Childhood's hour
An open house at Dartmouth in early September was much like any of the numerous "ribbon cutting" events at which a college president has the opportunity to officiate. There was the ribbon, there were the scissors to cut it with, there was the sparkling new facility being dedicated, and there was the cheering throng.
This ribbon cutting, though, had a few twists. The ribbon was a chain of bright red paper dolls. The scissors in President McLaughlin's hand were a pair of pink and white blunt tipped children's safety shears. The sparkling new facility was filled with blocks, dolls, toy trucks, and chairs ten inches off the floor. The cheering throng included the requisite number of College dignitaries, but fully half the guests had an average age somewhere around four years.
The event was the opening of the Dartmouth College Child Care Center, a day-care facility run and subsidized by the College. Child care has been a subject on the College's agenda since the early seventies, when a quarter time position for a child care coordinator was created. Both government and private industry, as well as other educational institutions, were beginning by that time to give support in a variety of forms to the day-care needs of citizens and employees. The federal government initiated the income tax credit for child care expenses, and employers began establishing on site day care centers, offering subsidy of day care costs as part of employee benefit packages, and making corporate grants to non-profit day care centers. Benefits to institutions which support their employees' child care needs include, it was found, enhancement of employee recruitment, increased employee retention, and reduction in absenteeism.
The College child care office began as an information resource. In 1979, an informal advisory council was created, and the College began providing rentfree space to an infant center. Over the next few years, the council was made an official College committee, its members appointed by the president, and a College wide child care survey was conducted. The survey showed availability and affordability of care as major problems, and President McLaughlin charged the council with developing a proposal to address them. The council recommended continuation of the infant center subsidy, support for other area efforts to meet child care needs, and formation of a College-run center. As a result, the College took on housing of an area-wide home-care network, and this fall opened its own center, in two rented classrooms at Hanover's elementary school. Fees for full-time care at the DCCCC range from $240 to $360, and the center can accommodate 30 three to five-year-olds who probably have little interest in such statistics and surveys but are clearly enthusiastic about the result.
