On June 10 in Hanover, I had the pleasure of watching my eldest daughter graduate with 1021 of Dartmouth's newest alumni in the Class of 2007. Among all their many accomplishments and accolades, it stood out to me that a record breaking 80 percent of these splendid new alumni had already done something which our most recently elected petitioner trustee has not seen fit to do since his own graduation in 1988. They have made a personal gift to the Dartmouth College Fund. Nor had the petitioner trustee given a minute of his time in service to Dartmouth prior to being seated on its Board. There is not another college or university board in the country that would welcome an alumni trustee with these disabling credentials. But Dartmouth just did.
I wish recent Board member Steven Smith well now that he holds our trust.
Having said that, his campaign was troubling and hurtful to a great many alumni who have given generously of their time and money over the years in support of Dartmouth. His anonymously funded campaign noisily argued that there is an alumni "establishment" populated by insiders, that this establishment is a really bad thing, and that the petitioner candidate was virtuously independent from it. In the process, there were thousands of loyal alumni who were made to feel vilified, disrespected and powerless by a candidate who had never given anything back to Dartmouth and whopledged independence froman "establishment"which clearlyincluded all alumni. I certainly felt that way.
By my reckoning, the petitioner trustee's two mass mailings to alums would have cost at least $50,000. A price tag like this for a successful campaign is a serious problem all by itself. I for one would like to see this money go to Dartmouth's ongoing capital campaign rather than to trustee electoral politics.
I cannot agree that the alumni trustee electoral system is working well in the context of the overall governance of Dartmouth. From my point of view, after 116 years it could use thoughtful re-examination, careful study, and perhaps even robust public debate. In my opinion, we cannot afford to have any more alumni trustees who have not previously demonstrated any significant track record of voluntarism or support for Dartmouth. Nor can we afford to have sitting alumni trustees who not only do not recognize the need to make appropriate annual financial contributions of their own to Dartmouth but also fail to respect the views and generosity of alumni who do.
I am certain the "Williams plan" never contemplated such a thing could happen back in 1891 when the Board decided that half of the ten trustees then sitting should be alumni. But times have surely changed since then.
There are some who quite clearly want to frame the issues for the upcoming governance study in terms of whether Dartmouth is actually in bad shape with President James Wright to blame. In a triumph of democracy, they contend, popular petitioner candidates are winning elections because they do not believe Dartmouth is in great shape and do not support Wright. I would rather frame the issues for the upcoming governance study in terms of whether an alumni candidate who has never given a dime or a minute to Dartmouth is qualified to sit on its Board of Trustees and whether a system which produces such an alarming result is working well or badly broken. I argue it is broken.
I welcome the recently announced initiative of the Board Governance Committee to undertake, as they put it, a "review of the size, composition, and selection of Trustees to ensure the College has a strong and effective governing body that will continue to maintain Dartmouth's tradition of excellence," as long as it is done with transparency. I also think it is highly laudable, as was simultaneously announced, that "the Committee is soliciting input for its evaluation from alumni, students, faculty, staff, parents and others."
Dartmouth today faces fierce competition to maintain and enhance its status as the finest undergraduate college anywhere. Now more than ever it is counting on its alumni and friends to provide the support required to do so. For our Board of Trustees to do nothing under these circumstances would, in my view, be irresponsible.
For the record, 16 of the 18 sitting Dartmouth trustees are alumni. Only the governor of New Hampshire and President Wright are not. No one is talking about eliminating alumni representation on the Board.
The Dartmouth that I know and love consists of every last one of its students and alumni, each of whom became a lifetime insider from the moment of matriculation onward. This Dartmouth stands tall and will not yield to transitory divisiveness. This Dartmouth has been built and sustained for 238 years by the generosity of countless alumni and friends to whom we all owe our everlasting thanks. It has always been and still is an exceptionally good place.
If you don't believe me, just ask the Class of 2007. They voted with their wallets on the way out.
