The Future as Past

Interdisciplinary studies • cooperation • male-female ratio

Since I concluded my previous report by making a number of predictions about the future, I owe it to readers to present my score-card as a prognosticator.

First of all, I predicted that the trend of expanding interdisciplinary academic efforts would continue. This has indeed been the case. In the undergraduate College, interdisciplinary course offerings have reached a level of importance that induced the faculty to vote a change in the distributive requirement; in the future any student will be permitted to substitute an interdisciplinary course for one of the traditional divisional requirements. I predicted that some of the then-existing efforts would be abandoned and others would be added. Such experimentation is crucial for the health of a lively institution. The old Black Studies Program had several problems. Thanks to the imaginative guidance of Professor William Cook of the English Department, it has been replaced by a sig- nificantly stronger and broader program in African and Afro- American studies, which has the support of a number of out- standing senior faculty members. This program has passed its final review and has become a "permanent" program. ..... . .

An interdisciplinary program that has enjoyed continued suc- cess is our remarkable offering in Native American studies. It is remarkable in that it built its strength around joint appointments with well-established departments. Under the able leadership of Michael Dorris, an anthropologist, it has both grown into a pro- gram of immense popularity on campus and drawn national at- tention. A survey of all Native American Studies programs in the country identified ours as a model for others to emulate. I have a strong feeling that Eleazar Wheelock would be very proud of today's Dartmouth.

In my previous report I identified one program that I per- sonally wanted to see added to the curriculum. It was to be a broadly based area of study designed to acquaint students with the complexities of formulating and resolving policy issues. I am happy to report that the Policy Studies Program is in its third year and enjoying enormous popularity on campus. Under the leadership of Frank Smallwood '5l, professor of government, Donella Meadows, associate pro- fessor of environmental studies, and Jonathan Brownell, director of the Public Affairs Center, a program has been developed that draws upon all segments of the general faculty of the College. It is one of the very few inter- disciplinary majors offered by Dartmouth, and both the pre- requisites to the major and the core courses draw upon the social sciences. While the core courses deal with the philosophical and methodological issues of policy studies, each student must have a concentration in a specific area where important policy issues have been raised. In addition, each major must complete a sig- nificant project taken from a cur- rent problem at the local, state, or national level.

The newest entry among the interdisciplinary programs is the Women's Studies Program. It helps to fill an important vacuum in a curriculum which, like those at most other institutions, tended to be disproportionately male-oriented in its presentation of many subjects. This program will present important electives for Dartmouth students both female and male.

Tribute should be paid to Gregory Prince, who, in his role as associate dean of the faculty, has done much to encourage the growth of interdisciplinary programs.

I was also correct in predicting increasing cooperation among the four faculties of Dartmouth College. All three of the professional schools are now involved in a significant way in enriching the undergraduate curriculum. The new four-year curriculum of the Medical' School will open up time in the final year of the M.D. program for medical students to take electives in the undergraduate College. There have been a number of cooperative efforts among the professional schools; perhaps the one most deserving special mention is the highly successful program in biomedical engineering. The largest-scale effort ot cooperation is between the Medical School and the under- graduate College. Thanks to two generous grants from the Com- monwealth Fund, several areas are being explored for enriching the curriculum of both schools and at the same time realizing economies through shared faculty. The single most successful outcome so far has been the program in biochemistry, which plays an equally important role in both schools. Several other ef- forts for sharing of faculty, courses, and joint research projects are well on their way.

1 predicted important new long-range efforts at Tuck School and the Medical School as these two schools were wrestling with their future destinies. I have reported on developments in both of these areas elsewhere in this report. The one point on which my predictions were faulty was my failure to foresee a switch from a three-year to a four-year curriculum in the Medical School.

My predictions dealt at some length with the question of the male-female ratio at Dartmouth. While I was right in predicting that someday sex would no longer be a criterion for admission, the "someday" is here today as we admit the class of 1984 our first class in which sex will no longer be a factor in admission. I pointed out that it would take a not very drastic change to go from a 3-to-l to a 2-to-l ratio; indeed, the class of 1983 has reached the latter ratio. As the reputation spreads that Dart- mouth College is a good place for the education of talented women students, the ratio will gradually change even further. I have made no secret of the fact that I firmly believe that Dart- mouth is made a better place by the presence of women students. Furthermore, as the number of college-age students declines throughout the 1980s, and hence the competition for outstanding students becomes more intense, our decision to become coeducational will prove to have been absolutely essential for maintaining the quality of the College.

I said in my last report that I believed that the size of the College was "just right." I predicted either no change in the size of the College or a very slow increase. 1 can now make this state- ment even stronger. The maximum increase 1 can see in the period 1975-1990 is a 5 per cent increase, by far the slowest in- crease within the past century. Nearly half of this will come in the Medical School, for reasons stated previously. There has been a minute increase in the undergraduate body as year-round opera- tion achieved its full effect and as we maximized the opportunity for foreign study. We are adding a very small graduate program in computer science, and there may be a modest increase in the enrollment of Tuck School. No other increases are contemplated at this time.

I expressed the hope that we will see very little new construc- tion in the future. The Campaign for Dartmouth has put high priority on the renovation and better utilization of existing buildings. The one major structure to be added is the Hood Museum. And there is still some debate as to whether needed ad- ditional academic space can best be achieved by the renovation of Webster Hall or through the addition of a new building.

My "far-out" idea that someday Dartmouth College might want to consider a law school was firmly vetoed by the Board of Trustees. Considering the significant increase in the complexity of the institution in the last decade, this has proved to be a very wise decision.

I would like to end this section by exposing the major flaw in my crystal ball. I said: "Many would say that our number one problem for the remainder of this decade will be financial. But as the nation works its way out of its present economic problems, the College's situation will automatically improve." I went on to say that, after a period of rapid change, I was looking forward to a period of consolidation; that as our financial difficulties cleared up, I hoped that we would concentrate on the quality of educa- tion. While some consolidation has taken place and we have given considerable attention to the quality of education, the nation has clearly not worked itself out of its economic problems. Money still remains the number-one problem of the institution.

A computer-driven graphics plotter in operation at Kiewit.

Athletic solitude in the afternoon shadows of Memorial Field.