We write to you now because Dartmouth is at a cross roads. Not only are we in transition from one president to another, but we are on the anniversary of 40 years of co-education at Dartmouth. At this exciting and historic time in Dartmouth’s history, one might feel that all is well at the College. We are writing to tell you that we believe it is not. At 10am on March 12th, the 2nd most winning coach in Dartmouth’s history, one of the most successful in the Ivy League, a member of the “Wearers of the Green” and the New England Basketball Hall of Fame was forced to resign. We are referring to women’s basketball coach Chris Wielgus, who after finishing her 28th season, was called into the athletic directors’ office and given an ultimatum, resign or be fired. Chris chose to resign. Shortly after, her staff was also let go. We were shocked when we heard the news: not only because Chris was our coach and is a friend, but because of her history of success and career-long devotion to the College. An accounting of events as we know them is recorded at the bottom of this letter. You will see that women’s basketball alumnae and friends are angry and upset by what happened and are enormously disappointed by the way in which Chris, her staff, and our fellow alumnae were treated during these past few weeks. From our perspective, how this event was handled was disrespectful and unwarranted. At this crossroads, we ask you to help us raise some important questions and to join us in demanding an investigation of the DCAD. Several weeks ago, two fellow basketball alumnae met with David Spalding the current chief of staff for Carol Folt to request that the college look more closely at Chris’s dismissal and how it was handled. He indicated that he hadn’t heard much of an uproar from alums. We hope you will add your voice to push the College to take this situation seriously. We don’t want them to think that things have “blown over.” We are demanding an investigation because we would like the administration to know what really happened. Furthermore, taking a closer look at the DCAD in the wake of Chris’s dismissal has made us concerned that there maybe some additional problems with how the DCAD is being managed. We would like the Administration of the College to take a much closer looked at what has/is happening in the DCAD.

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