Recruiting Alumni Would Be A Serious Mistake

Our alter ego's argument is hoist on its own petard. It reveals the very provincialism that too many alumni hold toward Dartmouth. Keep in mind that the last person to use that Hopkins quotation in public (and he used it convincingly) was current President James O. Freedman, a man who has spent more time at Dartmouth than most alumni.

Like other "outsiders" who become Hanoverians, President Freedman understands the Dartmouth of today; too many alumni know and love a College that exists in the past. They serve a memory, not an institution. Their motives may be pure, but in order to do good for the place they must first adjust their perspectives.

And as for the motives of non-alumni, since when did academicians work for a paycheck? A tenured Ivy League professor in the humanities with ten years' experience, a person at the peak of a demanding profession, makes a salary somewhere in the mid to upper forties. If paychecks were their chief motivation they'd do better as sanitation workers.

But are we really talking about motives here? When our partner talks about alumni as the College's memory and conscience, isn't he really talking about alumni ownership? Alumni have long felt a proprietary interest in alma mater, and that interest has worked to Dartmouth's benefit. But when they attempt to control the institution, to direct what's taught and decide what students do with their schedules, then alumni become more than an important support for the College; they become a golden ball and chain.

Alumni are not the only ones who know and love Dartmouth's traditions. There are many zealous converts, graduates of other schools, who teach and administer at the College. Example: among adults who lead freshman trips, a majority are non-graduates.

Dartmouth should try to recruit the very best candidates for all of its positions, while trying to get a professional workforce that better reflects the makeup of society. Dartmouth is rightly going after more women and minorities, groups who are underrepresented among the alumni body. If the candidates Dartmouth most wants include graduates, fine. But a program that recruits alumni would be a serious mistake, one that would diminish the quality of education for the College's most important constituency: its students.