Correction appended
The Dartmouth Association of Alumni has decided to withdraw its request for a preliminary injunction against the College, according to an announcement by Dartmouth's general counsel office on Monday afternoon. The Association's petition for injunctive and declarative relief, the second and more extended element of the organization's lawsuit, will continue to move forward.
The Association initially filed its suit on Oct. 3, seeking a preliminary injunction that would stop the board from moving forward with its plans to add eight new trustees, along with a separate petition requesting a long-term judicial solution. The case was scheduled for a hearing Nov. 9, just prior to the board's meeting this weekend when the new members were to be announced.
In response to this timing, the board decided on Oct. 11 to move the date on which it would announce the new board members to February. This change was announced in the College's Oct. 26 motion to dismiss.
"The decision to change the date for the election of charter trustees was based on the assessment that [the court would be required] to rule on a preliminary injunction motion the same day that the board was about to elect new trustees," Bob Donin, Dartmouth general counsel, said in a past interview with The Dartmouth. "[This] would not have given the court adequate time to acquaint itself with the legal issues."
By February, the case might have already been decided and the preliminary injunction barring the addition of the new trustees might have no longer been needed. This possibility led the Association to withdraw its request for a preliminary injunction on Monday. The Nov. 9 hearing was also canceled.
"Once the board decided that it would not announce the newly-minted trustees, then clearly the need for a preliminary injunction was no longer there," said Frank Gado '58, a member of the Association executive committee who voted in favor of the Association's lawsuit.
In the Monday announcement, the College also released the judicial schedule for the case. The Association will file its response to the College's Oct. 26 motion to dismiss on Nov. 16, which will be followed by the College's reply on Dec. 7. A hearing has yet to be scheduled.
The original headline of this article stated that the Association of Alumni had withdrawan its lawsuit against the College. It only withdrew its request for a preliminary injunction, not the suit itself.
