"A homogenous liberal arts institution is a contradiction in terms," said President Kemeny in 1972. Since the late 1960s Dartmouth, like its peers, was exploring ways to make the complexion of the College more closely resemble that of the nation. In 1968, the Board of Trustees created the first Committee on Equal Opportunity, chaired by John McLane. The next year a second committee formed to put the McLane recommendations into practice, with then-professor Kemeny as its chair.

Continuing what the McLane committee began, Kemeny and his fellow committee members worked to increase financial aid, actively recruit minority students and faculty, develop an African-American Studies program, and convert the Nathan Lord House into an African-American cultural center.

Kemeny stepped down from the committee in 1970 to become president, but his efforts for diversity redoubled. In 1980, reflecting on changes after ten years at Dartmouth's helm, he wrote, "The token black of another age has yielded to significant numbers of blacks and Native Americans on this campus. Their presence has made this a richer institution.... As a result of that greater diversity, this, I believe, is a much better place."