Interesting times at Dartmouth

shelf-life
Mon, 28 May 2007 09:24:37 +0000

Something is just not right at Dartmouth.

I now have at least some experience with five Ivy League schools. I was an undergrad at one, a grad student at another, taught for 8 years at a third, have a daughter attending a fourth one, and a few years ago I was a visiting faculty member at Dartmouth.

Dartmouth has (or had) a slogan that “It’s Different at Dartmouth” and indeed it is. I can’t quite put my finger on it. Dartmouth students are just as bright, just as engaged, and just as engaging as any of the students that I have encountered at the other schools that I have been associated with, yet something is “off.”

I taught a Tuesday/Thursday class that was always well-attended and lively on Tuesdays, more sparsely attended and dull on Thursdays. The class was heavily male and heavily greek and it seems that Wednesday nights the fraternity houses have “meeting” and as far as I could tell the academic week virtually stopped for many students Wednesday afternoon.

However this is not to put the blame solely on the fraternity presence. The atmosphere between the students and the administration didn’t seem as open as it should be. Students seemed to live in fear of being “parkhursted,” that is being unfairly treated at a discipline hearing. The administration generally seemed less trusting and less supportive of its students than I have encountered at other schools. Also the most visible visiting alumni on fall football weekends (and apologies here to alums who do not fit this profile), were some of the worst stereotypes of “old boys.”

There was a lot I loved about the school – its beauty, some amazing colleagues who were interested in undergraduate teaching ion a level I had never experienced before, and some truly phenomenal students. But overall I came away with the impressions that although I enjoyed being associated with Dartmouth as a visitor, it isn’t the school I would chose for a more lasting association.