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BY MARTHA MARRAZZA and MARA REVKIN

In print | Published April 20, 2006

Timothy Foster, one of five finalists being considered for the position of Dean of Students, has withdrawn his candidacy in the wake of his accepting a position as Dean of Student Affairs at Bowdoin College. With the applicant pool narrowed to four finalists, many student groups are seeking a well-rounded candidate, especially in issues concerning diversity and multiculturalism.

In an e-mail message sent Monday, Provost Connie Hungerford announced Foster’s departure from the race and congratulated him on his new appointment. According to Hungerford, Foster announced the College that he wishedto withdraw his candidacy for Bob Gross’s position after being offered a promotion to the position of Dean of Student Affairs by Bowdoin, where he is currently employed as a senior associate in the Dean’s office.

Hungerford said that the Dean Search Committee does not explicitly request that interviewees disclose pending applications for positions at competing institutions but said it was likely that the candidates might be considering alternate offers. “It’s not our policy to ask, but we knew that the Bowdoin position was available and we presumed that he [Foster] was a candidate,” Hungerford said.

At Bowdoin, Foster occupied various administrative roles for the last 10 years, most recently under the direct supervision of Craig Bradley, who recently vacated his post as Dean of Student Affairs to accept a job offer in Paris. In a phone interview, Foster said that he applied for the Swarthmore position in early fall, months before Bradley announced his impending departure in March. When the Bowdoin position became available, Foster was offered the job and promptly accepted.

“After 10 years in the service of this community, I really felt that Bowdoin was where I belonged and where I should be,” Foster said.

Foster, who interviewed once with the Dean Search Committee, described the exchange as “a great experience” and expressed his reluctance to withdraw from the application process. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to meet the Swarthmore community, but I know a few candidates in the pool and I’m confident that the committee will choose someone good,” Foster said.

Four candidates remain under consideration by the Dean Search Committee, two of which remain to be formally interviewed before the panel. James Larimore will appear at a fireside chat this Thursday, and Kathryn Stuart will follow next Monday.

In preparation for Larimore’s visit, Rafael Zapata, an Assistant Dean and director of the Intercultural Center, circulated an e-mail to some campus groups urging students to push discussion of diversity issues in the fireside chats. “I’ve been plugged into discussions lately about expanding the offerings in cultural courses, or ethnic studies, such as Latino or Asian studies,” he said. “I wanted to encourage students with particular concerns [about diversity and multiculturalism] to engage in the process if they haven’t already.”

A group of students concerned with the school’s commitment to cultural and ethnic studies have recently been working to increase dialogue on diversity — be it of faculty members or course material. Some students have used the fireside chats as a potential vehicle for change. “Since we’re getting a new dean, it’s crucial to make sure that they see and understand where we are coming from. We want more courses taught, more faculty representing [diverse] groups and eventually more programs and departments,” Brad Dickerson ‘08 said. "There is a lot of talk of wanting things changed, but when the time comes to ask for those changes, a lot of people are quiet. Rafael’s e-mail was trying to be like, if you’re going to complain, you need to step up."

In his e-mail, Zapata discussed James Larimore and Gladstone Hutchinson’s credentials, as they are both candidates of color with strong backgrounds in diversity issues. “Given the current organizing efforts around the need for ethnic studies, I want to strongly encourage you to attend all student dialogues with the candidates. This is a crucial opportunity to engage them,” Zapata wrote. “I cannot stress enough how important it is to discuss this and other pressing concerns directly with the candidates at this stage, as opposed to waiting until a new Dean is appointed.”

Zapata emphasized that he was not trying to promote a certain candidate, but rather said he meant to inform students of an opportunity to weigh in on the Dean Search process. “[The e-mail I sent out] reflected my role as a diversity adviser and as the director of the IC, not so much my role as Assistant Dean,” he said. “I don’t want the e-mail to seem like I was advocating one candidate over another. I just know, given the dialogue [on diversity], it’s good to ask candidates about important issues like diversity.”

Hungerford said she supports students who attend fireside chats with a specific agenda or set of questions in mind for dean candidates. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with students coming to the fireside chats with particular agendas they would like to see addressed in the future,” she said. “Those questions could be ones that involve multicultural issues or others that have been brought up at the chats, for example, athletics on campus.”

Zsaleh Harivandi ‘07, a member of the Dean Search committee, praised Zapata’s effort to mobilize students. “I think it’s really great that Rafael is encouraging people to take an active role in the process. It’s valuable to the search committee to have as much student input as possible,” she said.

“I think it’s fine if he [Zapata] wants to highlight what he sees as important characteristics for a dean to have, but those characteristics shouldn’t take precedence over a candidate’s general qualifications for the job,” Harivandi.

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