A fundamental tension, born out of Dartmouth's two centuries of existence, stands at the crux of campus debate and causes tremendous harm to dialogue about the College's future.
That tension goes back to 1819, to that oft-cited line in Daniel Webster's argument before the Supreme Court, "It is, Sir, as I have said, a small college. And yet there are those who love it." Webster's quotation itself is rather unremarkable, in fact it comes only a few lines after his admission that Dartmouth is "one of the lesser lights in the literary horizon of our country." However, Dartmouth alumni transformed Webster's words into the standard by which the College has been regarded and judged ever since.
What is Dartmouth? Many students, alumni, professors and administrators maintain that the institution remains Webster's "small college," and that above else we should preserve its essential qualities. Presumably, that means protecting the College from any "University" name encroachment and putting an emphasis on undergraduate education and an intimate campus experience. Yet those ideals are so nebulous that they frequently become little more than buzzwords in the broader debates about Dartmouth's present and future.
After all, despite these supposed principles, Dartmouth is no longer that same "small college" that Webster described. It's also about as far from a "lesser light" or "little institution" as you can get in higher education these days.
As a top Ivy League institution, Dartmouth is an international brand. We have a first-rate art museum and a performing arts center that hosts acts from around the globe. We have elite professional schools in business, engineering and medicine. The majority of Dartmouth students travels overseas on elaborate foreign study programs. Professors conduct ground-breaking research and write books that affect scholarship at the highest levels. This "small college" has a $3 billion endowment, which places it among the top 25 wealthiest schools in the nation.
I don't rattle off these attributes to convince anyone that the name should be changed to "Dartmouth University," but to assert a point that gets lost in the rhetoric surrounding every debate about a shift away from the humanities or health care delivery center: Dartmouth is no longer a "small college" that needs to be protected from change.
And the truth is, accepting these changes is necessary for the long-term health of the College. Despite the rapidly rising cost of tuition, students at Dartmouth today are more diverse than ever before and have vastly more opportunities to learn and explore, to be educated and prepared "for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership," as the school's mission statement attests. In the end, isn't that what it's all about?
It's easy to question Dartmouth's trajectory, especially under the leadership of College President Jim Yong Kim, who's made some controversial calls. Yet whether it's a shift in academic priorities, adjustments to the dining plans or just adding furniture to the main hall of Baker library, it's difficult to make improvements that everyone agrees upon. We must not romanticize a history that wasn't quite as rosy as the glossy Webster-ized version portrays. Nor should a fear of losing that "small college" feel cripple every institutional change. Not every trustee race, proposed revision of Greek life or shift in policy threatens our "old traditions."
Instead, it's time to start a new dialogue, one that doesn't cling to a monolithic identity of the past. We should stand firm on some traditional and actionable principles such as small class sizes but also embrace the multifaceted institution that holds the small liberal arts experience as one piece of a greater puzzle. Dartmouth today has many fabulous identities not a singular "Dartmouth Experience" that everyone takes part in. Each student encounters a different flavor of Dartmouth that builds on its rich history. Whether that's in science or in art, here in Hanover or abroad, in the classroom or on the hiking trails, it should be encouraged.
The romanticized image of yore leaves out so much of what makes Dartmouth an ideal institution of higher learning and stifles important conversations about the future. Instead, Dartmouth should be about the flexibility to pursue a variety of interests and academic subjects among a small community of active learners. Until we support that broader mission, these rhetorical chains will continue to hold us back.
