Buy the Dartmouth Swim Team on eBay

On the face of it Paul's comments make sense but I have a very different perspective re th e new facility. My connections to Dartmouth are indirect, that is through my wife's family, some of whom still live in Hanover. I do think that with more forward looking administration and planning Dartmouth could have a swim team and updated facility. Paul is right on when we says one cannot justify a brand-new natatorium for a competitiv swim team. HOWEVER, Dartmouth can make a good case for a new student fitness facility that includes a new pool. Such facilities are fast becoming a necessity to attract the best students to campuses (see Univ of MD, MIT and recently approved Kenyon facility). These facilities include fitness centers (the MIT facility as 12,000 square feet and Kenyon will have 15,000 sf), squash courts, multi-purpose courts (in-line hocky, basketball, etc) and various other spaces for students to congregate. These facilities somewhat more than 25m as quoted by Paul BUT the pool component (if kept to a basic 50 meter pool that is not designed to host large meets) is less than 50% of the total cost. These facilities serve the general community quite well. Kenyon obviously has a very successful swim program and it has become one of the most important sports at that school. The $40 million new student fitness facility (include a new 50 meter pool) was not designed exclusively to support the varsity program. The pool while an improvement over the existing facility was basically designed to be an excellent training facility and good venue for duel meets but was clearly not designed to be a state-of-the-art competitive aquartic center. The real secret to the success of getting that facility is the non-swimming components of the new center (fitness center, student lounges/labs, etc). Those of us who care about swimming at the college level need to rethink how we present the benefits of building new pools. As others have pointed out it's pretty hard to justify building new 50 meter pools to support varsity programs (how can you spend $25 million for such a narrow purpose when science/art programs also need new facilities). However, student fitness centers that serve the entire community have great promise because they serve the larger community and are becoming increasingly necessary part of campus life. At the risk of stating the obvious, such centers present tremendous opportunities to grow masters since many students who do not participate in varsity swimming might find masters a very attractive way to continue their interest in "organized" swimming.

On the face of it Paul's comments make sense but I have a very different perspective re th e new facility. My connections to Dartmouth are indirect, that is through my wife's family, some of whom still live in Hanover. I do think that with more forward looking administration and planning Dartmouth could have a swim team and updated facility. Paul is right on when we says one cannot justify a brand-new natatorium for a competitiv swim team. HOWEVER, Dartmouth can make a good case for a new student fitness facility that includes a new pool. Such facilities are fast becoming a necessity to attract the best students to campuses (see Univ of MD, MIT and recently approved Kenyon facility). These facilities include fitness centers (the MIT facility as 12,000 square feet and Kenyon will have 15,000 sf), squash courts, multi-purpose courts (in-line hocky, basketball, etc) and various other spaces for students to congregate. These facilities somewhat more than 25m as quoted by Paul BUT the pool component (if kept to a basic 50 meter pool that is not designed to host large meets) is less than 50% of the total cost. These facilities serve the general community quite well. Kenyon obviously has a very successful swim program and it has become one of the most important sports at that school. The $40 million new student fitness facility (include a new 50 meter pool) was not designed exclusively to support the varsity program. The pool while an improvement over the existing facility was basically designed to be an excellent training facility and good venue for duel meets but was clearly not designed to be a state-of-the-art competitive aquartic center. The real secret to the success of getting that facility is the non-swimming components of the new center (fitness center, student lounges/labs, etc). Those of us who care about swimming at the college level need to rethink how we present the benefits of building new pools. As others have pointed out it's pretty hard to justify building new 50 meter pools to support varsity programs (how can you spend $25 million for such a narrow purpose when science/art programs also need new facilities). However, student fitness centers that serve the entire community have great promise because they serve the larger community and are becoming increasingly necessary part of campus life. At the risk of stating the obvious, such centers present tremendous opportunities to grow masters since many students who do not participate in varsity swimming might find masters a very attractive way to continue their interest in "organized" swimming.