Still on Course

Last year, 25 years after founding the Tucker Foundation "for the purpose of supporting and furthering the moral and spiritual work and influence of Dartmouth College," the trustees requested an outside review of the foundation's activities, which generally fall within the areas of chaplaincy, social-service internships and fellowships, Outward Bound, and the ABC program. The visiting committee's report, described as "both a source of encouragement as well as an 'early warning signal,'" was submitted to the board in November.

The encouragement was for the foundation's contribution of fostering crosscultural experiences, critical thinking, value clarification, a sense of college community, alternative living situations, community service, and a commitment to service vocations. The warning was for the foundation to "establish a mechanism for evaluation and planning" for future allocation of increasingly scarce resources, to better coordinate fund-raising with the College, to pursue alternative outside funding, and to increase its local programming and "presence" specifically efforts to further faculty understanding of the foundation's purposes.

Overall, the committee was impressed. It praised Tucker's accessibility, activities, and staff, and in particular it praised Dean Warner Traynham '57: "He incarnates, perhaps more than he knows, the definition of the Tucker Foundation, and has the opportunity and potential of 'pervading' this campus with the 'moral and spiritual traditions' of this college." It also recommended that he be regularly included in College policy discussions "at the highest level."

The Tucker Foundation's "most persuasive publicity" is changed lives, the report added. "The experiences of students shared with others tell the Tucker story best."