To the Editor:
It is hardly news that the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) issued a statement critical of the Trustees' unilateral abrogation of the 1891 agreement in September ("Conservative Group Backs Alumni Suit," Feb. 8). In fact, the only purpose the report serves is to give David Spalding another opportunity to insinuate that the Association of Alumni Executive Committee's action to protect the alumni's contractual right to parity on the Board has been generated by alien groups.
Spalding says, "I don't know whether ACTA has had any official advisory role, but I know Frank Gado '58, the legal liaison [for the AoA in its suit against the College], has had close ties to them." A responsible journalist might have insisted that Spalding state what those "close ties" are that he "knows" exist.
During the summer, several alumni wrote to me asking about the propriety of having President Wright serve on the governance committee of the board that must evaluate his performance. Was the practice customary? I submitted the question to ACTA, which did the research and sent me an answer. That has been the full extent of my communication with ACTA since May, 2007, when the outgoing Chairman of the Board of Trustees intimated that the 1891 accord would be breached.
From my observation at two annual conferences, I can confirm that ACTA is an excellent organization, seeking to promote better higher education. I would be proud to have "ties" with ACTA as "close" as those of many conservatives as well as other prominent figures across the political spectrum -- including Senator Joe Lieberman, former Democratic governor Richard Lamm and the publisher of The New Republic Martin Peretz -- but the fact is that I do not.
The truth is that ACTA has had no role -- advisory or of any other kind -- in our suit against the Board of Trustees.
White River Junction, VT
