DARTMOUTH TO ADMIT WOMEN

Trustees Approve Year-Round Operation Unanimously,Vote by Substantial Majority To Admit Women in 1972

The historic news called for a rare banner headline in Monday morning's issue of The Dartmouth.

come up with a plan that both helps the institution financially and allows one to lower the cost of education for students. This certainly was one of many features that made the plan attractive to the Board, but I don't want to over- emphasize it because there are many others that the Board found very attractive.

Do you find that the administrativeset-up within the Dean of the Collegeoffice is going to be such that therewill be two separate but equal deans, adean of men and a dean of women, oris this something you are going to haveto work out during the day and a halfretreat?

No. I really have no idea where we are going to come out on the administrative arrangements, but frankly I have not myself considered that as a possibility. But I don't want to prejudge anything until we have discussed it. Just speaking for myself, I have never considered that possibility.

Normally, Dartmouth's deadline foradmissions is January Ist for applications. Will that be extended for womencandidates this year?

That's something we will have to talk about at the Minary Center. It obviously will depend on what happens at the Admissions Office here. We have had a very large number of inquiries from women who indicated an interest in applying. They have all been told that the decision would be made at this time, that we could not forecast how the decision would come out. They will be notified by mail just as soon as possible about the favorable decision of the Board of Trustees. I think that is an administrative detail that basically Mr. Chamberlain, the Director of Admissions, will have to make. I will certainly support his recommendations on this.

Has it been decided how manywomen students will be admitted to thefreshman class?

No. This is the main thing I don't want to talk about until we have had a chance to sit down at the Minary Center to figure out just what the implications of all the Board votes are. For example, what is the effect of a non-full parity summer term in 1972 on the freshman class for next year? I think I can make excellent predictions on what will happen four years from now. It is the first two years that are the most difficult to predict.

In your opening remarks you referred to the appointment of a womansenior administrative officer. Would thattype of appointment be in your office?

I do not want to commit myself on that because clearly one first has to identify a distinguished person. If we are fortunate enough to find such a person, she will have a major say-so on the exact arrangements. The caliber person I am talking about would not accept a position that has been absolutely prescribed for her. Just to make it clear; when I say "senior level" I mean someone, let us say, at the vice presidential level. Just to put it in context, we now have five officers of the College who are at the vice presidential level and they are the Dean of the Faculty; the Provost; Vice President Colton in charge of development and alumni affairs; the Treasurer, Mr. Young; and Vice President Meek. So we are talking of an appointment at this level. But I would like to leave myself some flexibility of negotiation. Presumably the precise responsibilities would depend on the background, experience and interest of the person we succeed in recruiting for this position.

How important a part will capitalgifts play in the successful implementation of The Dartmouth Plan?

As I indicated, there are a number of items on the list that Cresap, McCormick and Paget indicated as desirable if specific gifts can be obtained. I think it is in this area where capital gifts could play a major role. If two or three major capital gifts come in from men or women who feel that these new plans are exciting, they could contribute considerably, not to the success so much as to the quality of the program that we will be offering.

Will non-Dartmouth students still beable to enroll at Dartmouth during thesummer under The Dartmouth Plan?

That is the present intention, though presumably we will set tuition rates comparable to Dartmouth tuition, and I am sure that in Admissions we will want to be assured that the students who will come are of a caliber comparable to Dartmouth students. On the other hand, we have been fortunate to attract many students of that caliber in the past and I hope that with a much stronger summer term. we will have an even easier time doing this.

You had mentioned before that the12-College Exchange program would becontinued. Do you know whether thatwill be continued at about the samelevel as it is now with 150 womentransfer students. Also, will the exchange program for up to 200 studentsthat had been announced with Wellesley College be continued?

We have had some discussions with Wellesley College and they are interested in a significant expansion of the present level. I think we now recognize that an exchange at the level of 200 is not realistic, for many reasons. On the exact level of the exchange program, I would rather wait until after the Minary meeting because the first thing we have to come up with is a realistic guess as to the possible range of the number of places available on campus next year for the combination of exchange program, transfer students, and freshman students. Then we will be able to make a decision as to what level these should be on. In view of promises we have made to the presidents of some of the institutions, particularly those from whom the majority of our women exchange students come, we would hope to continue the exchange program at a substantial level.

During the discussion about thestudent vote on the CYRO proposal,one of the arguments brought upagainst year-round operation and coeducation was that after a plan like that isimplemented, there is no way to get outof it if it is proven a failure. Do you seeCYRO and The Dartmouth Plan assomething that Dartmouth is stuck withnow, or is it easy to slip out of if it doesprove a financial failure?

I think the Board recognized that they have made two irreversible decisions, short of a catastrophe. If the entire economy of the country collapses, none of us may be here. But barring some absolutely unforeseen eventuality, the Board took these steps with the full understanding that these are irreversible decisions. But to comment on whether we are stuck with year-round operation—I would say yes, we are stuck with it, but I think we are stuck with it in the same sense in which we are stuck with a very distinguished faculty.

What effect will year-round operationhave-on the College's continuing education program?

I have discussed this with the Director of Continuing Education and with his academic staff and they hope that it will have an extremely positive effect. We know from Alumni College that many participants in Alumni College wish that there were a significant number of Dartmouth undergraduates on campus when they come here. We hope the fact that there now will be many Dartmouth undergraduates present during the summer will give new opportunities for interchange of ideas among undergraduates, alumni and other participants in both the Dartmouth Institute and the Alumni College.

Specifically, if you meant whether it will in any way interfere with it, the answer is no. All our estimates are that there will be at most 1500 undergraduates here in the summer, which still leaves half of our capacity free for the continuing education programs.

Moderator: Let me thank President Kemeny for sharing his news with the students and academic community first of all. And apparently now we are about to go out and spread it to the rest of the country, and thanks also to the student panel—John McPherson, Richard Zuckerman, and Jack Wheeler.