Some Dartmouth College alums think they may have found a viable scapegoat for the Big Green's failing 1-9 football record this past fall.
On Dec. 10, the Valley News, a local newspaper based near Dartmouth, published excerpts from a 2000 letter by Dartmouth Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Karl Furstenberg lauding Swarthmore College's decision to eliminate its football program.
"You are exactly right in asserting that football programs represent a sacrifice to the academic quality and diversity of entering first-year classes," Furstenberg wrote to Swarthmore President Alfred Bloom. He added that football is "antithetical to the mission of academic institutions such as ours."
Shockwaves caused by Furstenburg's remarks were contained within the Dartmouth administration until a confidential source leaked the letter to the Valley News. According to Donald Mahler, sports editor for the Valley News, Dartmouth President James Wright was aware of the letter when it was originally sent - a Dartmouth alum who sat on the Swarthmore board responsible for eliminating the football program informed him.
Mahler told The Herald he justified his decision to print the letter because it did not seem private. It was printed on Furstenburg's official Dartmouth letterhead and focused on football, Mahler said.
"When that comes in, it's news," Mahler said. "I think what's critical here is if you replace 'athlete' with a minority - a woman, an African-American, a religious group - then how does it read and what would people think? And that's what makes the letter difficult and indefensible."
Though the letter appeared to be private, an anonymous source in the administration told the Dartmouth Review, an independent student publication, that Bloom allegedly intended to use it to buttress his argument against the Swarthmore football program.
After the letter became public, Dartmouth's Public Affairs Office began working overtime to prevent any fallout, issuing several apologies from Furstenberg and Dartmouth President James Wright, Mahler said. In a statement, Furstenberg assured the Dartmouth community of his commitment to implement a just admissions policy and denied any responsibility for the football team's almost decade-long torpor.
"That letter was a lapse in professional judgment," Wright wrote. "I very much regret the hurt that the dean's statements have caused within the Dartmouth community."
While Wright's response was limited to a public reprimand, others have called for Furstenburg's resignation. An incensed group of Dartmouth alums led by Bill Wellstead, Dartmouth Class of 1963, claim that the slump in Dartmouth's football performance since winning the 1996 Ivy League Championship is due to more than entropy.
Recruiting is more difficult than ever, Wellstead told The Herald, primarily due to a rise in Dartmouth's minimum Academic Index, a composite of a prospective student's GPA, SAT scores and class rank. Dartmouth's A.I. hovers slightly below those of Harvard, Princeton and Yale universities, but the other four schools in the Ivy League are substantially less demanding, Wellstead said. Combined with Furstenberg's inflammatory remarks, he said, Dartmouth may not be the most attractive football school in the league.
"It's difficult for the coaches, because there are only a select few who are good enough to play and smart enough to get in. Student athletes who should be coming to Dartmouth are going to other schools," he said. "Does the dean of admissions have something to do with it? We think so, but we can't prove it."
Rather than dwell on Furstenberg's letter, however, Wellstead and other alums plan to channel their ire into constructive action, he said. This includes making donations towards Dartmouth's $1.3 billion Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience, an initiative that includes improvements to the athletic program, and continuing to advocate for Dartmouth athletics through an Internet blog run by Wellstead.
Despite its recent losses, Dartmouth football still has 17 titles, leading the Ivy League. In hope of reinvigorating the program, Head Coach John Lyons was fired at the end of November, soon after the close of the season, according to the Review. Lyons was replaced by former coach Buddy Teevens, who had recently been fired by Stanford. The administration also committed to refurbishing the college's athletic facilities.
Yet, these positive changes seem to be overshadowed by Furstenburg's remarks, especially in wake of an almost winless season, Wellstead said.
"When the dean is that explicit in a letter to a friend of his and then comes back to say this doesn't impact how I do my job, that tends to beg a question. It tends to test our naïveté," Wellstead said. "But once again, although many former athletes are upset by it, I understand that the dean is going to remain in his job and there's no sense fighting that issue."
There are those who have not spurned Furstenberg, citing the triumphant 1996 championship football team that was comprised mostly of students admitted under Furstenberg's watch.
"I know Karl (Furstenberg) very well, and I think that he's a very good director of admissions," said Brown Director of Admission Michael Goldberger. "I tend to believe that what he might have said in a private letter has little to do with how he does his job. They're making a big deal out of almost nothing."
