Response: The Real Women's Issues

The Ernest Martin Hopkins Institute's advertisement titled, "Women's Issues at Dartmouth College," which appeared in the March issue, is inaccurate and misleading. I find it regrettable that an organization of alumni attempts to draw attention away from the outstanding accomplish- ments of women at Dartmouth by misrepresenting the facts. The positive energy which characterizes women's scholarship, academic programs, athletic achievements, social organizations, and admissions recruitment efforts is impressive. Dartmouth women grow stronger every year. Let me provide some facts:

1. Women's academic achievement is stressed and sup- ported, and women students are highly satisfied with their education. Research I conducted on the class of 1988 sup- ports this statement. Women students by the score con- tinue to move into the nation's premiere graduate programs in medicine, business and law. The president of the class of 1988, Karen Avenoso, won the first Rhodes Scholarship that Dartmouth has received since 1985. Cor- porate and secondary-school recruiters flock to campus to find outstanding women candidates. Academic offerings at Dartmouth on the history and sociology of women are among the nation's finest. A panel of independent, out- side reviewers evaluated the Women's Studies Program at Dartmouth (the first such program in the previously all male Ivies) and rated it outstanding. Forty-eight faculty members from 25 different departments teach within this program, which has now acquired an extraordinary na- tional and international reputation.

2. What the Hopkins Institute terms as "feminist hous- ing" at Dartmouth is in reality a formal academic affinity program. The College has developed academic affinity programs to provide small groups of students who meet specific academic criteria (for example, prior completion of a required number of courses in one area of inquiry) an opportunity to live and work together while they com- plete a senior honors thesis, prepare for language study abroad, or focus on a major. Fifty-five undergraduate stu- dents live in seven academic affinity programs—including Asian Studies, Education, French, German, Russian, Spanish and Women's Studies—within the College's ten residential clusters. The Women Studies Program's aca- demic affinity consists of six students. Men and women are eligible for all of these academic programs.

3. The Women's Resource Center at Dartmouth (we are the last of the Ivies to establish such a center) is a modest program designed to provide the Dartmouth community an opportunity to investigate, identify, and ultimately meet the needs of the women, men, and families of our institution. The Center's focus is women's issues: wom- en's achievement, education, literature, careers, social concerns, children, marriages, and health issues. The Cen- ter is not "posh." The space and budget are small. As dean of Residential Life, I was asked to assist in the prep- aration of a modest, temporary place for the Center to begin its charge. The Women's Resource Center's arrival, 16 years after the start of coeducation, is not "frivolous"; it is overdue. As a resource for all members of our com- munity, it will help to support Dartmouth's academic mis- sion. All will benefit; it is not a center for "injured groups," as the Hopkins Institute suggest. Hopefully it will serve as a resource for everyone in our community, including those who may feel injured.

4. Recruitment initiatives which target women students are not designed to "rectify gender inequities" but to en- sure that Dartmouth sees and has the opportunity to admit the strongest women applicants in the national and in- ternational pools of high school scholars. The initiatives are designed to offset the misleading information that women candidates receive from individuals who hear or read slanted information about the College—information produced by misinformed organizations such as the Hop- kins Institute. These efforts are designed to attract the finest minds and people to our applicant pool and class, not to pressure the admissions committee to "overlook more qualified males." Ivy League colleges must compete in order to admit the best women candidates. The classes of 1986 and 1987 at Dartmouth were 43 percent female. The class of 1991 is 38 percent female. Dartmouth would like to improve its retention of outstanding women can- didates and repeat the successes it experienced in 1982 and 1983.

5. The majority of women are not "polarized" by issues presented by feminist organizations and other women's groups. Women as well as men of every faith, class, race, socioeconomic group, and political persuasion come to- gether weekly to discuss shared concerns at Women's Is- sues League meetings at the College. Approximately 565 women students bond as sisters in nine sororities. There are two women's senior societies at Dartmouth. A Wom- en's Caucus draws together women students, faculty, ad- ministrators and staff on a monthly basis. A women's publication introduces a feminist voice into campus-wide discussions and debates.

A few unidentified people have offended our commu- nity with symbolic acts (like tossing tampons) which mir- ror the sexist behavior they have witnessed or experienced on our campus. This behavior is no less reprehensible than the actions which have prompted it. Ninety-nine percent of the women and men at Dartmouth are not engaged in such behavior. Most are working very hard to examine, review and correct policies, rituals, and practices that do not serve and strengthen our pluralistic community. As an example, Beta Theta Pi fraternity, which was sanc- tioned for a sexist event at a party during winter term, has organized a cooperative effort with the members of Sigma Kappa sorority to provide educational programs on gender issues for all fraternal, coed and sororal organi- zations at the College. Strong women's organizations pro- vide balance and offer the promise of stronger coeducational programs campus-wide.

I hope this letter provides some clarification to alumni and alumnae as well as an insider's view of "Women's Issues at Dartmouth." Dartmouth is not perfect. It can do a great deal more to celebrate the presence of women, improve their status, and recognize their outstanding con- tributions to the institution's improving position among the nation's top colleges. There have been more than 200 classes of Dartmouth sons. The 16 classes of Dartmouth daughters have made an enduring mark on the College's historic role in American higher education. It is time to congratulate these women—not to misrepresent them.

ACTING DEAN OF RESIDENTIAL LIFE