Two of the alumni responsible for officiating the ongoing elections for the Board of Trustees and the Association of Alumni are also running for positions on the executive committee of the association, according to officials involved.
While the alumni in question believe the impartiality of the process has been upheld, some candidates are concerned about the nature of the arrangement.
Executive committee candidates Albert T. T. Cook Jr. '62 and Ann Fromholz '90 also officiate the election by serving on the ballot committee of the Association of Alumni.
"The ballot committee essentially has to be responsible for collecting the information that goes out to the alumni, both in printed form and on the web site, and has to determine when the election should be held," Cook said.
The possible conflict of interest arose from the fact that the ballot committee was formed prior to the announcement of the candidates by the association's nominating committee, Cook said. As a result, individuals who agreed to serve on the ballot committee were not aware of their nomination until after the ballot committee had been formed.
"I agreed that I would recuse myself if I were to have to rule on something that would have an impact on my candidacy," Cook said.
"It was a matter of logistics. There were very few of us who were able to be on the ballot committee and I had served on the ballot committee in the last election."
Cook asserted that because the ballot committee follows "rules and guidelines" and is a "mechanical kind of thing," impartiality should not be an issue.
"There have been no judgment calls when I would be compromised in participating in making a decision," he said.
"There is no game playing that goes on in the executive committee, contrary to what some may say - it is just a group of Dartmouth alumni who love the place."
Still, Cook said that he believes that the current situation is not ideal.
"I don't think that anyone else would choose to create even the appearance of a conflict," he said. "If I am elected this issue will not be a conflict in the future."
Despite such promises, Frank Gado '58, a petition candidate for second vice-president of the executive committee, expressed his dissatisfaction with the current arrangement.
"We [the petition slate] do not like the fact that we have candidates who are making the rules - it doesn't seem right," Gado said.
"It is too late now to fix it. We will try to address the problem if we are elected."
Current first vice president of the executive committee Merle Adelman '80 downplayed the seriousness of the issue.
"To tell you the truth I don't know that it is all that unusual," Adelman said. "In the past it has not received that much scrutiny."
Of the approximately 60,000 alumni eligible to vote in the Board of Trustee and Association of Alumni elections, 11 percent have sent in their ballots, according to Diana Lawrence, director of communications for the Office of Alumni Relations.
The last trustee election garnered a 24 percent participation rate.
"I hope we can exceed that rate," Lawrence said.
"For an election of that importance it seems like a low rate. I'd like to see more Dartmouth alumni be heard."
Fromholz could not be reached for comment as of press time.
