Dartmouth College Athletics Director Harry Sheehy may not be a likeable guy, but he’s not the villain in the saga of Dartmouth’s failed attempt to ax five sports. The real story is also not about money or Title IX.
Responsibility lies with the Dartmouth faculty members and their snobbish academic bias against athletes, aided and abetted by President Phil Hanlon. Such bias is common, but especially at elite schools. They presume athletes are dragging down their sacrosanct academic standards and rankings, wasting slots that should go to students with loftier academic credentials. Dartmouth’s faculty is upset that Dartmouth has a higher percentage of athletes than other Ivy League schools. Please note: This does not mean that Dartmouth admits a larger number of athletes. Rather, Dartmouth is the smallest Ivy school, fielding a comparable number of teams, making its percentage of athletes slightly higher. Apparently, President Hanlon, in an effort to appease the faculty, directed Sheehy in 2019 to reduce the number of athletes in each incoming class by 10%. Sheehy’s solution may have been flawed, but it appears he was merely following orders, and whatever choices he made were going to spoil some athletic futures at Dartmouth.
A high IQ can provide a great foundation in life, but doesn’t on its own guarantee success in the real world. Most athletes at elite schools are good students (check out the cumulative GPAs of Dartmouth’s various teams). Most move on after graduation to real-world careers, not as professional athletes. In fact, their competitive nature and work ethic are attributes highly appreciated by corporate recruiters. Dartmouth (and many other schools) boast alumni who are former student-athletes who have gone on to distinguished careers and societal accomplishments — and who are often generous in their financial support of the college.
A strong president with a more enlightened viewpoint could counterbalance the faculty in this debate. Unfortunately, it appears that President Hanlon either shares the faculty’s bias or lacks the strength and integrity to stand up to them. Sadly, I see no hope that this issue will be resolved during his tenure.
DICK BATES
Enfield
Among the political cartoons offered in the Jan. 24 Sunday Valley News is one by Lisa Benson. I’ve come to expect cynicism and a distorted frame of reference from this source, and Benson has met that expectation again.
False equivalence has become a plague in the U.S., which may have its source in the elimination of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987. The basic requirements of this law were that broadcasters “devote a reasonable portion of broadcast time to the discussion and consideration of controversial issues of public importance” and “affirmatively endeavor to make … facilities available for the expression of contrasting viewpoints held by responsible elements,” according to a 2011 report by the Congressional Research Service.
The Sunday political cartoons reflect that goal in that both progressive and what might be considered a “conservative” point of view are offered. However, the cartoon in question represents a gross distortion. It features a donkey wearing a T-shirt labeled “The Left,” speaking through a bullhorn labeled “Unity,” from which huge letters reading “Sit Down and Shut Up” appear to overwhelm an elephant in a T-shirt labeled “Right.” My interpretation is that the donkey, representing Democrats, is claiming to offer unity but is in fact sidelining the elephant, representing Republicans.
I can’t speak for all donkeys, but it’s clear to me that what the Democratic Party is actually trying to sideline is misinformation and disinformation. Republicans have painted themselves into a corner by supporting policies that cannot withstand the light of day, and have turned increasingly to bald-faced lies. Self-assessments after the 2008 and 2012 elections made that clear, but were rejected by those who appear to value power more than principle, leadership or, for that matter, democracy and who now hold the levers of power in the GOP.
As Mitt Romney put it in trying to encourage members of his party to acknowledge the legitimacy of the 2020 election, “The best way we can show respect for voters who were upset, is by telling them the truth.” That to me seems conservative, in the sense of the word as I learned it, during the days when the Fairness Doctrine was the law of the land.
CHRIS WEINMANN
Norwich
Behold the Trump voters for whom objective truth does not exist. They continue to believe that the election was stolen. Even though they cannot explain why 60 lawsuits alleging electoral irregularities were dismissed out of hand, they persist in their denial of reality.
These voters, and most elected Republican officials, have said for years that while they did not agree with Donald Trump the man, they continued to support him because of his policies. Well, he is gone and his horrible policies, enacted largely through executive order, are being voided via the same mechanism.
Yet these people still passionately support this horrible man. Republican state committees are preparing to sanction and call for the resignation of governors and members of Congress who have the temerity to say that the election was fair and Joe Biden is the legitimate president. Lest you think we in Northern New England are immune from this madness, note that there is a fringe group in Vermont collecting signatures on a petition to remove Gov. Phil Scott.
There is an old saying that there are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics. The biggest damn lie of all, and there have been many over the last four years, is that the allegiance of the vast majority of Republican voters and members Congress is to Republican values, not Donald Trump.
Remember that the Republicans had no party platform for the 2020 election. They essentially said that the party’s position was whatever Trump wanted it to be. Donald Trump is the Republican Party.
LLOYD BUNTEN
Canaan