<p>Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Karl Furstenberg announced Monday his plans to retire by July of next year.</p>
<p>Large shoes to fill!</p>
<p>I was wondering along the same lines - yes, large shoes to fill!</p>
<p>I have a good deal of respect for Furstenberg. I thought he took a brave and honest stance in the Swarthmore football letter controversy. However one area where I think he has been selling Dartmouth short is in his overuse/abuse of likely letters. I think they send the wrong message and cheapen Dartmouth's image among the ivies. I would like to see the new director take a different path on this.</p>
<p>Yup. And to remind folks what the "controversy" was about:</p>
<p>"Karl Furstenberg has been under fire for his stated views on college athletics since the Valley News of West Lebanon, N.H., recently obtained and published a letter he wrote to the president of Swarthmore College in December 2000 praising Swarthmore's decision to cut its football program.</p>
<p>"You are exactly right in asserting that football programs represent a sacrifice to the academic quality and diversity of entering first-year classes," wrote Furstenberg, who has since described the letter as a personal note to a friend that did not reflect Dartmouth policy. "I wish this were not true, but sadly football, and the culture that surrounds it, is antithetical to the academic mission of colleges such as ours."</p>
<p>Reminds me of what Professor Cheryl Shanks said about my alma mater, "It's a Nike camp with enrichment classes." ;)</p>
<p>Looks as if this decision came about as long ago as last spring- </p>