To the Editor:
The results of the trustee race are in, and they speak for themselves. The Council-nominated candidates won in a veritable rout. But before the anti-divisiveness set sings a triumphal round of Kumbaya, it's worth considering what the results mean, and what they don't.
Petitioner Joe Asch '79 is famous for the bluntness of his written word. An intimate observer of College affairs, he says exactly what he sees, with no artificial sweeteners. That's why I was proud to support him. But what attracted the thick-skinned few alienated the many.
Meanwhile, Asch's ideas were consistently prescient. College President Jim Yong Kim is moving with urgency to prune the bureaucracy, cut lavish benefits and outsource management of the Hanover Inn all strategies that Asch has advocated for years. Asch's electoral loss was a repudiation not of his views, but of his manner of expressing them.
Acrimony may not be healthy for Dartmouth, but disagreement is vital. Alumni are uniquely qualified to comment on how the College has changed, both for the better and for the worse. And as Asch's case illustrates, the greater the diversity of alumni opinion, the better equipped administrators will be to tackle today's challenges.
To this end, I urge all three candidates who were in the race to continue to speak out on College affairs. And I urge the administration to keep its ears open. Where problems exist course lockouts, insufficient social space, the dullness of upperclass dorm life administrators should swallow their pride and confront the problems honestly, no matter who points them out. That will make a stronger Dartmouth for everyone.
