Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Figure skating coach resigns, faults administration
The Valley News reports that the head coach of Dartmouth’s “five-time national champion figure skating team has resigned after a disagreement with the college about the program’s position in the athletic hierarchy.”
VALLEY NEWS
8/27/2008
Figure Skating Coach Quits Dartmouth Team
By: Tony Lane
Valley News Staff Writer
Hanover -- The head coach of Dartmouth's five-time national champion
figure skating team has resigned after a disagreement with the college
about the program's position in the athletic hierarchy.
Loren McGean, a Dartmouth Class of 1992 member who began co-coaching
the club with her father, Michael (Class of 1949), in 2002, submitted a
letter of resignation to several Dartmouth administrators, including
President Jim Wright, last week.
In the letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Valley News,
McGean cited the need on her part for more "financial transparency" in
the use of funds that were donated specifically for Big Green figure
skating.
In spring 2007, Dartmouth announced the creation of the J. Michael
McGean Endowment Fund, the club's first permanent source of funding, to
support the figure skating team's $80,000 budget.
McGean also wanted another athletic category established between
varsity and club to accommodate current club teams (of which figure
skating is one) that compete on a national level.
"To date these requests have all been either ignored or denied,"
McGean wrote in the letter, "and the College has refused to consider a
reasonable solution or an acceptable working environment to fully
support the Dartmouth Figure Skating Team, a recognized, legitimate
intercollegiate athletic program.
"I regret that under these circumstances and in the absence of these
needs being met, I am unable to continue my work as Head Coach of the
Dartmouth Figure Skating Team."
McGean confirmed yesterday she was resigning and offered no further
comment. There was no immediate word on a coaching successor.
Dartmouth athletics director Josie Harper regretted that McGean
decided to decline a reappointment contract.
"We really value everything Loren and her father did to take the
club where it is today," Harper said yesterday. "The program has always
been very important to us."
In addressing McGean's concerns about financial oversight, Harper
said: "All the club teams have the same opportunity to raise funds.
Figure skating wasn't any different. We feel we supported them fully,
and we certainly have no intention of cutting that support."
As for the creation of a competitive level between varsity and club
sports, Harper said the college simply didn't have the structure to
adopt it.
"We recognize that some club sports can compete at the highest
level," Harper noted. "Rugby works within our structure."
The figure skating club was founded by former student Amy Stetson --
with the help of Michael McGean -- during the 1996-97 school year.
Dartmouth has been undefeated in competition since the fall of 2003 and
has won the U.S. National Intercollegiate Figure Skating Team
Championships every year since 2004.
Daniel Dittrick, a club skater and co-captain who graduated last
June, was a member of the Club Sports Commission of the Student Assembly
that issued a report in the spring of 2006, urging Dartmouth to increase
facility and financial support for club teams.
Reached Monday by phone, Dittrick refrained from speaking of
McGean's resignation, but said the college had responded to some of the
commission's recommendations.
"There has been a lot of changes -- the recognition of a couple more
sports like women's lacrosse," Dittrick said. "There's also a full-time
administrator in Joann Brislin that works with club teams."
Posted by Emily Esfahani-Smith at 2:30 PM
Comments
Thanks for passing along a very interesting story. I hope somebody follows up on this.
Each club sport at Dartmouth has different needs, organizational structure, fundraising ability, and competitiveness.
From what I recall of rugby, Ms. Harper is correct to say that rugby was able to work within the college's structure for administering club sports. I *think* that the rugby program is entirely self-sufficient, or nearly so, especially the mens program.
But it doesn't necessarily follow that the figure skating program should be able to work within the college's structure in the way that rugby does. For one thing, the rugby program has been around for 50 years and has a good base of alumni donors. For another, it's a bit more expensive to rent ice from the College than to get field space. Finally, rugby is a bit more of a "big tent" where people can join teams at different levels of commitment (A-side is historically one of the top 10 teams in the country; C-side is much less serious) and can learn the sport very quickly without prior experience. As such, the rugby program usually has a lot more students it can rely on to run the club and pay dues to support its continuing existence.
It's possible that none of this is relevant to the reasons why Ms. McGean resigned, but the point is that there's often limited use in comparing the experience of one club program to another.
I don't know much about the substance of Ms. McGean's complaints, but I'd be interested in hearing more from knowledgable sources.
Posted by — September 02, 2008 4:49 PM
First Andy Harvard and now this!
Clearly the Administration has less concern for high achievers than for keeping everyone in their proper place in the bureaucratic org chart.
The College loses more and more great people because mediocrities like Josie Harper can't make space for truly successful and innovative people - unlike her.
Strange how Forbes and US News can accurately perceive the College's decline when the Trustees can't.
Posted by — September 02, 2008 5:14 PM
The US News and Forbes surveys have already been discussed in other threads. Same for Andy Harper, Gazzaniga, and other talented people whose departures are unfortunate and can probably be blamed on poor decisions and/or systematic flaws in the administration.
In this particular case, though, all we know is that the leader of an successful club sports program asked the College for some things and was rebuffed. Maybe her requests were reasonable and maybe they weren't. Rather than shoehorning this incident into your preconceived view of the administration, I'd prefer to hear from people who know something about the facts on the ground and how Dartmouth is doing administering its club sports.
