Dear President Wright, Dean Larimore, and Ms. Harper,

I write to you once again to express my shock at the announcement to disband the men’s and women’s swimming and diving program at Dartmouth. As a Georgetown University faculty member who has worked closely with the Athletic Director at Georgetown, I know how important it is for a university of the caliber of Georgetown or Dartmouth to provide opportunities for the scholar athlete. Varsity scholars learn skills well beyond those of the playing field. They learn to manage their time, to rally with others in loss and victory,
to hone skills that require sacrifice and  discipline.  In cutting a sport, you cut not just a sport but the opportunity to learn those life skills.  You also bring Dartmouth’s varsity sports down to 32, compared to Harvard’s 41 teams.  This is not a selling point for Dartmouth in admissions.

The arguments produced for the cut have centered around not having a competitive pool for hosting the Ivy Championships.  Yet only Princeton and Harvard host the Ivies. I believe Columbia is hosting the Men’s Divisional this year, but not at its home pool. So Dartmouth is hardly alone among its competitors in not having  a state of the art facility.  If normal maintenance of the pool must go on anyway to maintain a recreational swimming facility and to host the various masters and swim school classes (as well as water polo club), then the pool can also remain serviceable for the varsity teams. Not being able to host the Ivies is not a reason to cut the sport.

The argument has also been given that the swim and diving teams are not competitive (irrespective of the state of the pool), and swimming cuts will help make other teams at Dartmouth competitive. But here the Administration needs to be honest about recruitment. Swimming has always recruited students with relatively high scores and GPA’s.  If the slots to be taken from swimming are to be used to support other teams who traditionally recruit students with lower scores and GPA’s, then it is the recruitment policy that is keeping the teams from being competitive.  And this is not a funding issue but an admission policy.

As a parent of an '03 student who is enraged about the present decision , I can assure you that your decision will  profoundly affect her life as an alumnae.  Her faith in Dartmouth has been deeply shaken and this will affect her loyalty to the institution in the future and her willingness to contribute to annual giving.  This is no small matter. Many students, not merely swimmers, feel disenfranchised by the decision and the manner in which it was arrived.  This will have recuperations for Dartmouth long after the present teammates graduate.

I shall be trying to reach you in the next few days to discuss these matters by phone. In the meantime, I thank you very much for your attention and urge you to reconsider your decision.  I await your response.

Sincerely yours,

Nancy Sherman,
Mother, Kala Sherman-Presser, '03
  
University Professor
Georgetown University
Washington, DC 20057