Campaign finance reform for Dartmouth Board of Trustee and Association of Alumni elections is politically untenable at this time, according to a report released on Thursday by an Association committee tasked with exploring the issue.
"Although the clear majority of those responding recognize that the amount of money involved in alumni trustee and AoA Executive Committee campaigning in recent elections raises serious issues worthy of attention, the Dartmouth alumni community is significantly divided over whether anything can or should be done about it through the medium of changed election rules or guidelines," the report states.
The report the result of several months of research and analysis comes after a series of elections that have been increasingly contentious and expensive. In the most recent race for an alumni-elected seat on the Board of Trustees, top-tier candidates spent over $100,000 on their campaigns.
Although the committee did not find a consensus among active alumni on how to address spending in campaigns, the committee did express general principles that it said should serve as guidelines on the issue.
"Elections should not be influenced by the amount of money spent campaigning," the Association committee said, adding that "petition candidates should never be disadvantaged by any restrictive election guidelines or rules."
The Association committee did make two proposals, recommending that the election period be shortened from six to four weeks and that candidates be allowed to have "more expansive personal statements" in ballot mailings and on the College-sponsored election web site.
This is a breaking news web update. More information will be added as it becomes available.
