Seven Dartmouth alumni, led by William Tell, Jr. '56, filed a class-action suit against the College, the Board of Trustees and Patsy Fisher-Harris '81, the secretary of the College Alumni Association, at the end of Winter term.
The suit, filed in New Hampshire Superior Court on behalf of the College's entire alumni body, charges that changes made in 1990 to the Alumni Association's constitution are invalid. The changes dealt with the appointment of members to the Board.
John Harrington, the plaintiff's lawyer, said the lawsuit is asking for a reversal of the May 1990 changes, an injunction against the reappointment of Dick Page to his second five-year term as a Trustee and a recognition of the alumni body's right to select Trustees.
There are 16 members on the Board, seven "Alumni" Trustees chosen by the College's alumni and seven "Charter" Trustees selected by the Board itself. The College President and the Governor of New Hampshire hold ex-officio seats.
Harrington said under the changes to theAssociation's constitution, the power to renominate current Alumni Trustees for a second term was given solely to the Board.
Before 1990, when an Alumni Trustee's five-year term expired, any alum could submit a petition for another candidate with 250 signatures and an alumni vote would be held, Harrington said. If no petition was submitted, the Board could simply re-nominate the Trustee.
"The new rules in effect eliminate the ability of the alumni to participate in the renomination process," Harrington said.
Neil Castaldo '68, an attorney for Fisher-Harris,told the Valley News that under the old system, contested elections become referendums on College policy and not simply affirmations or negations of a Trustee's ability.
Castaldo said this was a major reason for the rules changes.
The College Counsel Office is representing the College and the Trustees in the case.
In 1990, the Association also raised the number of signatures required for nominating someone for a vacant seat from 250 to 500 and raised the number of alumni nominated for an open seat from one to three.
According to Harrington, the changes were approved by a vote at a meeting of approximately 50 to 80 of the College's 50,000 alumni in September 1990.
Harrington said this meeting was not legitimate because no constitutional changes were mentioned at the association's regular meeting in June 1990 and only a small mention of the September meeting was made in an Alumni newsletter.
"I don't know if they were being disingenuous originally, but to claim that a mention on an inside paragraph of the small text of a newsletter is sufficient notice might be disingenuous," Harrington said.
In a press release, the Alumni Association stated the changes were made "in conformance with the applicable provisions of the Constitution of the Alumni Association."
In an interview, Castaldo said,"The amendments made allowing for multi-candidate elections and Trustee reelection of alumni were valid because they were made in accordance with all applicable portions of the constitution."
According to Harrington, no formal date has been set for the trial. But he said these procedures usually take one to one-and-a-half years.
He said the alternative would ask for "a speeded-up procedure that would yield a decision before the alumni's meeting in June or a relatively speeded up procedure that would probably yield a decision sometime in the mid to late summer."
"We have yet to make a formal decision," Harrington said. "But it is my guess that we will pursue the option that would give us a decision by the end of the summer."
Harrington said the alumni group was bringing the suit now because this is the first time an Alumni Trustee has come up for renomination under the new policy.
The other petitioners named in the action are Robert Fuller '80, William Hooper '77, Douglas Keare '56, Joseph Obering '56, Edward Ross '56 and William Smith '53.
