Approximately 20 alumni contacted The Dartmouth yesterday to say they had rescinded pledges to the College -- a significantly higher number than the 10-12 figure given Tuesday by Alumni Fund Director Jennifer Williams '85 -- a discrepancy Williams said last night was in no way intentional and was solely a result of the fact that some alumni have contacted College offices other than the Alumni Fund to rescind pledges.
When asked about the discrepancy, Williams said she was "citing the number of pledges her office had received directly from alumni to cancel pledges" when she told The Dartmouth Tuesday her office had only received 10 to 12 rescinded pledges.
She said since a number of College offices have been getting a large number of e-mails and letters from alumni commenting on the initiative, if people wishing to rescind pledges have notified an office other than the Alumni Fund office of their request it is possible their request might take a while to be processed.
Williams said the Alumni Fund is in no way attempting to prevent alumni who wish to rescind pledges from doing so.
"It's disappointing when people cancel pledges, but we want to honor people when they do that," Williams said.
In an article published this week, The Chronicle of Higher Education cited Vice President of Development and Alumni Relations Stan Colla as saying that 25 alumni had rescinded pledges in the three days following the announcement of the initiative -- a figure Williams said was a misquotation by The Chronicle.
