WEB UPDATE, May 12, 6:03 p.m.
Petition candidates Todd Zywicki '88 and Peter Robinson '79 won this year's trustee election, the College announced early Thursday evening, defeating four Alumni Council nominees. Out of over the 35,000 votes cast by more than 15,000 alumni, Robinson received 21 percent and Zywicki received 20 percent.
Zywicki expressed satisfaction with his win, especially given his outsider status. His victory, he said, was an alumni response to an administration that has been increasingly making questionable decisions.
"We made it quite clear that we had some concerns about how Dartmouth has been moving in recent years. I think it's a very clear signal by the alumni as to what direction they believe the college should be moving," Zywicki said.
Regarding his plans as a trustee, Zywicki said he would focus on hiring more professors and getting budget priorities in order.
"The single highest priority that the board needs to act on is to deal with this problem of overcrowded classrooms and the inability to enroll in classes," Zywicki said. "A deep confusion in financial priorities best exemplified by the fact that [the administration] liquidated the speech department and hired a sustainability director in the same week."
In addition to these issues, Zywicki said he would talk to the administration in hopes of re-recognizing Zeta Psi fraternity, which was de-recognized after it published an in-house newspaper that denigrated several women by name.
Both candidates ran campaigns deemed "insurgent" that attacked the College's stance on free speech.
Robinson, who was unavailable for comment, is a conservative author and a fellow at the Hoover Institution in California, and he hosts PBS's "Uncommon Knowledge." During the Reagan administration, he worked as a speechwriter and penned the President's famous line, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this Wall!"
During his time at Dartmouth, Robinson majored in English and wrote for The Dartmouth.
Zywicki is a law professor at Georgetown Law Center, and has taught at several other law schools. He recently worked for the United States Federal Trade Commission.
While at Dartmouth, Zywicki majored in government and was a member of The Dartmouth's business staff.
This year's election, one of the most heated in recent memory, garnered national media attention. The voting was marked by delayed ballots and allegations of campaign rules violations.
