Two alumni-run nonprofit organizations The Hanover Institute and Dartmouth Undying, groups which have supported opposing candidates in recent Board of Trustees and Association of Alumni elections each raised about $500,000 in donations in 2008 for election efforts, according to representatives from both organizations. Each organization has spent tens of thousands of dollars of these donations to fund e-mail and mailing campaigns to support candidates in recent and current Board and Association elections.
In the ongoing Board and Association elections, Dartmouth Undying has endorsed Alumni Council-nominated trustee candidates John Replogle '88 and Morton Kondracke '60, as well as the "Unity" slate for the Association executive committee led by incumbent Association presidential candidate John Mathias '69.
The Hanover Institute is currently supporting the petition slate led by J. Michael Murphy '61 that is opposed to Mathias in the Association election. Although the Hanover Institute has supported Board petition candidates in the past, it has not provided support for current Board petition candidate Joe Asch '79.
The organizations both of which were founded by separate groups of College alumni are listed as 501(c)(3) organizations, which receive tax exemptions due to "charitable, religious, educational, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, fostering national or international amateur sports competition and preventing cruelty to children or animals" purposes, according to the Internal Revenue Service web site.
"As is the purpose of the Hanover Institute, we raise money from alumni to support good Dartmouth men and women, independent candidates running for office in Dartmouth elections," Hanover Institute founder John MacGovern '80 said.
MacGovern said the Hanover Institute was founded to "get the message out to Dartmouth alumni about matters relating to Dartmouth College," as well as to disseminate information about candidates in Association elections and "electing good independent trustees."
Dartmouth Undying, which has supported Alumni Council and Association-nominated candidates in recent years, has sent two mailings on behalf of the Mathias slate, Martha Beattie '76, one of Dartmouth Undying's leaders during the current election period, said in an interview last week.
Dartmouth Undying, officially incorporated in February 2008, hopes to share the "truth about the College" with alumni and to combat "disinformation" that was released by members of the College community in recent years, according to Michael Choukas, Jr. '51. Choukas is listed as the president of Dartmouth Undying on the organization's 2008 990-EZ tax filing form with the IRS.
Henry Nachman, Jr. '51 Tu '55, the current treasurer of Dartmouth Undying, told The Dartmouth that Beattie is the current president of Dartmouth Undying. Beattie could not be subsequently reached for comment.
Nachman also said the organization is independent from the College.
"We chose to create [Dartmouth Undying] because a lot of misinformation was floating around and petition candidates were by default getting elected, and we just felt that it was important that the information be disseminated by a group that was not connected to the College," he said.
The group was founded after several local alumni began meeting in 2007, although it was only officially incorporated after the Association filed a lawsuit against the College in the fall of 2007, Choukas said. The lawsuit contended that the Board's September 2007 decision to expand the number of charter-selected trustees , which ended the parity between charter-selected and alumni-elected trustees, violated an agreement made in 1891 that the Association executive board at the time saw as legally binding.
"We didn't pick the name Dartmouth Undying until late when we finally realized with this lawsuit that we really had a mission to try to get out and get a new executive committee elected [for the Association], to support one, and that became our main mission in 2008," he said.
Mathias said that Dartmouth Undying was "formed in response to the money that [the Hanover Institute] had been spending campaigning unopposed," since petition candidates were supported by the efforts of the Hanover Institute in the four campaigns starting when petition trustee T.J. Rodgers '70 was elected in 2004.
Choukas served as College director of Alumni Relations for 10 years and retired in 1994. Choukas emphasized that Dartmouth Undying was founded, and remains, "completely independent of the College," explaining that he was no longer involved with the alumni relations office following his retirement.
Murphy said that he does not "see a great disconnect" between whether Choukas is actively employed by the College or if he was a former member of the administration because of his background and way of thinking.
"I don't accept the words completely independent of the College,'" Murphy said. "I feel Choukas was a surrogate for the administration."
Mathias said Murphy's claim is "ridiculous" and "does not deserve a consideration."
"[Choukas] retired 15 years ago, and to suggest that the College is behind [Dartmouth Undying] because Choukas is involved is crazy," Mathias said.
Murphy also raised concern that Dartmouth Undying has not publicly disclosed the names of its leaders, in contrast to the Hanover Institute, of which John MacGovern '80 is specifically identified as president.
"[MacGovern] is open and honest," Murphy said. "Choukas has never disclosed his name."
Mathias said claims that Dartmouth Undying is a secretive organization are unfounded because all of its members are listed on the organization's web site. Mathias added that none of the Hanover Institute's members are listed on its web site beyond MacGovern.
Choukas, Nachman and Beattie explained that the organization is chiefly run by a group of about 20 alumni who decide the organization's strategy. Both Choukas and Nachman said they were assigned their titles for legal reasons in order to file tax forms.
"We just think it's better that we be very behind the scenes," Nachman said.
Dartmouth Undying raised $507,733 in donations in 2008, according to the organization's filing with the IRS.
Murphy called this amount of money "astounding" and "unprecedented," saying he believes the money was used solely to support the Mathias slate in the 2008 Association election.
"It's just incredible that they raised that much money, not just for a trustee position, but for an Association leadership election," Murphy said.
The 2008 Association election saw a face-off between presidential candidates Mathias and Murphy. Mathias promised to end the Association's lawsuit, while Murphy's slate intended to continue it. The "Unity" slate, led by Mathias, was elected in 2008 with 60 percent of the vote and withdrew the lawsuit with prejudice.
Mathias explained that the 2008 Association election was the year when the primary issue was whether the lawsuit brought by the 2007 Association would be continued, which was "a seminal issue."
According to Dartmouth Undying's 2008 tax filing, $120,295 was spent on "mailings and materials" and $243,563 was spent on "research."
"The research was to find out what alumni think about their College, about the Alumni Council and how they are represented," Nachman said. "We thought it was important before we determined to go out and educate alumni to find out what they think."
The Hanover Institute received $499,994 in donations in 2008, according to its 990 tax filing form with the IRS that year.
Murphy said comparing this sum of contributions to Dartmouth Undying's for that year is like "comparing apples and oranges" since the majority of the money the Hanover Institute received was used towards funding the lawsuits, while Dartmouth Undying's donations were used for election expenses.
According to the tax form, the Hanover Institute received donations of $838,117 in 2007, $205,676 in 2006, $148,851 in 2005 and $75,868 in 2004. The Association lawsuit was filed in 2007.
Mathias said the 2008 election was the first time that an organization raised money for candidates opposing those financed by the Hanover Institute. He said he does not support the large amounts of money being spent in alumni elections, although the Hanover Institute and Murphy showed opposition to limiting campaign finances when Mathias formed an election reform committee last year.
The Hanover Institute's 2008 tax form lists James Hardigg '80, Michael Pryor '04, John Flitner '52 and Frank Gado '58 as directors of the organization. In an interview with The Dartmouth on Tuesday, Gado described himself as a member of the Hanover Institute's board.
Gado was a member of the 2007 Association executive committee that originally filed the lawsuit against the College. The Hanover Institute has paid the plaintiffs' legal fees for both the Association lawsuit and a second lawsuit subsequently filed on the same issue by an independent group of alumni in November 2008.
Gado explained that his role on the Hanover Institute's board remained separate from his position on the Association executive committee, adding that he did not and still does not know who made contributions to the Hanover Institute.
Staff writer Madeline Sims contributed reporting to this article.
