Buy the Dartmouth Swim Team on eBay

Rain Man: Your analysis is logical if you look at the revenue/costs numbers for the athletic department etc. The real rationale behind keeping big money losing programs like football is that they contribute to university-wide fundraising from alumni. At virtually every Harvard home football game there is some associated alumni-related activitiy in the adjacent Murr Center. I've not noticed similar activities for swimming AND THATS OUR PROBLEM. We need to stop complaining about all the money that football get's and start mobilizing our supporters in such a way that there contributions are linked to swimming. That's a university-by-university challenge. We also need a global marketing program that shows how building new pools helps ALL STUDENTS on campus. Re Paul comments on USB. It's obviously true that simply getting student fitness facilities will not guarantee survival of varsity aquatics. However, if the people spearheading these facilities are tied into varsity aquatics AND MASTERS then the chances are much better. My recommendation for keeping Darmouth swimming is to fire the people who manage their endowment (5% loss) and outsource it to Harvard management. With the money saved and better returns on their endowment they will have all the money they need for a new pool (and other new facilities).

Rain Man: Your analysis is logical if you look at the revenue/costs numbers for the athletic department etc. The real rationale behind keeping big money losing programs like football is that they contribute to university-wide fundraising from alumni. At virtually every Harvard home football game there is some associated alumni-related activitiy in the adjacent Murr Center. I've not noticed similar activities for swimming AND THATS OUR PROBLEM. We need to stop complaining about all the money that football get's and start mobilizing our supporters in such a way that there contributions are linked to swimming. That's a university-by-university challenge. We also need a global marketing program that shows how building new pools helps ALL STUDENTS on campus. Re Paul comments on USB. It's obviously true that simply getting student fitness facilities will not guarantee survival of varsity aquatics. However, if the people spearheading these facilities are tied into varsity aquatics AND MASTERS then the chances are much better. My recommendation for keeping Darmouth swimming is to fire the people who manage their endowment (5% loss) and outsource it to Harvard management. With the money saved and better returns on their endowment they will have all the money they need for a new pool (and other new facilities).