Dear President Wright:

 

 I am writing to formally request a reconsideration of the decision to

 eliminate Dartmouth's swimming and diving programs. In addition to more

 personal or emotional reasons, let me state several important considerations:

 

 1) The Dartmouth swimming program is important to more than the student

 athletes who comprise the varsity teams. The swimming programs encourage

 the Dartmouth student body at large as well as the faculty to swim for

 recreation, physical exercise, and well being. The program also benefits

 the greater Hanover community. The college often states how important it

 is for Dartmouth to serve the broader community where it is located. The

 free swimming lessons for children in the community which are provided by

 members of the swimming teams is but one example of the service the teams

 provide to the community at large.

 

 2) The decision will negatively affect Dartmouth's retention of current

 student athletes in the swimming/diving programs, as well as recruitment of

 future excellent Dartmouth students. Athletes in other sports will

 question Dartmouth's commitment to all athletic programs based on the

 mystifying "rationale" for this decision.

 

 3) The decision WILL negatively impact the water polo program. Water polo

 was a primary driver in my daughter's decision to apply early decision to

 Dartmouth, and she would not consider a school that did not have a swimming

 program, as a good water polo program is not possible without a commitment

 to swimming, as often coaches as well as athletes participate in both

 programs. The women's water polo team won the New England championships

 this year, and placed 5th nationally, and now you are removing their coach.

 How can you state that "athletics expects to be healthier" in the Q & A

 section about the impact on water polo?

 

 4) The decision will also negatively impact Dartmouth's ability to raise

 money in the future, especially from alumni and parents. This decision

 does not demonstrate a sound financial decision making process.

 

 5) This decision also does not demonstrate prudent trusteeship of the

 endowment. As the chair of the investment committee of an endowment, as

 well as in my full time position managing endowment and pension funds, I am

 very familiar with the fiduciary duties of trustees in setting spending

 policies and carrying out their duties for the endowments. The endowment

 is meant to support operations across lean years as well as attractive

 times, and to "preserve equity among generations" (see James Tobin, "What

 is Permanent Endowment Income" in the American Economic Review 427). I

 fail to see how this decision to cut one program for .01% of the endowment

 value is appropriate fiduciary responsibility.

 

 There are the more personal and emotional reasons, which can not be

 ignored. You should remember my daughter - she was the one critically ill

 at DHMC with bacterial meningitis (strain B - not covered by any vaccine)

 while at Dartmouth in August. The swim coaches and team members were

 essential to her recovery - she had the will to come back so she would not

 let them down. So what greets her on her first day back in the US after a

 semester at sea? Yes, it was your news that you are cutting the swimming

 program and water polo will be without a coach. She is not unique. I know

 each of the girls on the women's swimming team, and each one is dedicated

 and a superb athlete as well as an excellent student and an incredible

 person with a great future. You need all these students and you need them

 positive about Dartmouth.

 

 Please reconsider this decision and retain the swimming programs at Dartmouth.

 

 Sincerely,

 

 

 Jennifer K. Tretheway (mother of Kelly Cameron '04)

 

 Jennifer Kamp Tretheway, CFA

 Executive Vice President

 Northern Trust Global Advisors, Inc.