News
While the release of the highly anticipated steering committee recommendations occurred right on schedule on Monday, the national media attention some expected has largely failed to materialize.
After the Trustees first announced plans to overhaul social and residential life last winter, campus images of 800 students rallying at Psi Upsilon fraternity or marching to the lawn of College President James Wright were televised across the country and the globe, and multitudes of print reporters captured the commotion in Hanover for many newspapers.
But this time around the College has not become the center of a media circus and it has produced a more subdued reaction from students.
"I think the report wasn't as controversial as many people thought it might be [because] it strikes a balance of compromises on the different values on campus, and that's tempered response both in the media and in the Dartmouth community," committee member Kyle Roderick '99 said.
Whereas last year's announcement came as a complete shock to the Dartmouth community with its timing immediately preceding the traditional Winter Carnival weekend, the report distributed on Monday had been scheduled for release since Fall term.
"We might see more media attention in the spring when the Board makes a decision, but in the next two to three months of community discussions of proposals and ideas, it's likely to be more of an interest [here] than it might be to other news programs," Dean of the College and committee member James Larimore said.
ABC's World News Tonight broadcast a ten-minute segment on the controversy last year, and smaller stories were aired on CNN, MSNBC, National Public Radio and the British Broadcasting Corporation.
This year, televised coverage was limited to Headline News and New England Cable News, and newspaper reports were shorter, and less-prominently placed.
Larimore said his impression from quickly glancing at this week's related news stories is that there are some factual errors, but that the most basic part of the story is right -- the committee delivered the report and recommendations to the Board and the community.
"The impression I had was that some reporters had projected their own interpretation on the recommendations, and there are some references to residential colleges that are completely incorrect," Larimore said.
