Stephen F. Smith ‘88

“‘I’m not one of these candidates to just tear down the institution and say the sky is falling,’ [Smith] said.  ‘I think the biggest problem is that [Dartmouth’s] starting to slide from being a small college of the kind Daniel Webster spoke of in terms of strong liberal arts into being a research university — what I call a cheap knockoff of Harvard.  The Wright administration has been heavily investing in research and graduate programs, and I support that as long as we continue to invest in the undergraduate [program] by reducing class sizes and investing in undergraduate teaching.’”

–The Dartmouth, Jan. 29, 2007

Notable Quotes
  • Jacob Baron ‘10

    "Administrative priorities are a big deal, and to many alumni, our current ones are all wrong.  Smith advocates a very critical revamp of the College budget.  Any candidate who does that is worth at least a second look.  Every dollar spent on construction, sustainability, or administrators to pester students about water pong is a dollar that could be spent on, say, reducing class sizes or making international admissions need-blind.  (Earmarked alumni gifts are a notable exception.)  Setting budget priorities straight is Smith's real platform, the part too often obscured by political fog.  If Smith will move to revamp the budget to 'keep Dartmouth a College' and 'invest in excellence, not bureaucracy,' well, you can't argue with that."

    The Dartmouth, Mar. 27, 2007

  • Joseph Asch ‘79

    "Though Yale has twice as many students as Dartmouth and 30 percent more undergraduates, in the 2003-2005 period, the last years for which federal figures are available, only 131 Yale students were disciplined by the university for alcohol-related violations. At Dartmouth, 754 students were so punished."

    The Dartmouth, Feb. 16, 2007

  • N. Alex Tonelli ‘06

    "Dartmouth has forgotten its identity... The commitment to providing the best liberal arts education possible is secondary to the social engineering agenda. Class sizes, curriculum quality, housing, athletics and free speech have all taken a back seat.

More notable quotes