It's really easy to treat every faculty and staff departure as evidence of Dartmouth's decline and to treat every minor incident at the College as a sign that the post-parity apocalypse is upon us. You're welcome to your opinion, but it's rather useless to clutter the comments thread with it if you don't have some facts to go with it.
Posted by — September 02, 2008 6:33 PM
I meant Andy Harvard, not Harper.
Posted by — September 02, 2008 6:34 PM
First Anon:
We share your desire to hear the "facts on the ground" from people who know. How large is the J.Michael McGean Endowment Fund, and how much revenue does it generate per year. Does this comprise all of the $80,000, or does the College supplement it? If the money all comes from the dedicated skating endowment and the team only spends $70K in a given year, who controls what happens with the excess (a "reserve" in administration-speak)? College business is College business, but in the case of monies directed to a student organization by donors, students have a right to know. Ms.McGean's request for transparency is legitimate.
Finally, how about some accounting regarding who the outside donors were... if they came from some evil organization with a hidden agenda to make the skating club more than a club, we chattering nabobs have a right to know.
Posted by — September 03, 2008 7:26 AM
Isn't there some figure skating move like a "downward death spiral", or is that only in aerial acrobatics. The Dartmouth administration is setting a fine example. Top 10 to 125th.
Looking forward to courageous new leadership. Hold off on unrestricted donations until the current cast of characters is gone and (hopefully) basic competence is restored.
Posted by — September 03, 2008 12:58 PM
Hey FAC! There is no rule that says that one cannot connect the dots on this page.
Gazzaniga, Appleton, Harvard, McGean, tenure decisions in the Philosophy department, our plummeting rankings, etc., etc., are all manifestations of the same problem - as Spiral correctly points out.
Posted by — September 04, 2008 2:39 AM
Gazzaniga left the College in the lurch, on the biggest research grant they'd ever gotten: he should be vilified, not declared some kind of hero. As Dean of the Faculty, he shot himself in the foot, from a professional perspective (assuming he wanted to become some college's president): he played fast and loose power-games with budgets, he tried to run roughshod over the majority of his faculty colleagues (in both the sciences, as well as humanities), they voted no confidence, and he left. Also, IMO he got tired of the cold, preferring the weather in Santa Barbara.
Ironically, Appleton was on the opposite side of the faculty ruckus from Gazzaniga. He also left for California, IMO, because he got tired of the cold. Why he took his bitter parting shots, I cannot say; they were not what I'd expect from a stable and confident leader in his field; they were the mark of a quirky and difficult personality (which Jon has always had, despite his clear gifts in music).
The Forbes ranking is a joke. Provably. Factually. Anyone who draws substantive conclusions from it is... well, do I really need to say it?
If you think, after the last AoA elections' evidence, that the Trustees will somehow miraculously choose a president in contradiction to those results, then you are at least partially delusional. Or perhaps just dreaming. Nothing wrong with that: wishes, horses, beggars, and riding notwithstanding.
Posted by — September 04, 2008 12:10 PM
Seriously, it's figure skating. It was a club team that wanted to be treated the same as a varsity sport. Some of their demands over the years were fairly ridiculous.
And the collegiate figure skating championships are somewhere below tiddlywinks on the level of competitiveness.
Posted by — September 04, 2008 1:45 PM
"Some of their demands over the years were fairly ridiculous."
Please be specific.
"And the collegiate figure skating championships are somewhere below tiddlywinks on the level of competitiveness."
If so trivial, why has the administration leveled such praise on the team? In the scheme of NCAA football, the same charge can be leveled against Ivy League teams relative to other schools.
Posted by — September 04, 2008 1:53 PM
oh well, i'd rather see the money and resources go to "real" sports that also bring revenue back into the school.
Besides, who really cares about skating anyway?
Posted by — September 04, 2008 2:51 PM
TBT, I don't question anyone's right to "connect the dots." My point is that most of the dot-connecting done so far has been asinine.
The Forbes rankings are not a "drop." In the 2009 US News Rankings, Dartmouth is #11.
It was #11 in 2008
It was #9 in 2007, but in a 3-way tie
It was #9 in 2006, in a 2-way tie
The Forbes rankings use different criteria, at least 50% of which are totally useless. 25% is based on the number of alumni in Who's Who of America, and 25% is based on ratings at ratemyprofessors.com
I'm sure that if I made my own rankings based on the number of alumni from each institution listed on the New York Times weddings pages and released it next year, it would show a "rise" for some colleges, and a "drop" for others. 'Tards like you who think that their college is heading downhill could either discredit it or tout it, depending on whether it fit with your view or not.
On the issue of resignations, lots of talented people leave colleges all of the time. Some of them leave in a huff. I'm sure that all of the other Ivies have had some turnover in the past few years and that not everyone's happy about every resignation. If you have a good explanation for connecting the dots, put it out there. The explanation I've heard, though is basically "I don't like the administration, so every time someone leaves in a huff, that's further evidence that the administration is bad."
