Dartblog

A reader comments:

It never fails to amaze me when the two best people in the entire world for important positions at Dartmouth always just happen to be married to each other! I think that that would make for an interesting statistic and something I’d volunteer to help research - the number of “couples” at Dartmouth occupying exempt salaried positions - I can think of several off the top of my head.

While it is true that the College has a good many husband/wife hires, I disagree with the principle underlying my correspondent’s comment. In the modern world it is often necessary to find a position for a spouse if an institution wants to attract a strong outside candidate to a senior position. This necessity applies in spades to Dartmouth given our location in rural New Hampshire; the narrowness of the Upper Valley job market often puts us at a disadvantage in hiring good people vis à vis schools in cities.

That said, this courtesy should only be extended in nation-wide searches to strong candidates who have competent spouses. Regrettably, the College too often follows Steve Jobs’ axiom: “A” people hire “A” people, and “B” people hire “C” people. With a resolutely “B/C”-level administration, it too often occurs that poor quality people are hired for political reasons and they are accompanied by an even weaker spouse.

Note: To all appearances, the above argument does not apply to Team Kadish/Snyder. Not only do they bring to Hanover real discernment in their choice of motor cars, but their resumés are infinitely deeper than the people that they replaced.

Another Note From a Friend and Scholar: “We can take the Steve Jobs’ quote farther back. It was a favorite quip of Sterling Dow (1903-1995), one of America’s greatest Greek historians and her greatest Greek epigraphist, who was the John E Hudson Professor of Greek Archaeology at Harvard. His version ran as follows: Alpha men pick alpha men; beta men pick gamma men.”