Council on Diversity report

The President's ad hoc Council on Diversity submitted its final report and 13 recommendations to President McLaughlin, the Student Assembly, and the Executive Committee of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in May. The moratorium of January 24—25, 1986, generated some 83 proposals concerning diversity and tolerance at Dartmouth, and the ad hoc council was created and charged with examining those issues. Representatives from various student groups, the faculty, and the administration comprised the council which met weekly in April and May. In its 13 recommendations, the council attempted to address those issues raised by the moratorium that it regarded as "most pressing." It quoted the McLane Report, submitted in 1968 by the Trustees' ad hoc Committee on Equal Opportunity, stating: "Only with a College containing a broad representation of backgrounds, ideas, and experience could students (and everyone else) gain an understanding that diverse perspectives are an integral part of both the academic and social aspects of education." "The truth is," stated the Council's report, "that all will benefit from the creation of a Dartmouth community that can not only live with but relish its pluralism."

The report's recommendations included a call for better crisis management techniques, more imaginative ways to acquaint freshmen with the range of opportunities at Dartmouth, and more effective communications with alumni as to on-campus developments. Recommendation 11 calls for a review of the College's alma mater, "Men of Dartmouth," and its appropriateness given the advent of coeducation. President McLaughlin has asked the Alumni Council to study the advisibility of a change in the alma mater and to report its findings to the president. Other constituent groups of the College, including students and faculty, also will advise the president.