I think that the explanation here has more to do with the structure and administration of club sports at Dartmouth than with the recent defeat of the Phrygians.
Posted by — September 04, 2008 3:28 PM
Other than hockey and football, which "real" sports "bring revenue back into the school"?
Did the figure skating coach ask to have admissions standards lowered like "real" teams?
Who should decide which sports are worth supporting? Is it time for another alumni vote? Should the students have any say?
Posted by — September 04, 2008 5:02 PM
"Who should decide which sports are worth supporting?" ME
"Is it time for another alumni vote?" NO
"Should the students have any say?" NO
Posted by — September 04, 2008 5:35 PM
FAC: You have labeled TBT a " 'tard".
"Leotard"? "Petard"? "Mustard"? "Phrygitard"? What are we all missing here?
Is the name-calling more noble when it is nuanced with an apostrophe?
Posted by — September 04, 2008 5:47 PM
FAC is stating the standard party (administration) line - stay in Harvard's draft; don't take risks; don't look to the future.
The 'tard thing is OK thanks to Ben Stiller. Here FAC means: the quaint old days of alumni involvement are over.
Posted by — September 04, 2008 9:19 PM
"the quaint old days of alumni involvement are over."
Something to remember the next time one is solicited for donations. Thanks, FAC, for making this clear, with a little help from Dumb Jock.
Posted by — September 04, 2008 9:24 PM
@Spiral: Dartmouth didn't go from top 10 to 125th. The Forbes ranking (125th) is new. Dartmouth started at 125th. It has explained why its ranking is so low.
Posted by — September 05, 2008 9:13 AM
@Gyre:
The facts from FAC, re USNews:
It was #9 in 2006, in a 2-way tie.
It was #9 in 2007, but in a 3-way tie.
It was #11 in 2008.
So the direction trend even under the "old" measurement system is negative. This does not mean Dartmouth is a bad place or going backwards. It may mean that in the last few years, the College has not been moving ahead, i.e. being innovative, as fast as others.
Is it "fairly ridiculous" to maintain higher performance expectations from the administration?
Posted by — September 05, 2008 5:38 PM
The five new trustees should help us complete the triple Salchow.
@twinkle toe - they don't need the $50 donation anymore.
Posted by — September 05, 2008 9:59 PM
@spiral:
Dartmouth is not "being innovative as fast as others"? Corny businessspeak. You can derive your conclusion this from a sample of just three consecutive years, each of which has Dartmouth hovering in the top twelve, based on what everyone knows are unreliable and constantly changing methods used by USNews? Does USNews even advertise that one of their criteria is "being innovative as fast as" other schools?
Posted by — September 05, 2008 10:42 PM
Dumb Jock: You apparently have some insights into the five new trustees. What happened to Sandy Alderson?
Posted by — September 06, 2008 8:17 AM
Alderson? Two women, one Jew, one black, and one billionaire. Doesn't look like there was room for him this time.
Posted by — September 06, 2008 8:47 AM
Anonymous, do you disagree with Malchow's suggestion that the board chose this crop cynically to avoid controversy, picking people so obviously qualified (and non-diverse) that alumni couldn't whine about them?
Posted by — September 07, 2008 2:02 PM
I'm just puzzled why they are trying to solve a problem they know they don't really have. Typical.
Posted by — September 07, 2008 10:24 PM
They are trying to address a problem they believe they have, the continual need for more and more money.
This will continue as long as non-innovative administrators continue to think the key to education is ever-increasing expenditures and non-courageous administrators cannot prioritize, cut expenses, and learn to say "no".
Posted by — September 08, 2008 7:34 AM
"This" will happen as long as donors keep forking over large sums of money without any accountability for how it is spent.
Posted by — September 08, 2008 8:36 AM
at least i have chicken
Posted by — September 08, 2008 11:10 AM
Does your chicken have lipstick on it?
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Posted by — October 17, 2008 9:28 PM
tyhe comment about possibly asking to have the admissions standard lowered for figure skating is absolutely ridiculous. competitive figure skaters ted to be very bright individuals-given the very nature of the sport and the ability to make quick decisions in a competitive situation. Comparing figure skating to "tiddly winks" is a remark I highly resent. try balancing on a very narrow blade, rotating your body at over 60 m.p.h. and jumping into the air staying balanved and returning to a slick, slippery surface with all your faculties, and Oh Yes also your sense of balance! As a triple gold medalist in the sport of figure skating, a current coach (of a number of national competitors) and the mother of a college Junior (who by the way would not consider Dartmouth) with a 4.0 (zoology major) for pre-med, I highly doubt "real" figure skaters lack intelligence. Figure skating has been around a long time and is still one of the few sports where manners and a proper level of etiquette and decorum are still maintained. ( I realize there are a few exceptions in our sport as there are in any other sport. When are these colleges going to get with the program!!! By thye way did I say that my daughter is a student at Miami University who boasts one of the finest figure skating progrsamas in the nation? get with the program Dartmouth. You lost my daughter and another fine skater 2 years ago as you had issues then. By the way the other skater is a junior at Cornell with a 4.0!!!
Posted by — October 27, 2008 9:18 PM
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