Afro-American Society President James Hunter '95 has come under fire within the AAm for what members have deemed his failure to address allegations made against him in recent weeks by The Dartmouth Review, an off-campus conservative weekly.
The Review has alleged Hunter was found innocent of sexual abuse in a Committee on Standards hearing earlier this year. The Review also alleged that Hunter was found guilty in Grafton County Superior Court of credit card fraud and of stealing textbooks from the Dartmouth Bookstore.
Several AAm members asked Hunter to address these allegations at last Thursday's general meeting, which was attended by between 40 and 50 people.
AAm member Andre Hylton '96 said a few students presented a formal letter to Hunter at the meeting asking him to discuss the allegations. Hylton said Hunter refused to address the charges until after the general meeting.
But Hylton said Hunter still did not address the allegations after the meeting. Instead, Hunter said he was disappointed that people believed The Review story, Hylton said.
A few hours after the meeting, Hunter made a statement via BlitzMail to the entire AAm membership. In the statement, Hunter denied the validity of the comments made in The Review and encouraged AAm members to "think critically about the situation" and to "abandon personal biases" before jumping to conclusions about his guilt.
"Let's remember that the allegations are not the same as guilt," Hunter wrote.
Hunter said in a telephone interview yesterday that he sent out the BlitzMail message because "there are some people in the AAm community that didn't get to attend the meeting and they wanted to know what The Review was talking about."
Hunter said he wanted to tell the AAm community that the Review allegations were "fabrications."
However, many of the AAm members were unsatisfied with Hunter's statement.
Hylton said Hunter "didn't really address any of the issues." Hylton added that many women in AAm were concerned with having a president who was accused of sexual abuse.
A senior female AAm member who wished to remain anonymous said, "We are concerned about his position within the Dartmouth community, if these allegations are taken as even partly true without his making a response. I think he really needs to explain further, and I have the feeling that many members were not pleased with his answers as well," she said.
Neisha Powells '95 said the AAm asked Hunter to give a statement so its membership could hear his side of the story. Powells said the AAm was not out to condemn Hunter.
Hylton said people in the organization were concerned Hunter had not addressed the issue because "it affects people's perceptions of the AAm. ... It's clear that there's a lot of dissatisfaction with his leadership at this point."
