About Green Granite Rowing Inc.

We are a bunch of D150 alums and supporters of the program who formed Green Granite Rowing Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, to help bolster the sport that made us who we are. We hope you will join us.

Green Granite Rowing Inc.’s primary mission is to support Dartmouth Rowing, especially the men’s lightweight program (aka “D150”). Dartmouth College eliminated the lightweights during the pandemic partly due to budget pressures, and though the College subsequently reinstated the program, we want to make sure that the D150’s are financially secure and well-resourced for decades to come.

More broadly, we aim to promote rowing as part of a well-rounded education, both at Dartmouth and beyond, and to attract more people to the sport. As President Sian Beilock has observed, “Sports are part of our educational experience because they help produce collaborative citizens and future leaders.” (The Wall Street Journal, April 12, 2024.) Unlike most other varsity collegiate sports programs, Dartmouth Rowing welcomes student athletes with no prior experience. Of note, lightweight rowing is especially accessible to many students because it is tailored to athletes of average size.

As part of our mission, we want to ensure that Dartmouth students are aware of the opportunity to row, especially as novices, and we want to reduce any obstacles to participation, like eliminating the fees that students may not be able to afford.

By contributing together through Green Granite, we hope to give lightweight alumni a louder voice so that D150 is once again given resources on par with those given to the other squads. Among other things, D150 is allowed fewer athletes, has fewer recruiting slots, and has fewer coaches than the other squads and than our Ivy rivals!

Over time, we expect to contribute the bulk of the funds we raise to Dartmouth to strengthen and protect D150. We may also use funds for operating expenses (e.g., to host this website), and to otherwise support our mission. Of course, if Dartmouth were to cut D150 again, we expect to cease giving any funds to the College—we do not want Dartmouth to have any financial incentive to cut the program.

And, yes, we admit it: We want to see the program boat four varsity eights and develop championship caliber crews that routinely bring home medals from the Eastern Sprints and IRAs. And how about bringing that Jope Cup back? Yeah, we’d like to see that too.