Fiscal irresponsibility at Dartmouth College

Joe Asch provides a devastating account of the way that Dartmouth has wasted its money over the past ten years. During this period, Joe shows, administrative expenses have sky-rocketed. From 1998 until 2007, they rose by 130 percent, compared to a 27 increase in the cost of living. Then, in 2007 they rose by a whopping 40 percent (excluding the cost of defending the lawsuit by its alumni that Dartmouth foolishly provoked).

Where does this money go? Mostly, it seems to Dartmouth’s expanding bureaucracy. The number of professors has remained fairly constant, and Dartmouth students, even Juniors like my daughter, all too often must contend with wait-lists and over-subscriptions when they seek to enroll in the courses of their choice (the only problem I ever encountered along these lines in my time at Dartmouth was when, as a freshman, I audaciously tried to get into a seminar taught by visiting professor Crane Brinton).

Joe concludes that “Dartmouth has just endured 10 years of lurching incompetence and wasteful spending.” Unfortunately, he makes a pretty good prima facie case that this is so.

To comment on this post, go here.

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses