Alumni reaction was muted in the wake of last week's Trustee statement outlining their plans for the implementation of the ideas contained in the Initiative.
Stan Colla, vice president of Development and Alumni Relations, who has been meeting with alumni throughout the week with President James Wright, said alumni are still digesting the contents of the report and that they were asking for clarification more than anything else.
"In general, at the end of the meetings, they were supportive and reaffirmed their confidence in the president and wished us well," he said.
Alumni Council President Kelly Fead '78 said there have been only a third the number of responses to the most recent announcement as there were in the first week after the release of the steering committee report in January.
Response to that report was also significantly quieter than response to the release of the Initiative the year before.
The Class of 1962 representative to the Alumni Council, Thomas Komarek, also said that he has not heard much about the Trustees decision since its release.
"I think one thing that has happened is there's a little SLI fatigue. "The first week after the initial announcement, my e-mail was buzzing ... There have been a few notes back and forth [in the last week], but nothing like the initial reaction," Komarek said.
Fead believes the quiet response this time around reflects alumni satisfaction that their opinions were incorporated by the Trustees into their decision.
"I think all of us are very happy to see that Trustees listened to everyone and really reached out to hear from every corner, on campus and off," Fead said.
Fead said she felt that many of the ideas in the Alumni Council response to the steering committee recommendations were adopted by the Trustees.
"If you compare what the Trustees said with many of the resolutions approved by the Alumni Council in March, many of the decision by the Trustees track with what the Alumni Council said."
Fead pointed out that the Alumni Council encouraged the Trustees to maintain residential flexibility, to work hard to improve the quality of the residential facilities themselves and to address the D-Plan -- all ideas that were reflected in the Trustee's decision.
Overall, alumni seemed to view the Trustees' various plans as compromises resulting from the of balancing of alumni, administration, faculty and student opinion, which Komarek said may also account for the subdued response.
"Given the situation they faced, they probably made the decisions they thought were in the best interest of the college," Komarek said.
Fead emphasized the fact that alumni opinion on the Initiative continues to be quite mixed, something that was made clear by the wide range of feelings that the Alumni Council's response tried to convey.
"I wish I could say that alumni speak in one voice. The truth is alumni do not speak with one voice," she said. "We have 60,000 alumni, so those are 60,000 distinct voices."
Alumni that The Dartmouth spoke with expressed a wide variety of views on many of the ideas in the Trustee report.
Most applauded the College's decision to begin planning for construction of new dorms and social spaces.
"I think everyone saw the need for new dorms," Missy Asbill Attridge '77 said, adding that she will be interested to "see how it all plays out."
Many alumni also felt that it was important for the Trustees to continue to pay attention to the views of all members of the Dartmouth community as their vision is implemented.
"I think they've got to keep listening to everybody, including alumni," Charles Gilmore '50 said.
As a result of the one Trustees decision which did not agree with alumni opinion as presented in the Alumni Council report Sarah Melcher '82, gave mixed reviews to the Trustee plan.
Melcher called the decision to implement first-year housing, as well as the plan to construct dining facilities on the north side of campus "counterproductive" to the principle of building community.
On the policies the Trustees adopted regarding the CFS system, opinions continued to cover the entire spectrum from strong approval to dissatisfaction.
Gilmore, a Phi Kappa Psi alum, expressed concern that the diversity of choices will be lost in the effort to improve the social life on campus.
"They've got tons of [co-ed] activities. Why must they force them on people who enjoy the comfort of single-sex organizations?" said Melcher.
Jessica Murray '85, on the other hand, said that, although she supports its continuation, her interest in the Initiative waned when she realized that the CFS system was not going to be eliminated.
"I think changes need to be made, but I think they'll be slow and gradual," she said.
The College sent alumni a letter outlining the Trustees' plans last week immediately following the announcement.
