Adrienne “Tee” Lotson ’82

Adrienne Lotson, Class of 1982, was known as “Tee” during her time at Dartmouth. She was a member of the sixth class of women to attend the College. When she arrived on campus for freshman year, Adrienne was only 16 years old, having skipped first and eighth grade. She quickly became everyone’s little sister.

When Adrienne began her college search, she crossed all of the Ivy League institutions off her list. She believed anyone who attended an Ivy was a snob and wanted to go to a university that was known for the performing arts. Her parents had not gone to college, and they wanted their children to go to the best institutions possible. Though she never wanted to go to Dartmouth, she does not regret her time at the College. During her college career, she found support and family within the Black community, including the students, faculty, and staff.

When asked to explain how she ended up at Dartmouth, Adrienne reflects on the disagreements she had with her parents about which college she would attend. As a young, Black girl, her parents wanted her to go somewhere close to home, somewhere where her older brother could look out for her. Adrienne had other plans, up until the very last minute.

I did not want to go to Dartmouth. The story is actually funny because it’s really how did my brother end up at Dartmouth. My brother was there a year ahead of me. As the story goes, and I remember it pretty clearly, he wanted to attend a different university and went to take his SAT. Back in those days, when you took your SAT, you had to tell them before you took the exam, where you wanted your test results to go. You didn’t get to see them first and then make that decision. He mistakenly put down the wrong code when he took his SAT and his scores went to Dartmouth. Dartmouth started sending him letters. They wanted him to come because he’s a genius. He ended up going to Dartmouth.

When it was my turn to apply to schools, and both of us went to college at 16, I was a 15 year old applying for college. I wanted to go to UCLA or USC because I wanted to be an actress and live in California and do the whole Hollywood thing. My parents said, “There’s no way our 16 year old daughter is going to California. It’s not gonna happen.” My mom wanted me to go up to Dartmouth with my brother. And I did NOT want to go to Dartmouth because my brother was there. I wanted to have my own life and I decided to go to either Yale or Northwestern. Yale and Northwestern both have great drama programs and I was very interested in the performing arts which my parents were also very much against. Anyway, long story short, I was wait-listed at Yale, got into Northwestern. My mother had a fit, faked a heart attack on signing day and I signed to go to Dartmouth because I thought she was having a heart attack.

The transition into college seemed easy at first. Adrienne was excited for her new found independence. However, when she walked into a classroom, she was introduced to another aspect of Dartmouth.

When I first got there, it was a party. It was camp. It was summer camp, which I had never attended. I only had ideas of what summer camp really was. I just made new friends every moment. I was experiencing new things. I was having an absolute ball. That didn’t last forever though. That was freshman week. When it became challenging for me was my first encounter with the faculty. When it was just the students, the deans, and the folks on campus who were on campus to help the freshmen transition into Dartmouth…it was fantastic.

But then when it was time to pick classes and go to our first classes, that’s when it became a challenge. That’s when I really had to come to grips with the racism at that place and how it was set up, in my opinion, in many ways it was set up for Black students to fail. I had a bad run in with a junior high school history teacher, and that was the only time I ever had faculty who didn’t think I could achieve anything…that I could get straight A’s, write great papers. Until I got to Dartmouth and I went to my first sociology class. The professor stood in front of the whole class and said, “A Black person will never receive an A in my class.”

He stood in front of the entire class, the first day of class. Introduced the class. Handed out the syllabus. And said, “A Black person will never get an A in my class.” We all looked at each other. We said, “This is insane!” We were the best at our high schools. We all came from having A’s and this guy is telling us that we will never get an A.

We go see the dean. The dean doesn’t believe us. He says, “Let’s wait and see. None of the other students have complained, only the Black students have complained.” Because he only said it about us. There was a kid in the class, Stuart Washington who got an A on every exam, an A on every paper, contributed in class. Wonderful. And he got an A- in the class because the professor said he would never give an A to a Black student.

We go back to the dean. We tell the dean again, “Look, this is what happened. Here are his grades.”

The dean said, “There must be some other reason. There must be some other reason he only earned an A-.”

That was my introduction to academics at Dartmouth. That was the shocking, eye-opening experience for me.

When Adrienne reflects on the impact that Dartmouth has had on her life, she thinks of her childhood neighborhood in Queens, New York. Very few neighborhood kids went to college, even fewer to Ivies. Dartmouth opened doors for her. Adrienne had the opportunity to go on an airplane for the first time as a student when she participated in a Language Study Abroad program in Spain. She had grown up across from Kennedy Airport and knew that she wanted to see the world beyond New York. She has now visited over 30 countries.

With all the craziness that is Dartmouth, with all the nuances that are Dartmouth, I’m the woman I am today because of the four years I spent in Hanover.