In the two years since the Class of 2015 arrived in Hanover, the upper echelons of the Dartmouth administration have undergone constant and significant change. This fall, when President Phil Hanlon Dartmouth's third President in less than a decade takes office, it will likely be without a provost, executive vice president and chief financial officer, or chief of staff. With this in mind, President Hanlon should make filling his administration with dedicated, long-term candidates his top priority in the first year of his presidency.
To this end, there are a few qualifications that Hanlon should consider when selecting new administrators. The first is a commitment to the College. Promoting internally within departments, choosing alumni who are more likely to feel a sense of loyalty to the College and securing long-term commitments, such as his own declaration that he plans to spend at least ten years at Dartmouth, are all things that Hanlon and the search committees should consider. If the Kim presidency taught Dartmouth one thing, it is that the College demands genuine long-term commitment from its leadership for the sake of policy continuity and institutional stability. All institutions, be they colleges or privately-held businesses, benefit from continuity in their leadership and stability in the vision that those leaders advance. Over the past decade, many much-needed reforms and initiatives at the College have stalled or been abandoned altogether as a result of frequent turnover and discontinuities in the administration. The Hanlon administration must select administrators who come for the long haul.
In addition to commitment to the College, new administrators should also be chosen with an eye to their experience at institutions of similar size and structure to Dartmouth's. The Kim administration's insensitivity to the attitudes and beliefs of Dartmouth students, alumni and trustees led to a significant lack of trust between the administration and its constituents. For Hanlon's administration to succeed where Kim's failed, it will be critical for search committees to seek candidates from institutions that resemble Dartmouth. This means seeking candidates from smaller, undergraduate-focused or undergraduate-only, rural or non-urban and similarly endowed institutions that face challenges akin to those of Dartmouth.
Thirdly, any new administrators should come with experience collaborating with their previous institution's alumni, affinity communities, and faculty on both academic and student life issues. At an institution such as Dartmouth that prides itself on a strong undergraduate focus and close-knit community, change is created through such collaborations. The Hanlon administration would be well-advised to seek administrators who understand the need to craft and enact policies in collaboration with stakeholders both inside and outside Hanover. Our new president would be well-advised to remember the difficulty that President Kim had enacting changes, such as his vision for a "global Dartmouth," that offended the sensibilities of both alumni and students who were invested in the College's tradition of undergraduate-focused, liberal arts education. The Hanlon administration will have to tackle even bigger, even more controversial issues such as sexual assault policies that have come under fire as a result of the Clery filing than the globalization of the College's educational directive, and as such, it should focus on finding administrators with experience in dealing with such issues in a collaborative manner.
Ultimately, the Hanlon administration faces two major challenges: first, stabilizing the College after a period of extreme turnover and change, and second, rehabilitating the institution's reputation and standing amongst its peer institutions after a number of years in which the College's public image has suffered repeated blows. For these things to happen, our new president will have to build himself a strong, loyal and dedicated administrative team that has the experience and institutional knowledge to right the College's direction and restore the trust of current students, alumni and prospective students alike.
