New Development Council Formed

It Has the Job of Finding the Funds Required to Meet Dartmouth's Needs

THE ESTABLISHMENT of the Dartmouth Development Council, a new organization within the College, has been announced by President Dickey in a report that is being sent to all Dartmouth men.

The President, in commenting on the circumstances which led to the creation of the Development Council, said,

"There has been a growing realization among Dartmouth workers of the need for extending the organization of Dartmouth's fund-raising activities beyond the work carried on annually through the Alumni Fund and the Class Memorial Funds. These two forms of alumni giving have literally provided the margin of Dartmouth's strength and greatness over the past thirty-five years. All are agreed that whatever else is done, these resources must not be jeopardized. However, with the growing awareness of the needs which confront the College today and will face it tomorrow, it is all too clear that Dartmouth must see to it that her case does not go by default in the increasingly intensive search being carried on by all institutions of higher education for private philanthropic assistance.

"If this is to be done well at Dartmouth by utilizing our established advantages and not jeopardizing them, it means setting up a cooperative, well-organized agency to operate within our established patterns. It is to this end that the Trustees, upon the recommendation of the Alumni Council, have created the Dartmouth Development Council. The Development Council's function will be to find the resources required to meet the established needs of the College "

Mr. Dickey emphasized the "continuing" nature of the Development Council.

"It is not our purpose," he said, "to launch a short-term all-inclusive drive for funds as so many other institutions are doing. Instead we seek a realistic understanding of our needs in relation to both our resources and our responsibilities. On the basis of this understanding Dartmouth intends to organize a continuing and comprehensive development program based on the principle of mustering every possible resource for the dual aims of holding our gains in all areas and of pushing forward into those areas where progress is most needed or can be best realized at any particular time."

"The Council," President Dickey said, "has accepted the reality that College fund raising has become a highly competitive business and that success comes only to those colleges most effectively organized for work. The source of this organization is manpower, in and out of Hanover."

The Council at present is composed of three Trustees, four members of the Alumni Council (the President of the Council, and the Chairmen of the Alumni Fund, Class Gift, and Bequest Committees), a representative of the faculty, the Treasurer of the College, Secretary of the College, the College's fund-raising officer, and a non-alumnus. This initial membership will act as the executive committee of the Council. Chairmen of special projects will serve on the executive committee on an ad hoc basis for the duration of their work. Other members, serving in special capacities, have been and will be added to the Council as the work develops.

The Dartmouth Development Council is headed by Sigurd S. Larmon '14 of New York, Alumni Trustee of the College. Sidney C. Hayward '26, Secretary of the College, is serving as Director and George H. Colton '35, who has been executive secretary of the Alumni Fund, is Secretary. Other members of the executive committee are Edward S. French 'O6 and Harvey P. Hood '18, from the Board of Trustees; Wilbur W. Bullen '22. Sidney J. Flanigan '23, John R. Mason '15 and John L. Sullivan '21, from the Dartmouth Alumni Council; Prof. William Stuart Messer, representing the faculty; John F. Meek '33, Treasurer of the College; Gerard Swope Jr. '29, chairman of the special committee raising funds for the physics laboratory; and Laurence F. Whittemore '48h, non-alumni member.

Those members already added to the Council who will serve in special capacities for five years are Henry E. Atwood '13, Thurlow M. Gordon '06, George H. Howard '07, H. Richardson Lane '07, Roswell F. Magill '16, James M. Mathes '11 and John C. Sterling '11.

The Hanover staff has its headquarters in the recently refurbished Crosby Hall. Staff members are Robert L. Allen '45, Roger S. Brown '45, Nichol M. Sandoe Jr. '45, Ford H. Whelden '25, Mrs. Robert W. Bull, Mrs. James F. Cusick and Mrs. Rosamond M. Pinatel.

"Upon the formation of the Dartmouth Development Council," President Dickey explained, "it called on the Trustees for guidance with respect to the needs of the College and particularly with respect to the present priorities among the various areas of need. Accordingly, in their recent meeting the Trustees reviewed the needs of the College in all areas and welcomed the opportunity to emphasize to the Development Council that the needs of the College in the three principal areas of faculty and staff, students, and physical facilities were all substantial and of prime importance.

"The Trustees decided for the immediate future to place the need for additional endowments and gifts for scholarship aid in the top priority position. The Trustees continue to hold the view .... that when circumstances necessitate a choice between needs, the general rule must be that the needs of faculty and students take precedence over those for physical facilities. Thus, for the time being, the order of priority established for the Dartmouth Development Council's fund-raising activities is endowment and current funds for scholarships, endowment for faculty and staff salaries, and funds for physical facilities. At the same time the Board recognized that the needs of the College and the relative priorities among such needs which have currently been fixed will require restatement from time to time as circumstances change."

