"I do feel like that might have been a little lacking, but you can't outline all of those things," Bode said. She added that she is proud of the committee's leadership statement and thinks that it represents the College accurately.
College trustee Al Mulley, '70, chair of the search committee, said the statement cannot outline specific qualifications if the committee hopes to attract the widest range of applicants.
"It's not a job description," Mulley '70 said. "We're not saying we want to appoint a president who will do A, B, C, D."
In response to student comments that the leadership statement over-emphasizes the College's graduate schools, Bode said that the entire committee understands Dartmouth's commitment to undergraduate education. She said the focus on the graduate schools was about integrating the College's graduate and undergraduate communities.
"Dartmouth has the opportunity to continue to be the leading school in undergraduate education and in the top as a university as well," Bode said. "Our position is an incredible one to be in."
While some students may view the leadership statement as a "to-do list," Bode said it is only a "general overview" of the College. Both Bode and Mulley said that the title of the document, "The Opportunity for Leadership at Dartmouth," encapsulates its purpose.
"The title of the document was chosen very intentionally," Mulley said. "We'll be in dialogue with the experts and presidential candidates about how the opportunity for leadership at Dartmouth can best be realized."
The search committee is not looking for someone with specific experiences, but rather for a person who can lead the College, according to Bode.
"If we gave a job description, then what's the point of looking for someone with creative and innovative ideas?" Bode said.
Although the official leadership statement has been published, Mulley and Bode said feedback from the Dartmouth community is still very important as the committee continues to interpret the document. Though some students believe the committee already has specific candidates in mind, Bode said that is not the case.
"I'd really like to get rid of that myth. We wouldn't be going through this long process if we had somebody in mind," she said.
Bode emphasized that students were able to suggest candidates to the search committee at last Tuesday's Assembly meeting and at the search committee's open forum on Oct. 3. In an interview with The Dartmouth, Bode said she is looking for "an outside-of-the-box" candidate. Mulley said that generating names from all members of the Dartmouth community is part of the committee's active search strategy.
The committee is "really engaged in identifying candidates," instead of "sitting back and waiting for people to apply or be nominated," Mulley added.
Bode sad that most of the input she has received so far has been from the Assembly and her friends, but this fall she will run informal focus groups with fellow members of Palaeopitus senior society "to reach out to certain groups on campus." She has also met with representatives from Dartmouth's graduate programs.
The input received in the coming weeks will be considered as committee members meet with and review candidates, Bode said. She emphasized that specific issues and concerns will be addressed during the interviews.
"[I will] be able to outline a few of the issues and see what the [candidates] would do if they were given Dartmouth for a day, or for the presidency," Bode said.
The major areas of student concern, according to Bode, have been sustainability, gender relations on campus, Greek life and increasing international focus inside and outside the classroom. The candidates need to understand the importance of these issues on campus, Bode said, and their past records dealing with such issues will likely be a fair indicator of how they would respond at Dartmouth.
"I think that you need to look for a president who is energetic and very open to meeting and understanding students," Bode said. "You can't understand students' needs if you don't get to know them."
