Construction progress reviewed, budgets approved
The Dartmouth Board of
Trustees, in its meetings June 9-12 on campus, reelected the chair of the
board, reviewed progress on several major facilities construction projects
currently under way and approved operating and capital budgets for the 2006
fiscal year, which begins July 1.
William
H. Neukom '64, chair of the Seattle law firm Preston Gates & Ellis, was
reelected chair of the board, and Michael Chu
'68 and Karen
Francis '84 were reelected for second terms on the board.
The trustees reviewed the renovation of Alumni
Gymnasium begun earlier this spring and approved planning funds for a new
varsity athletic building. The gymnasium project includes the renovation of the
second floor into a 14,000-square-foot recreational fitness center, the
creation of new multipurpose rooms and the addition of a handicapped accessible
entrance and an elevator, as well as infrastructure improvements to the
swimming pool and fire-safety systems. The pool will reopen in October for
varsity team use, and the entire gym project is scheduled for completion by
Feb. 1.
The board authorized funds for planning a varsity athletic facility to be
located to the east of Memorial Field. The project will include the replacement
of the spectator seating on the east side of the field and the addition of a
three-story building behind the stands. The new building will include space for
the football program, a varsity strength-training facility, offices for other
varsity teams and a classroom and meeting rooms for all teams.
(For in-depth coverage of planned improvements to the athletic
facilities, read this Dartmouth News
press release.)
Other facilities updates included:
- Kemeny Hall
and the Haldeman Center, currently under construction to house the
mathematics department and the John Sloan Dickey Center for International
Understanding, the Ethics Institute and the Fannie and Alan Leslie Center for
the Humanities. The project is scheduled for completion in Aug. 2006.
- The MacLean
Engineering Sciences Center, a Thayer School of Engineering project
scheduled for completion next spring. The new building will provide
undergraduate classroom and laboratory space, faculty offices and research
facilities to integrate teaching, research and information technology.
- The McLaughlin
Residential Cluster, a 342-bed facility on the northern section of the
campus that, together with a new residence hall being constructed on Tuck Mall,
will relieve long-standing housing shortages for undergraduate students.
Located on the former site of the Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital, the
McLaughlin facility is scheduled for opening in Sept. 2006.
- The Tuck
Mall residence hall, also scheduled for completion in Sept. 2006. This
complex will house 162 undergraduates in two buildings near Butterfield,
Russell Sage and the Gold Coast buildings.
- The South Block
redevelopment project in downtown Hanover, which will bring mixed-use
buildings for commercial and residential purposes. At completion, South Block
will include 29 units of housing and approximately 30,000 square feet of
commercial space, a portion of which will be leased to existing tenants. The
two phases of the project are set for completion in the fall of 2007.
- The Sachem Village graduate housing redevelopment in West Lebanon,
providing a net increase of 83 units and improving the existing structures. The
project will be completed in three phases over the next three years.
The trustees approved a multi-year institution-wide capital budget of $325.2
million, with about $195 million in expenditures targeted for fiscal year 2006.
The overall budget includes funds to continue the planning for the life
sciences building and a visual arts building. At its March meeting the board
had accepted the administration's plan to proceed with the life sciences
facility, which will be located near the current medical school at the north
end of the Hanover campus. The new facility will provide teaching, laboratory
and office space for the biological sciences and the medical school. The visual
arts building will provide space for the departments of Studio Art and Film and Television Studies on
Lebanon Street just east of the Hopkins
Center.
The board approved a fiscal year 2006 College operating budget of $355.9
million, including $45.7 million for financial aid to support Dartmouth's
need-blind admissions policy, which meets 100 percent of each student's
demonstrated need for all four years of undergraduate study. The operating
budget for the entire institution, including the Dartmouth Medical School, the Thayer School and the Tuck School, will be $629.4
million.
The trustees also approved a number of new endowed professorships, named
professorships, promotions to full professor, promotions with tenure and new
appointments to the faculty.
In other business, the board received reports from its working groups on
academic excellence and alumni relations. The academic group has worked closely
with Provost Barry Scherr and
Dean of the Arts and Sciences
Faculty Carol Folt on faculty and curricular issues, and the alumni
relations group has met with alumni leadership and worked with Vice President
for Alumni Relations Stanley Colla,
Vice President for Development Carolyn Pelzel and Vice President for Public Affairs William Walker.
The board accepted a recommendation by Dean of the College James
Larimore that the moratorium on the addition of new single-sex, residential and
selective organizations the trustees had adopted in 2001 be lifted. The action
acknowledges the progress made by the Coed, Fraternity
and Sorority System over the past five years in meeting new standards of
excellence, and recognizes recent requests for a new sorority. The board vote
returns to the Dean the responsibility for determining whether new
organizations should be granted recognition.
The Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility communicated to the board
a resolution expressing its concern about the mass murder of civilians carried
out by the Khartoum regime and the Janjaweed militia in the Darfur region of
Sudan, and called on Dartmouth to take steps to influence corporations doing
business in Sudan to pressure the Sudanese government to discontinue the
genocide in Darfur. In addition, the resolution suggested a study to assess the
range of potential actions that Dartmouth could take, including divestment in
corporations complicit in the genocide in Sudan. The trustees thanked the
advisory committee for its report and the student Darfur Action Group for
bringing this issue to their attention, and asked the advisory committee to
prepare a report to enable the Investment Committee of the board to take up
this matter as soon as possible.
Following the meeting, members of the board participated in various
commencement activities, including Class Day exercises, the baccalaureate
service, various professional school ceremonies and the main commencement
ceremony.
By ROLAND ADAMS
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