To the Editor:
Merle Adelman '80's letter ("Picking Sides, Feb. 9) is a wonderful example of the kind of distortion that marks too much of our political life. While Mrs. Adelman is entitled to her opinions, she is not entitled to her own facts.
She starts her letter by wrongly asserting that I supported the recently ended litigation because I attended the hearing in Grafton County court and spoke with Frank Gado '58, rather than attending an Alumni Council meeting. That's not very strong evidence. However she accurately quotes me criticizing the litigation as "a waste of resources, "as "lost time," as "engendering conflict" a quotation that contradicts her statement. Mrs. Adelman describes me as having sought to "tear down" College President Jim Yong Kim. However she knows that in the Valley News interview in question, my praise for Kim ("a breath of fresh air," "a problem solver," "a chance to turn things around") was the counterpoint to concern about Kim's administrative experience and academic background.
Balanced judgment is not Mrs. Adelman's forte. She seems to believe that if people do not think that Dartmouth is perfect, then they cannot support the College. I never stated that I would not hire Kim "as a CEO." I merely observed that Kim was an unusual choice because he had not run a college - not unlike hiring someone to lead a company who had never run a business. The New York Times said the same thing.
