Daniel Webster famously said of Dartmouth that it is “a small college. And yet, there are those who love it.” Many have shared his high regard for Dartmouth College through the years, but would love endure if the college of their affection were medium-sized instead?

Dartmouth raises that question with its recent announcement that it will study boosting its undergraduate numbers by 10 to 25 percent. Bringing it from the current 4,310 to a possible 5,300 is no small potatoes. It could be a very big deal not just for the college, but also for Hanover and the Upper Valley. The first thought that may come to mind for community members — “Where will they put them?” — reflects the reality that downtown Hanover is already densely packed, and significant college growth could squeeze things further. Some graduate students were displaced because of a lack of dorm space in the last school year, which puts price pressure on local rental housing.

One person’s crunch is another’s opportunity. Martha Hennessey, a state senator and Dartmouth grad, said she believes “Hanover is already overbuilt,’’ but Nigel Leeming, owner of Murphy’s on the Green, said adding more students — and visiting parents and would-be-students — would significantly benefit local commerce.

The college has appointed a task force of faculty members, two deans and a trustee to work up a growth model for President Phil Hanlon by next spring. (It’s unfortunate that the task force doesn’t include a student — who better to advise on what expansion might mean for student life?) The potential benefits and risks will presumably become clearer as the task force does its work, but remarks from Hanlon pointed to one possibility. His vision is lofty: “Dartmouth College aspires to better the world by preparing graduates who have the skills and ambition to go out and change the world.” More graduates “would amplify our impact on the world,’’ he said. The more-grads-better-world relationship is intriguing, if uncertain. By reputation, a fair percentage of its graduates go into finance and business; indeed, alums have led IBM and GE, served as President Obama’s secretary of the Treasury, and a Big Green network is said to flourish on Wall Street. An online discussion about Dartmouth’s Wall Street links was prompted a few years ago by a prospective Dartmouth student who wrote, “As much as my education is important, I want a big paycheck.’’ An alum responded that he had nothing against finance, but “I wish more of the talent would go into technology, teaching, etc. — industries that really impact society on a positive level.’’ We understand that sentiment, and wonder if a bigger Dartmouth would have more room for diversity, idealism and creativity. Maybe so.

Important to the Dartmouth community is the perception that as the smallest of the Ivies it has been able to focus on undergraduate education, on a campus where students know many of their fellow classmates and also their professors. The task force has the difficult task of weighing how bigger numbers would affect that hard-to-measure but worthy quality. Indeed, its members and the administration have difficult calculations and choices ahead, especially since a college community is never of one mind on anything.