Dartmouth needs a place reserved for an international member on the Board of Trustees. By international, I don’t mean a child of immigrants or a naturalized U.S. citizen. For the purposes of this article, I don’t mean anyone from the Anglo-Western world either. I am talking about people who have been through the daunting process of leaving their home country and crossing linguistic and cultural boundaries to seek an education in the States, but who choose to ultimately return to their countries of origin or settle away from the United States. This, I believe, is where a school like Dartmouth’s calling truly lies — not in contributing to global brain drain or fueling the American corporate machine, but instead creating a class of exceptional individuals who embody “a sense of responsibility for each other and for the broader world,” as outlined in the College’s mission statement. I believe that having an international Trustee is not only symbolically important, but also a strategic imperative to pursue these aims.
As a student from India, I wanted to go to school in the U.S. because of the abundance of opportunity and the promise of academic freedom. However, Dartmouth wasn’t my first choice. It placed last on a long list of “high reaches” — and I only applied because it was among the Ivies. Telling people you go to Dartmouth in India — or, for that matter, anywhere except the U.S. — is often an incredibly humbling experience because so few recognize the name. That is not to say I don’t love this place; now that I’m here, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.
Dartmouth is already at a disadvantage attracting internationals because of how poorly it fares in college rankings. Rankings, no matter how reductionist, carry weight for internationals like myself, simply because they are one tangible, quantifiable metric in a sea of unpredictables for international students and their families. According to Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education analytics firm, Dartmouth ranks #247. In 2013, it ranked at #113, and it has been falling every year since. U.S. News, however, ranks it a high #15 nationally, but #326 globally. This matters more than you might think.
Further, with the current political climate, I suspect that it will become even more difficult for Dartmouth to attract international applicants. Issues such as visa revocations, uncertainty, political tension and the increase in campus protests have framed a negative narrative around American education that makes it a far less appealing option than it was a few years ago. Even though Dartmouth has shown a consistent improvement in admitting international students over the last few years, SEVIS data shows that the number of international students from March 2024 to March 2025 decreased by 11.33%, with India, the top source, seeing enrollment fall by a whopping 28%.
I used to think that Dartmouth just needed to improve its rankings to attract more international students. But after spending a year here, and learning more about both the ranking system and Dartmouth’s culture, I’ve come to realize that the College simply isn’t designed to perform well in such reductionist metrics because of its emphasis on undergraduate education. This calls for a different approach to strengthening our international standing.
An international trustee is the first step in the right direction. It not only tells prospective applicants that they belong, but also sends a message of global ambition to create an image and narrative for the College that has long been missing outside of the U.S. Former Trustee of the College Carlos Pastor, a Peruvian, is one of the few trustees who has not been from the United States. In addition to setting up scholarships at Arizona State University and University of California, Berkeley, Pastor has led multiple Dartmouth alumni and admissions events across Latin America. Moreover, Pastor and his wife, Gabriela Perez Rocchietti, have supported 60 Latin American Tuck School of Business and undergraduate students through their scholarships. This impact on Dartmouth’s perception in Peru and Latin America has been immense. Pastor’s title as trustee emeritus, instills a certain confidence in the College and sense of security for international students like myself.
Beyond symbolism, the absence of an international Trustee feels like a strategic shortcoming and reflects a deeper complacency in the administration’s global outlook. In an era where peer institutions are aggressively expanding their global footprints, Dartmouth’s insular governance structures send a different message. Many Ivy League schools have already had international trustees — figures such as Yale University’s Lei Zhang, Columbia University’s Kikka Hanazawa and Princeton University’s Arminio Fraga — who have played important roles in shaping their institution’s global reach and reputation. We pride ourselves on being a voice crying out in the wilderness, but even this voice must know when pride becomes a liability. A trustee with strong ties to Asia, Africa or the Middle East wouldn’t just bring diversity of thought; they’d offer access to alumni capital, corporate partnerships and regional expertise that Dartmouth is currently leaving on the table. To claim global excellence while ignoring global leadership is problematic. It’s time the College backed its rhetoric with action.
If we want to keep attracting the kind of international students that make this school special, then we need to put a serious effort into showing that we care. Let’s begin with a seat at the table.
Opinion articles represent the views of their author(s), which are not necessarily those of The Dartmouth.
