Dartmouth reinstates swimming

On Wednesday afternoon, the Dartmouth men's and women's swimming teams loaded the buses, prepared to set off for a meet at Middlebury College. For all they knew, this would be one of the final meets in the history of the program -- the Dartmouth administration announced on Nov. 25 that it would terminate the men's and women's swimming programs effective at the end of the 2002-03 season because of budget cuts. But before the buses departed, the teams welcomed two unexpected guests -- Dartmouth Athletic Director JoAnn Harper and Dean of the College James Larimore. Their announcement delayed the departure, but Dartmouth junior swimmer Priscilla Zee said that Middlebury understood. Indeed, there will be a next season for Big Green swimming. And many more after that, too. "Everybody just jumped up in the air," senior captain Louis Fidel said. "People were screaming, people were laughing, people were hugging each other." After notifying the team, Dartmouth officials issued a press release on Wednesday night, and the Student Assembly then e-mailed the entire student community. "We are delighted to reach an agreement that presents an opportunity for the swimming and diving program at Dartmouth to continue, while recognizing the budget goals that Dartmouth must meet," Larimore said in a release issued by the Dartmouth Office of Public Affairs. "The College does face significant budget challenges and will take the measures it must to be fiscally responsible." The news comes after Dartmouth parents and alumni raised $2 million in pledges, which will be turned over to the college on June 30 -- this will fund the program for the next 10 years. According to the release, Larimore will fund the 2003-2004 swim season with "funds reallocated from his area." The funds raised do not represent a permanent endowment, however, and in ten years, Dartmouth will investigate other funding options. The administration reinstated the team after considerable petitioning by Dartmouth students and swim team parents. Zee said that she thinks that the administration never expected that the student body would give much regard to cutting the teams. After nearly 300 students gathered in front of James Wright's house on the evening of Nov. 25 and 700 students staged a sit-in in Parkhurst Hall on Dec. 5, it was clear that the issue had spread much further than the pool. The Student Assembly provided the integral link between student opinions on campus and college officials. Looking retrospectively, the organization may have initially swayed the administration's opinions in a Dec. 8 meeting, where representatives provided several budget initiatives that would allow the teams to survive the budget cuts. "Before that, [the administration] was adamant that there would be no compromise," Vice President for Student Life Amit Anand said. "It was directly a result of that meeting that that compromise was necessary. "The protests and rallies make the national media. But it's really a more intellectual and civil discussion that lead to results." In an ESPN radio show, sophomore swimmer Jennifer Kunkel remarked to host Trey Wingo about her feelings about not transferring, "You know how they always say, love the college, hate the institution." Now that the college has reinstated the program, however, is it possible to forgive Dartmouth for forcing the rollercoaster of emotions on 53 student-athletes and a college at large? "I have a bitter taste in my mouth because there were parts of this decision that I did not like," senior captain Paul Schned said. "However, something did need to be done in the athletic department. And I can appreciate how difficult it must have been to cut the swimming team." More than anything, the swimmers were initially worried that the administration would be stubborn about sticking to the original decision, even after presenting budget options. "I still feel the same way, that the process they came to the original decision was flawed fundamentally," Fidel said. "The fact that they listened to us and were big enough to look at their decision and realize that maybe there was something they haven't considered -- I don't have any bad blood." Despite the news on Wednesday, the teams still had to swim a meet. Maybe it served as incentive. Maybe the training trip was showing early dividends. Middlebury is a Division III school, but the Dartmouth men set 14 pool records in the win and the women won 177-118. Maybe more reassuring than the wins, however, was the response when the team arrived home around 11 p.m. Zee opened her e-mail box to see over 120 congratulatory e-mails. Schned had over 100. Not everybody who wrote them knew the intricacies of the sport of swimming, but every one supported the college athletes. Every message supported Dartmouth swimming.

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