Demands of Dartmouth Swimmers Reasonable

To the editors:

After reading the “Swimming Against the Tide,” I would like to take a chance to respond as someone who is actually informed about the issues (Notebook, Dec. 13). On Nov. 26, Dartmouth administration called in its swimming and diving coaches at 8:00 a.m. and informed them that their program had been cut. An hour later, they called in both the men’s and women’s swim teams, informed them of their elimination, and requested that they go quietly. If this were truly “a last ditch effort” by administrators, they disguised it well.

The students and swimmers do not consider this part of an “embittered vendetta,” whatever Holoch may argue. They realize that the administration must make temporary budget cuts. However, Dartmouth chose to eliminate two whole teams rather than make a 2.7 percent cut to all teams, which is a nominal amount. Contrary to what Holoch suggests, there is no correlation that budget cuts last year contributed to sub-par athletic seasons. However, money is not an issue for Dartmouth anymore. The students and swimmers have raised enough money to have the swim team endowed forever. Harvard’s swim teams similarly operate almost entirely from alumni donations. As for the Dartmouth facilities, they do not require $20 million in renovations. This is how much it would cost to build a pool like Harvard’s or Princeton’s that can host an Ivy Championship. But only two schools in the Ivy League have this capacity. Darmouth’s pool does have two 50-meter lanes, making it better than either Columbia or Cornell’s pools. Should these school cut their programs too?

And while Darmouth’s teams are perrenially in the lower half of Ivy League swimming, they do produce phenomenal swimmers. Dartmouth sent a women to NCAA’s (which is more competitive than Olympic Trials) in 1996. Harvard, although we always finish in the top of the Ivy League, hasn’t sent a woman since 1992. In conclusion, I would like to address the one point of Holoch’s article I do agree with: “Being a student athlete is a privilege, not a right.” It is an honor to use your ability and hard work to represent your school with pride. That honor was stripped from the Dartmouth men and women. And while budgetary concerns caused the elimination of the programs, it is the stubborness of the administration that is preventing its reinstatement.

Allison D.J. Bates '05

Dec. 13, 2002

The writer is a member of the Harvard Women’s Swimming and Diving Team.