SCHOLARSHIP FUNDS

That area of need to which the Trustees have assigned top priority has to do with the character of the student body at Dartmouth. Financial aid money spent by Dartmouth is money well invested. It may be argued that in the grant of scholarship aid the Dartmouth dollar does its very utmost, not only for the donor and the recipient, but also for the College as a whole, eliminating any hint of economic "ivory towerism" and presenting to everyone connected with the College an effectively stimulating microcosm. Financial aid is nothing new for the student body as a whole. As Mr. Dickey reported, "Dartmouth, along with most other private colleges, subsidizes every student attending the College to the extent of approximately 50% of the cost of the College of each man's education. This subsidy represents the long-standing and traditional approach of such institutions toward the problem of bringing the cost of what they have to offer within the reach qualified persons."

It was in this connection that Mr. Dickey discussed the "added fee philosophy." This effort toward "more realistic fees" is based upon the premise that it is economically unwise and perhaps even morally wrong for men who are entirely capable of paying more toward the cost of their education to receive the 50% subsidy from a college which is forced to deny aid to many qualified men of limited financial means. Mr. Dickey, speaking of the added fee, said, "Dartmouth intends to move in this direction, but there are many difficulties which must be met before substantial net progress can be made on this front.

"The pressing need of this hour, however, is for more funds for financial aid for worthy men who cannot themselves meet even the present cost to them of a Dartmouth education. In order to maintain a student body which includes a genuine representation of men from the lower income levels, a minimum of 20% of the undergraduate body must receive financial aid in the form of scholarship grants and loans. A figure of 25% would not be high, and at least one institution within our group reports that it is providing aid to 40% of this year's entering class. For the immediate future our aid program is aimed at the 20-25% range.

"Here, as elsewhere in the affairs of the College, the inflation of costs generally is directly reflected in the expenses of the College. In the year 1941-42 the average cash aid awarded an entering freshman was $395, while for the year 1949-50, simply to equalize roughly the difference in costs, we awarded an average of $700 per man.

"By next fall, when most of the returning veterans will be gone, the College faces an expense item of about•$250,000 annually for financial aid. This figure contemplates a program of aid barely commensurate with student help granted here prior to the war and is certainly seriously below the aid programs of many of our sister institutions.

"Today, substantially less than 50% of our current outlay for financial aid to needy students is covered by endowment funds for that purpose. To put it positively, our present inadequate aid program is mainly financed from unrestricted funds which otherwise would be available to meet the mounting operating costs of the institution.

"Taken from any angle—and I have only covered the main ones in this discussion—Dartmouth faces the imperative necessity of currently and permanently improving her capacity to extend financial aid to those who need it and are worthy of Dartmouth.

"In dollars that means immediate additional income of between $50,000 and $75,000 per year for scholarships. Over the long term, moreover, additional endowment of about $5,000,000 is needed to put this aspect of our finances on a sound footing."

THE FACULTY AND STAFF

The effort to maintain and strengthen Dartmouth's teaching staff has been constant and sensitive to all factors affecting this most important pillar supporting the liberal arts college.

"In July 1946," Mr. Dickey reported, "a new faculty salary policy was established based on a broad and intensive survey of all factors bearing on faculty compensation. Similarly, studies and adjustments have been made with respect to the compensation of non-teaching staff. In addition to the basic adjustments in policies which have been made with regard to salaries, the Trustees have endeavored through special lump-sum payments during the past three years to cushion somewhat the impact of the higher cost of living where it fell most severely on the families of faculty and staff. As a consequence, during 1949-50, the College will expend approximately $8,680,000 for salaries and for retirement and other benefits, as against $1,550,000 for the same items in 1940-41. This increase in compensation for personnel, in excess of $1,100,000, alone represents one-third of today's College budget.

"The net result of these policies and actions has kept Dartmouth's general ranges of compensation for faculty and staff competitive with those of other quality-minded undergraduate liberal arts institutions. On the other face of this coin is the equally certain fact that the present resources of the College are committed up to the hiltand possibly an inch or two beyond—to support what already has been done in this area. However, the equally important fact must be faced that under present conditions maintenance of this position is precarious. If the cost of living is to stabilize for the foreseeable future at present levels, our sights must ultimately be raised materially if the outstanding teacher and those associated with him in the work of the College are to be held at Dartmouth and fairly compensated.

"There are undetermined factors which preclude forecasting precisely the dollar amount of this need, but further broad progress in the College's scale of compensation would appear to require $7,000,000 to $10,000,000 of additional endowment or comparable income from other sources."

