Support Dartmouth College Aquatics Programs - Swimming and Diving and Water Polo

Chuck Wielgus is the Executive Director of US Swimming.

November 26, 2002
Dr. James Wright, President
Dartmouth College
Hinman Box 6001
Hanover, NH 03755
Dear President Wright:
Assuming that you have been besieged with phone calls, letters and
e-mails regarding the decision by Dartmouth College to drop the swimming and
diving programs, I will be succinct.
The Ivy League approach to athletics is the model to which all NCAA
member institutions should subscribe. It is within the Ivy League that true
student-athletes fulfill their potential in a manner that best prepares them
for the practical realities of the real world – a world that desperately
needs strong leaders and good citizens. Because of the demands our sport
requires, young people who chose to participate develop work habits and adopt
personal performance goals that become positive carry-overs into many other
aspects of their lives. Invariably, college swimmers exhibit high levels of
self-reliance, self-discipline and perspective. Nationwide, there may be no
other group of student-athletes who consistently measure up in the classroom,
in the athletic environment and ultimately as productive members of society.
When a school such as Dartmouth drops its swimming and diving teams, it
does much more than cause temporary pain to the current student-athletes,
their families, coaches and alumni. It sends a message that the sport is an
expendable activity and that other things are more important. I am enough of
a realist to understand that these are difficult economic times and that a
school cannot be all things to all people. However, I believe Dartmouth is
the kind of institution that must continue to perpetuate the most important
ideals of broad-based college athletics. It is essential that Ivy League
schools remain a constant reminder to the NCAA, it’s member institutions –
and in fact, to all Americans – that sports such as swimming are important.
This is a sport that attracts and develops the kind of young people that
become vital to the business, government and the social fabric of American