Interfraternity Council summer president Chase Schoelkopf '15 was randomly selected to dine at Hanlon's home earlier in the term, along with seven other students.
"He was very personal, very welcoming," Schoelkopf said. "[He] truly cares about this school and will hopefully be moving the school in the right direction."
At the dinner Schoelkopf attended, Hanlon discussed his concern for the rising cost of education. While at the University of Michigan, Hanlon spearheaded a variety of cost-cutting measures to address Michigan's dramatic decrease in state appropriations. He told The New York Times in November 2012 that he will look closely at the College's finances to curb superinflationary tuition increases.
"The historic funding model for higher ed is close to unsustainable," he said.
The Board of Trustees announced a 3.8 percent rise in tuition and other fees in March. Business Insider and CBS Moneywatch both recently placed the College seventh on their "America's Most Expensive Colleges" lists.
While Hanlon has yet to announce specific policies for the upcoming academic year, he did make personnel decisions, including revoking Malawi Bishop James Tengatenga's appointment as dean of the Tucker foundation and appointing two key members of his senior administrative team.
Following criticism of Tengatenga's past statements on homosexuality, Hanlon released a statement on Aug. 14 that said the uncertainty and criticism caused by Tengatenga's previous remarks "compromised [Tengatenga's] ability to serve effectively as dean of Tucker."
The decision elicited mixed reactions from students as well as members of the search committee that selected Tengatenga.
Hanlon announced in May that Robert Lasher '88 would join Dartmouth as the senior vice president for advancement and in July he appointed Richard Mills as Dartmouth's executive vice president and chief financial officer.
Lasher was previously the deputy museum director of external relations at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Mills was dean of administration at Harvard Medical School, where he assumed financial responsibility for the institution and led efforts to reduce costs and build new sources of revenue.
In addition to small student dinners, Hanlon held office hours and engaged with student groups. On Aug. 2, he met with fifteen members of the Latino community in the basement of the LALACS affinity house. During the meeting, students discussed formalizing Latino Heritage Month, building a multicultural house, addressing the needs of the College's undocumented students and adding a cultural sensitivity distributive requirement.
La Alianza Latina's summer executives said they hope Hanlon will focus on recruting faculty of color.
"Not only are students losing their professors, but they are also losing their mentors, coaches and even senior thesis advisors," the executive board said in a statement.
Student Assembly President Adrian Ferrari '14 said he has been impressed by Hanlon's commitment to reaching out to students and has met with him on several occasions. Ferrari said Hanlon seems interested in finding alternatives to the Greek system.
"He is interested in exploring less cost-intensive options, but I also believe as he consults and gets to know other administrators and students, he will learn alternative programming' has its limitations," he said.
Ferrari said a "radically upgraded" residential college model would reduce the influence of the Greek system.In the the fall, Hanlon will hold open office hours, attend athletic events and even teach a section of multivariable calculus.
"I think he's exactly what Dartmouth needs right now," Ferrari said. "We need someone who is more concerned with students' lives than the grandeur and status of being a top tier university president. That's President Hanlon."
