a statement describing students' vision of a student-run DOC. The letter comes after Andy Harvard, former director of the College's Outdoor Programs Office, which oversees the DOC, left the College in mid-July. Members of the DOC, who contend that Harvard was asked to leave the College, were confused by the sudden nature of Harvard's departure and upset that student input was not solicited prior to the decision.
The letter was signed by 33 students -- including Student Body President Molly Bode '09 and summer Assembly President James Cart '10 -- and submitted with the hopes of ensuring student involvement in the selection of the next OPO director, according to DOC president Andrew Palmer '10.
"The students of the Dartmouth Outing Club are concerned that the administration may not share our vision for the club," the letter reads. "Three short-lived OPO directorships in eight years, combined with the administration's silence about our future, leave us worried that there is a fundamental misunderstanding between the administration and the Dartmouth Outing Club."
A vision statement attached to the letter presents the members' philosophy of a student-run club. It outlines the qualifications each DOC student leader must demonstrate to hold office in the club. The statement explains the students' belief that this gives the organization the credibility to be self-sufficient.
"The extent to which the DOC is truly student driven makes it unique," the statement reads. "These ideals are what we cherish most in the club."
DOC members choose their leaders through a peer review process, the statement reads, and the students selected as heads of subcommittees must prove to their peers that they are responsible enough to handle the obligations of their position.
The statement further explains that students in the DOC look to the OPO for support and guidance. The students emphasized, however, that the OPO does not run the DOC.
The Assembly and the DOC hope students will be involved in choosing the next OPO director, according to Palmer.
"I like to think that [the administration] doesn't have the intention of changing the entire organization of the DOC," Palmer said in an interview.
Given the opportunity, Palmer said the DOC will choose a director who will give the organization's student leaders autonomy, although he was unsure how much influence the DOC will have in the selection process.
"I like to think that [the administration will] say they agree with everything," Palmer said. "The one reason I'm hesitant is that they haven't said that yet. There's been a decent amount of uproar, and they haven't responded."
Bode echoed Palmer's wish that students be involved in the selection of the next OPO director.
"[The Assembly] and myself support having a student-run DOC," Bode said. "I think that it should be similar to how a dean is selected: one student on a committee to look over applicants."
Students were involved in the selection of Harvard four years ago, Palmer said, adding that he hopes the end result of the DOC letter will be to create a similar student-administrator dialogue in the coming months.
"We don't really know where the administration stands," Palmer said. "I'd like this to end up putting me and Dean Crady and Joe Cassidy in a room."
Crady and Cassidy declined to comment on the letter on Thursday.
Staff reporters Allyson Bennett and Kate Farley contributed to this article.
