What makes a college great is the prestige of its faculty and alumni, but what defines a college is its undergraduate experience. Dartmouth needs to make more investments in undergraduate research and internships, but more importantly it must advertise such programs better. Everyone knows about FSPs and LSAs, but every time I walk into Career Services' tiny office, it seems to be entirely vacant.
--Chris Talamo '11
If the new president is truly committed to "restoring Dartmouth to a position of collegiate primacy," he or she will clean house on the first day on the job. Dartmouth's administration is filled with dead wood: individuals who reject innovation and rational thought in problem solving and instead cling to old policy like Republicans to guns and religion. We need administrators who are not afraid of innovation, and who do not behave like robots, concerned only with taking the easy way out and avoiding setting precedents.
--Christian Kiely '09
Aggressive fundraising is the first and most obvious step to be taken. Alumni are going to be less and less likely to donate as their own financial situations deteriorate, but fiscal breathing room is necessary before any progressive changes can be made. Instead of answering the question of what departments and programs must suffer, the new President should try to keep those questions from being raised at all.
--Tom Mandel '11
I would recommend a fundamental restructuring of the curriculum. The College should introduce an optional core curriculum and do away with superfluous departments (there's no reason why we can't study African-American history in the history department and African-American literature in the English department). Along with this restructuring, the College should, in any way it can, increase faculty salaries to attract the best possible professors to Dartmouth.
--Peter Blair '12
Letting the light of transparency shine in is the first and most integral step to any real change. Until we have numbers and facts in our hands, it is impossible to identify the sources of our weaknesses, flaws and areas of waste. I would ask the next president to boldly pursue a more effective and consolidated administration, an expanded faculty dedicated to teaching as well as research, and a revamped athletic program.
--Isaiah Berg '11
If Dartmouth truly wants to live up to providing the best liberal arts education, then the new president should immediately commit to creating more small, seminar-style classes. Other universities, such as MIT, have already experimented with replacing large introductory classes with more hands-on, discussion-oriented courses. We should be at the forefront of that movement.
--Brian Solomon '11
The new president should principally work to attract and maintain the most qualified student body the College can muster. If he or she can make Dartmouth a more visible and financially viable educational option to students all around the world, the rest -- quantifiable student accolades, quality professors, alumni donations and prestige --- will surely follow.
--Nathan Bruschi '10
What should the administration and new president do to restore the College to primacy? Nothing. The only reason the College fell in the U.S. News and World Report rankings was because of the ceaseless bickering between the alumni and the administration. We are still the same school, regardless of what anyone says about us. The new president should minimize bickering, minimize scheming, minimize grand plans or designs to improve student life. Dartmouth should just concentrate on being what it is. The Taoist sage Lao Tzu once wrote, "The best ruler is but a shadowy presence to his subjects ... When his task is accomplished and his work is done, the people all say, 'It happened to us naturally.'"
--Sam Buntz '11
