To the Editor:
Joe Malchow's column ("Savor the Victory," May 16) makes me believe that there is not much of anything to savor in the the recent trustee election.
If Dartmouth has been reduced to one side "winning" over the other amidst triumphant rhetoric, then we have all lost.
In debates like that, all that matters is winning and the real issues get lost in that pursuit. Malchow shows this in his own column by asserting that: "Unlike the four other trustee candidates, who were selected by the College, both Peter Robinson and Todd Zywicki had to earn their places on the ballot." This statement is untrue (those four candidates were selected by other alumni, not the administration, and did earn that nomination) and insults the candidates. To be fair, Malchow expresses appreciation for these alumni later in his column but his words sound insincere to me.
This isn't the first time I have heard a comment like this recently. The election has been all about demonizing people -- dedicated College staff have been called faceless bureaucrats; loyal alumni who answered the call to serve the College were called dupes of the administration; the petition candidates were reactionaries.
The tone was worthy of a cable news talk show, and this is not something to be proud of.
If this does not stop now the next election will be worse. Elections like this will not attract qualified candidates. People will walk away and stop participating.