Dartmouth College

For other uses of the name Dartmouth, see Dartmouth.

The College

Dartmouth was made the ninth colonial college when it was given a royal charter by King George III in 1769, mostly as a result of the efforts of Eleazar Wheelock, a Puritan minister, and his patron, Royal Governor John Wentworth.

Related Topics:
Colonial college - Royal charter - King George III - 1769 - Eleazar Wheelock - Puritan

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Dartmouth's original purpose was to provide for the christianization, instruction, and education of "Youth of the Indian Tribes in this Land...and also of English Youth and any others." Ministers Nathaniel Whittaker and Samson Occom (an early Native American clergyman) raised funds for the college in England through an English trust among whose benefactors and trustees were prominent English statemen, including King George III's Secretary of State for the Colonies in North America, William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth, for whom Dartmouth College is named. The fundraising was meant to support Wheelock's ongoing Connecticut institution of the 1740s, Moor's Indian Charity School (chartered 1754), but Wheelock instead applied the funds to the establishment of Dartmouth College, the ninth and last colonial college. Classes began in 1770 and the College granted its first degrees in 1771. Dejected and betrayed, Samson Occom went on to form his own community of New England Indians called Brothertown in Oneida country in upstate New York (currently known as Deansboro). The Brothertown Indians were displaced yet again in the early 1800s to what is today Wisconsin.

Related Topics:
Nathaniel Whittaker - Samson Occom - Secretary of State for the Colonies - William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth - Connecticut - Colonial college - Brothertown

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In 1819, Dartmouth College was the subject of the historic Dartmouth College case, in which the State of New Hampshire attempted to amend the College's royal charter to make the school a public university. An institution called Dartmouth University occupied the college buildings and began operating in Hanover, though the College continued teaching classes in rented rooms nearby. Daniel Webster, an alumnus of the class of 1801, presented the College's case to the Supreme Court, which found the amendment of Dartmouth's charter to be an illegal impairment of a contract by the state and prevented New Hampshire from taking over the college. Webster concluded his peroration with the words,

Related Topics:
1819 - Dartmouth College case - New Hampshire - Dartmouth University - Daniel Webster - Alumnus - 1801 - Supreme Court

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: It is, Sir, as I have said, a small college. And yet there are those who love it.

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Dartmouth's motto is Vox Clamantis in Deserto, "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness" (a reference to John the Baptist as well as to the college's location on what was once the frontier of European settlement). The school's color is "Dartmouth Green", a forest green. The sports teams go by the name "Big Green", a nickname dating to the early twentieth century. The teams' former mascot, the Dartmouth Indian, no longer is used, though proposals for a new mascot have included one devised by the college humor magazine, the Jack-O-Lantern: the notorious 'Keggy' is a lively beer keg who makes frequent appearances at college sporting events and has received unofficial approval by the student government. Dartmouth was a men's college until 1972, when women were first admitted as full-time students and undergraduate degree candidates.

Related Topics:
John the Baptist - Indian - 1972

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At about the same time as coeducation, Dartmouth adopted its unique "D Plan", a schedule of year-round operation that allowed an increase in the enrollment (with the addition of women) without enlarging campus accommodations. The year is divided into four terms corresponding with the seasons; students are required to be in residence for at least one summer during their college career, and spend at least one autumn, winter, or spring term on leave. One wag described it as a way to put 4,000 students into 3,000 beds. Although new dormitories have been built since, the number of students has also increased and the D Plan remains in effect.

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Dartmouth is governed by a Board of Trustees. The board includes the college President (ex officio), the state Governor (ex officio), seven other (Charter) trustees elected by the board itself, and seven (Alumni) trustees nominated for board appointment by members of the Association of Alumni of Dartmouth College, a body created in 1854 that represents over 60,000 alumni. (Specifically, trustee candidates may be nominated by an alumni council or by alumni petition, then an election is held, and finally the winner is, by longstanding agreement, appointed to the board by all Trustees. Several recent petition candidates have become Trustees in this manner.)

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The centerpiece of today's Dartmouth College is its undergraduate college of roughly 4,200 students, constituting one of the most selective undergraduate institutions in the world. Throughout the most recent admissions cycle, 12,757 students applied for 1,050 places in the class, and only 16.8% of applicants were admitted. The median SAT score of enrolled students in the freshman class is 1470, of whom 88% were in the top ten percent of their high school class. Alongside the undergraduate college lie a small graduate school and three professional institutes, the Dartmouth Medical School (1797), the Thayer School of Engineering (1867), and the Tuck School of Business (1900). With these graduate programs, conventional American usage would accord Dartmouth the label of "university"; but for historical and nostalgic reasons (such as the Dartmouth College case) the school uses "Dartmouth College" for the entire institution.

Related Topics:
Dartmouth Medical School - 1797 - Thayer School of Engineering - 1867 - Tuck School of Business - 1900 - Dartmouth College case

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Famous graduates and students include US Senator Daniel Webster, Chief Justice of the United States Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, Theodor Seuss Geisel (renowned children's author Dr. Seuss), poet Robert Frost, and Vice President Nelson Rockefeller of New York.

Related Topics:
US Senator - Daniel Webster - Chief Justice of the United States - Salmon P. Chase - Ohio - Dr. Seuss - Robert Frost - Vice President - Nelson Rockefeller - New York

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The screenplay for the film Animal House was cowritten by Chris Miller '63 and is based loosely on a series of 1974 fictional stories he wrote about his fraternity days at Dartmouth, including "The Night of the Seven Fires." In a CNN interview, John Landis said the movie was "based on Chris Miller's real fraternity at Dartmouth," Alpha Delta. In an interview with The Dartmouth, Miller said that at least one incident in the film—one in which a Delta Tau Chi brother skis down the stairs as the band plays "Shout"—occurred at an Alpha Delta party at Dartmouth. The names of "Otter" and "Pinto" may be found in the yearbooks of the period, such as the 1963 Aegis. The movie was filmed at the University of Oregon.

Related Topics:
Film - Animal House - 1974 - John Landis - University of Oregon

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In January, 2001, two Dartmouth professors, Half Zantop (b. January 24, 1938)

Related Topics:
2001 - Half Zantop - January 24 - 1938

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and Suzanne Zantop (b. August 12, 1945), were found stabbed to death in their Etna, New Hampshire home. After an intense nationwide manhunt, two teenagers from Chelsea, Vermont, Robert Tulloch and James Parker, were arrested in Newcastle, Indiana and extradited back to New Hampshire. Both defendants eventually pled guilty to murder charges and were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Related Topics:
Suzanne Zantop - August 12 - 1945 - Etna, New Hampshire - Chelsea, Vermont - Robert Tulloch - James Parker - Newcastle, Indiana

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Presidents of Dartmouth College (the Wheelock Succession)

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