With summer term wrapping up, Professor Barbara Will, chair of the Presidential Steering Committee for Moving Dartmouth Forward, has been hearing from many Dartmouth undergraduates with ideas about how to address the problem of extreme behavior on campus.
The comments came as committee members, called by President Phil Hanlon ’77 in April, were preparing to conclude the public-engagement phase of their work. As a result of the ongoing interest, the committee will extend its timeline and continue to gather ideas from students when they return for fall term and from the rest of the community. The committee will also continue consulting with experts and looking at how other institutions are dealing with the problems of high-risk drinking, sexual assault, and a lack of inclusivity on campus.
Read more:“We’re trying to capitalize on the surge of interest and engagement from current students,” says Will, the A. and R. Newbury Professor of English. “We want students to know going into the fall that there is still time for their voices to be heard.”
Will says the committee’s work is focused on finding sound and workable solutions to these critical problems. “Drawing on the expertise of other institutions is opening our minds to many possible means of intervention. But figuring out what will work at Dartmouth is another issue,” Will wrote in an August 14 letter to the community, posted on the Moving Dartmouth Forward website.
“Our goal, above all, is to present recommendations to President Hanlon that will work,” says Will.
Under the revised timeline, the committee’s final report will be released in January.
