December 4, 2002

 

 

Dear President Wright,

 

 

I am the father of a first year student, Lindsay, who is a member of your swim team.  Many have expressed their disappointment, shock, anger and mostly concern for our children, over Dartmouth's decision to terminate the swim teams. I echo those feelings.

 

Unlike many of the parents, however, I do not have roots with your college, being neither an alum nor a past benefactor.  In some sense, I am an outsider in that I cannot claim the history of dedication that many of the parents and alums, have revealed.  I wish I could.  Furthermore, many others are certainly more familiar with the athletic department, the administration, alumni, and contributors, than I. However, I do share the most important common fact with the other parents, i.e. my daughter is a part of the current Dartmouth community.

 

I also want to make it clear that I cannot say with any expertise that this decision was not the right one.  Your responsibilities as President are difficult, and I do not mean to second  guess your expertise.

However, the manner in which it was presented to the coaches and swimmers was unprofessional and show a total lack of class.

 

In a sense, however, my perspective should offer you something to reflect upon.  My daughter's decision to attend Dartmouth, was the most important one she has had to make up to this point in her life.  It was her decision, but it was carefully researched and deliberated with her parents, siblings, teachers, coaches, counselors and alums and students from Dartmouth and many other colleges to which she could have attended.  Lindsay reached her decision, not because of historical family ties to Dartmouth, but because her research convinced her that this school was, as she thought a "perfect fit".

 

Until last week, I could not have agreed more.

 

Unlike virtually every other school to which she applied, Dartmouth had nothing but positives and virtually no negatives (except perhaps the winters).  No one to whom we spoke, had anything but superlatives to say about Dartmouth.

 

Last year the Wall Street Journal ranked Dartmouth's Business School first in the country.  Although this top ranking is undoubtedly important to some, the most impressive point to me was the reasoning behind the Journal's decision.  The Journal found the sense of community, the collegiality, and the lack of a cutthroat mentality unique to Dartmouth.  This truly summed up all of the superlatives that I had heard about Dartmouth.   If the Journal's observations were accurate, how can it be that the athletic department at the same institution can be so calculating, Machiavellian, and insensitive as it has been in the dealings over the current issue.

 

I hope that the Journal's impressions of Dartmouth are more representative of the community, than the unfortunate handling of the swim team decision.  In the contacts that I have had with the parents in the last week, another feature stands: there are no zealots in this group, simply some very concerned parents who have brilliantly articulated issues for their children and Dartmouth College.  I only hope that the College is listening.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

J. Scott Arthur