Students, administrators and faculty members overwhelmingly praised the appointment of Charlotte Johnson to the dean of the College position and are confident in her abilities to address issues that have recently attracted campus-wide attention, such as sexual assault and binge drinking, several community members said in interviews with The Dartmouth. Johnson, who will replace acting Dean of the College Sylvia Spears in July, currently serves as vice president and dean of the college at Colgate University.
Several members of the Dartmouth community characterized Johnson as an advocate for students.
"Everything I've heard from her is about advocacy," April Thompson, associate dean of the College for campus life, said.
Inter-Community Council co-chair Maya Granit '11, who met with Johnson on Tuesday afternoon, said Johnson has a good grasp on the issues that students on campus face.
"It seems like she'd be able to balance a lot of different perspectives, or at least be aware that she needs to balance a range of perspectives," Granit said.
Uthman Olagoke '11, a member of the dean of the College search committee, said Johnson's personality will make her accessible to the student body.
"Students can engage in conversation with her about issues that students may not feel okay talking to others about," Olagoke said. "Throughout the whole search process, her affinity for students was just apparent. I have no doubt in my mind that she will be a great student advocate while at the same time being a top senior administrator."
Evelyn Ellis, vice president for Institutional Diversity and Equity and a member of the dean of the College search committee, also emphasized Johnson's enthusiastic interactions with students as an important quality.
"She loves students," Ellis said. "If anything matters along with all those qualifications, you need to love students."
Thompson said Johnson, who worked as a lawyer prior to entering higher education, could bring a "fresh perspective" to issues of sexual assault and binge drinking, problems which have consistently received College-wide attention.
"She brings a courtroom background but has a real passion and interest in students and education," Thompson said. "It's really the best of both worlds."
John Daukas '84, president of the Association of Alumni, called Johnson an "exciting pick" and said Johnson's background in litigation will prepare her well for dealing with a variety of issues at the College.
"Being a lawyer is the kind of profession where you come into different problems and have to get a quick understanding of them and try to solve them," Daukas said. "That's a good background. Whatever issues she faces at Dartmouth, she has the experience of coming in, gathering the facts, gathering experts around her and then putting a plan in place to improve things."
Johnson, who has worked on initiatives dealing with binge drinking and sexual assault at Colgate, will be able to use her experiences at the university to effectively address similar problems that plague the College.
"Colgate is very similar to Dartmouth but on a smaller scale," Olagoke said. "She's achieved a lot there on a variety of issues from diversity to sexual assault."
Former Student Body President Eric Tanner '11, who also served on the search committee, said Johnson is well-acquainted with the issue of binge drinking.
"She basically introduced the [Good Samaritan] program at Colgate," Tanner said.
Tanner said he was "excited" by Johnson's appointment.
"She was our choice," Tanner said. "She's absurdly qualified and she's dealt with a lot of the same issues that go on here."
A string of resignations by female minority administrators during Winter term Spears, Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Students Colleen Larimore and Samantha Ivery, assistant dean of student life and acting director of the Center for Women and Gender all announced that they would leave the College provoked discussions regarding the retention of diverse faculty members at the College. This controversy, however, did not inform the search process, several search committee members said.
"I would hate to pigeonhole [Johnson] into being a woman of color," Biology professor Robertson McClung said. "Those are facts and obviously the committee is aware of them, but I don't think the committee based its evaluation or the recognition of the candidates on any single issue."
Following a petition signed by students that demanded greater transparency and a more diverse search committee in the search process for dean of the College, two additional students were added to the search committee in February, The Dartmouth previously reported.
No "events" influenced the search process "not budget cuts, not the controversy," according to Olagoke.
"For me personally, those three resignations were important," Olagoke said. "With that understanding, having Charlotte Johnson come in is a separate occasion. The student body should not try to look at [Johnson] as someone to bridge the past."
History professor Russell Rickford said Johnson's appointment does not fully address the structural power imbalances at the College that caused the controversy surrounding the three resignations, although he said he did not know whether Johnson's appointment was specifically a response to the controversies.
"While the appearance of more people of color in leadership positions on this campus and in society is significant and positive, true progress requires a qualitative change in the social structures and culture that marginalize people of color, women, workers and other exploited people," Rickford said in an email to The Dartmouth.
Various students interviewed by The Dartmouth said they were pleased with Johnson's appointment.
"Considering that we do have a lack of minority faculty members, I am happy to see that it is a woman of color replacing Dean Spears," Mason Cole '13 said.
Cole, who had previously described the resignations of Spears, Ivery and Larimore as "slightly worrisome," said he hopes Johnson will feel comfortable speaking for the student body.
"I really hope that she's able to gain a sense of campus," Cole said. "I hope that her lack of experience on campus at Dartmouth doesn't hinder her from speaking out when she feels that student opinion isn't being listened to enough."
Johnson expressed her commitment to understanding Dartmouth's institutional missions at a welcoming reception held for Johnson in the Rockefeller Center on Tuesday.
"One of my over-arching philosophies about everything that I do, but certainly jobs that I've been on, is you figure out the principles first," Johnson said. "You know what sort of institution you are at Dartmouth and know what you want the student experience to be. We figure those things out and act accordingly. You can't please everyone all the time, but if we're always working for those over-arching principles then we'll always get to the right place."
Staff writer Isha Flores contributed reporting to this article.
