For the first time in his tenure as College President, James Wright has spoken out against what he terms inaccuracies in the statements of trustee candidates, given his remarks in a Feb. 28 community letter and the March 14 launch of a website addressing prominent campus issues. Petition candidate Stephen Smith '88 alleged that these public relations initiatives represent a specific attack on his campaign. Wright and other College officials explained that they are part of a broader push to "tell the Dartmouth story."
Voting for this election, the first one in which the Alumni Council has allowed open campaigning, began on Sunday and lasts through May 15.
"I think that this election is an altogether different one," Wright said. "There is a far greater volume of activity in this campaign than there has ever been before."
In the past, candidates for trustee were forbidden from campaigning on their own; the College itself distributed materials to voting alumni on behalf of the candidates.
The move to open campaigning marked a departure from previous anti-campaigning rules, restrictions that some alumni thought stifled candidates nominated by the Alumni Council and were dodged by petition candidates.
Open campaigning has led to more vocal discourse between candidates and resulted in more money entering the race.
In his Feb. 28 community letter, Wright wrote, "It does not, however, advance the College to make allegations or to misstate the facts," going on to say that he would "correct the record."
"There are a lot of statements about what Dartmouth is doing that I do not think are all that accurate," Wright said in an interview with The Dartmouth. "Classes are getting smaller, not larger, the faculty is getting larger, not smaller -- these are simply statements of fact and surely as president I have a responsibility to make certain that the facts about Dartmouth are correctly stated."
William Neukom '64, chairman of the Board of Trustees, clarified the College's position.
"The College has gone through two elections where candidates made allegations about the Dartmouth experience; this is the third," he said. "There has been a lot of rhetoric already in this campaign. As he has said in the past, Jim [Wright] is not going to stand by and let candidates make statements that he knows are not truthful."
The March 14 launch of the "Ask Dartmouth" website appears to be a manifestation of Wright's promise to "correct the record." Ask Dartmouth, accessible through the Dartmouth homepage, poses a wide range of questions about academics, administration, admissions, athletics, the Board of Trustees, freedom of speech and student life. The answers seem to directly contrast with the claims present on the website of Smith.
"We're proud to say that there are more small classes at Dartmouth today than there have been in the last decade," Ask Dartmouth states, for example. Smith's website, on the other hand, asserts, "undergraduate class sizes have grown larger."
Similarly, a posting on Ask Dartmouth says, "What's distinctive about the Dartmouth faculty is that they are both leaders in their fields and dedicated teachers," while Smith's website says, "As a Dartmouth professor anonymously told a student task force investigating the issue, what is needed is a 'balance' between research and teaching -- a balance which, at present, is tilted heavily in favor of research."
Neither Wright nor Neukom would specify that efforts to correct misstatements target any singular individual, but Smith said he believes the entire initiative is directed squarely at his campaign.
"The College has dropped any pretense of impartiality -- they are going to do whatever it takes to elect the slate [of nominated candidates] and defeat me," Smith said.
Smith alleged that the Alumni Council changed the rule on open campaigning because it felt that it "disadvantaged the nominated candidates" and "now it seems that they have buyer's remorse."
"I think the president and the College should stay out of the race," Smith said. "The endorsed candidates have apparently been gagged. They are apparently not allowed to talk about real issues, so it is up to the administration to do their campaigning for them."
Smith takes issue specifically with the Ask Dartmouth website.
"The real name of the site should be 'Ask Dartmouth if Stephen Smith is Lying,'" he said. "I see nothing on the site that disproves anything I have said."
All of the College officials interviewed, however, said that the website targets no individual nor necessarily the trustee election.
"We are trying to provide a vehicle that can correct misstatements that arise not only in a campaign but also from any source," Roland Adams, director of media relations, said.
Wright reiterated that the informational campaign is important not only because it informs voters in the ongoing election, but also because the College is trying to recruit high school students, attract and retain talented faculty and fundraise for the capital campaign.
"I am sorry if individuals or candidates feel I am talking about them," Wright said. "If I want to talk about the truth of Dartmouth I will. I would hope that anyone interested in being a trustee at Dartmouth would affirm the importance of everyone understanding the truth about the College."
The website, Neukom said, is part of a broad effort to "get Dartmouth's story out."
"The Board and senior management have been increasingly persuaded that one thing we are not doing very well is telling the Dartmouth story -- we think we have a very good story to tell," he said. "This College depends on student and faculty talent, it depends on financial support and it continues to have a market for students in extracurricular activities. It is important that all of the constituencies that matter to Dartmouth's future have the kind of information folks want to have when they make decisions."
Ultimately, Wright said he believes that as president, he is required to protect the reputation of the College.
"I am sorry if people are troubled by my trying to get the facts out," he said. "But that is my job."