THE FACILITIES

It is painfully obvious in any discussion of Dartmouth's finances (see November issue of ALUMNI MAGAZINE) that there can be no provision in the operating budget of the College for the extension of Dartmouth's facilities. Although Dartmouth's needs in this area are of long standing, progress has been slow.

"Most of us," President Dickey said, "are all too aware that, as the phrase goes, 'brick and mortar' have little human appeal. The necessary endowment for the maintenance of 'brick and mortar' has even less appeal. Yet there are few thoughtful men who do not recognize the fact that adequate physical facilities are an indispensable aspect of strength in an institution of higher education today, and that the standard of adequacy in these matters, for better or for worse, is vastly different today than it was fifty years ago.

"In general the physical facilities of the modern Dartmouth on either a comparative or absolute basis are good. In this respect, as in others, the College is strongly and well built. The building program of the mid-twenties remedied inadequacies which went to the very heart of the institution's strength. ... In this area of need our great problem is to find the means both to supplement our excellence in those essential things where we are still weak and to maintain and from time to time to replace the constantly depreciating excellence of our other facilities.

"For some years now, the Trustees have wanted to see the physical facilities of the College strengthened in a number of ways. Foremost among these has been the long-standing inadequacy of the Wilder physics laboratories

The President informed the alumni that at its last meeting the Board of Trustees decided to take positive action and authorized the "construction of the new Physics laboratories as soon as local building conditions are propitious. The financing of this construction will be met

without any general appeal to alumni. It is anticipated that this financing will be carried out through use of that part of the Hopkins War Memorial Fund raised for that purpose, and through special gifts.

"The Trustees reviewed the Hopkins Center project and reaffirmed their previous judgment as to the proposed auditorium and related facilities being prime physical needs of the College today and in the foreseeable future. As such this project will continue to be the first priority after the Physics Building addition within the physical facilities area of need. The Board was clear, as it has been from the outset, that the magnitude of this undertaking is such that it cannot go forward until funds for the Center and for its operation are in hand. As matters stand today, this would mean raising a minimum of $2,500,000 more. As I have already indicated, other priority needs of the College preclude any change in the existing policy against a general appeal to alumni for this purpose at this time."

"Beyond these major pressing and critical plant needs," President Dickey said, "there are large and growing problems involving improvement of existing instructional facilities and accommodations for important athletic activities such as hockey and basketball. Numerous other phases of the total College plant will also require replacement or modernization within the foreseeable future. A minimum program in this area of need would require at least $5,000,000 of new funds in addition to what has already been raised toward the Physics Building and the Hopkins Center."

A principle basic to the activities of the Development Council is that funds will be sought from all possible sources. Support outside of the alumni body is being elicited from individuals, corporations and foundations. Work is now being advanced in all these areas, some of it "pioneering" for Dartmouth. While the Development Council will place great emphasis upon sources outside of the Col- lege, it will also, said President Dickey, "seek to serve and strengthen existing activities now functioning under the Alumni Council, such as the Alumni Fund and the Class Memorial Funds."

"The Alumni Fund," the President continued, "is that strategic resource which meets the prime needs of Dartmouth when they must be met now rather than tomorrow. In recent years our first need has been better pay for teachers and staff. Our progress and our plans for continuing progress in this area in large reality rest upon the success of the Alumni Fund. Moreover, until additional endowment or other current funds are obtained, the Alumni Fund is our one best promise of the possibility of progress now on the scholarship aid front. It will, in truth, always be the growing point of Dartmouth's quality. To aid that growth and above all to consolidate it so as to permit further growth—that is the task of the development program."

The Development Council is already at work. Through an orderly process of taking one step at a time it is expected that the Council will find solution for Dartmouth's financial problems. Perhaps the most significant reason for believing that the Council can do what must be done is the role which the individual alumnus, and Dartmouth's friends and parents, have played in helping the College in the past. Their loyalty, understanding, and ability to work effectively in Dartmouth's behalf constitute some of the brightest pages in the College's history. Few, if any, other colleges can point to a comparable willingness on the part of their alumni to represent the College for all purposes in the local community.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE DARTMOUTH DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL Left to nght, seated: Sidney J. F anigan,23, S.gurd S. Larmon Laurence F. Whlttemore '48h, and Harvey P. Hood '18. Standing: Prof. Wil.iam Stuart Messer John L Sullivan 21, WJbur W. Bullen 22 John R. Mason 15, John F. Meek '33, George H. Colton '35, secretary, and Sidney C. Hayward '26, director. Edward S. French 06 and Gerard Swape Jr. 29 were absent when the picture was taken at a recent New York meeting of the Council.

HIS MIND OFF COLLEGE PROBLEMS for a brief spell, President Dickey gets in some duck hunting with Rusty, his golden Labrador retriever.