Query

Is DARTMOUTH'S BUREAUCRACY EXPLODING?

ALLEGATIONS BY THE HOPKINS Institute that the number of administrators has grown dramatically in recent years seem to have some validity, according to College officials. But the question comes down to what is meant by "recent." The greatest administrative expansion occurred during the tenures of presidents past—not under the leadership of James O. Freedman.

In the past six years, the administration's slice of the budget pie has actually decreased, from 4.8 percent of operating expenses to 4.0 percent. Taken in terms of uninflated dollars, the administration budget has remained virtually flat.

The Hopkins Institute alleged the administration ate up more than a third of operating expenses. The report also lumped the last four Dartmouth administrations into a statistical blur, hidingthe factthat

Freedman's tenure has produced a reversal of the trend.

"Obviously, you can cooknuxnbers for varying effects, but the raw data—the line item in the budget—reads at around four percent," said Vice President and Treasurer Lyn Hutton. "Even if they decided to add in other, less relevant, expenses like the salaries of professors who also perform administrative tasks, I don't understand how they could have come up with these figures."

When asked how the numbers were derived, officials from the Hopkins Institute declined to divulge their methods.

The Hopkins Institute distributed a news release to several national newspapers decrying an alleged bureaucratic buildup. At least diree newspapers, The Boston Globe, The Valley News, and The Dartmouth looked into the story, but all three dailies decided not to pursue it after concluding that the report had litde merit.