College finances and student life initiatives will dominate the platforms of Gail Koziara Boudreaux '82 and R. William Burgess '81, who were nominated last month by the Alumni Council for the two open seats on the Board of Trustees. The candidates who said they do not plan to run extensive campaigns will emphasize the value of long-term budget planning and motivating students to be proactive in addressing student life issues.
"When I think about the issues in the long term, first is strengthening the College's financial foundation," Boudreaux said.
Although the College was able to trim the budget with "minimal losses," rising costs in higher education nationwide require institutions to devote more attention to financial aid and maintaining need-blind admissions, Burgess said.
"We need to be very thoughtful on a daily basis," he said. "Whenever we spend on something that isn't critical, we're diminishing the money available to produce a great educational environment for students."
Strengthening students' undergraduate experience should be a central focus in considerations regarding both spending and student life, Burgess said. Burgess said he and administrators have discussed several controversial campus issues during recent months.
"In my conversations thus far with [College President Jim Yong Kim], I think he has a very balanced view about the use and abuse of alcohol on college campuses," he said.
Eliminating the Greek system a proposition that arose while Burgess was a student at the College and serving as Inter-Fraternity Council president would not solve the issues of alcohol abuse and sexual assault, he said. In order to effect change, students must not be passive bystanders when they witness questionable behavior.
"The adults at the College need to be thinking more about inculcating that sense of leadership in the students everyday, and Dartmouth students need to think about how they demonstrate leadership in their communities," he said.
Because alcohol abuse and sexual assault incidents often occur "in a place where somebody might know something is going to happen," it is the students' responsibility to take action, according to Burgess.
Boudreaux stressed the importance of "open conversation" about both issues.
Both candidates have shifted focus away from the issue of parity between Board-appointed and alumni-elected trustee seats, which played a visible role in recent elections after the College's 2007 decision to increase the number of charter trustee seats. This action sparked two lawsuits by alumni groups, the second of which is still pending review by the New Hampshire Supreme Court, The Dartmouth previously reported.
The major issue currently confronting the College is not "whether the Board is 50 percent elected by alumni," Burgess said.
"What we need to focus on in the College is having a great teaching environment with small classes," he said. "We need to have a culture with exemplary leadership on the campus, and we need to focus on innovation in teaching."
When the College decided to increase the number of charter trustee seats, only a small group of alumni had strong opinions on the issue of parity, according to Alumni Council President Thomas Peisch '70.
"There remain a handful of alumni that brought a new case that's on appeal now, but I think the steam is out of the parity movement," Peisch said. "And given the expense associated with these lawsuits, I say good riddance."
Although the expansion of charter trustee seats was intended to allow the College to target candidates with certain skill sets, the limited ability of alumni to influence who is elected to the Board can actually create increased homogeneity, according to former petition candidate Joseph Asch '79.
"I believe that many alumni have lost faith in the Board due to its relinquishment of parity," Asch said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth. "The Board is now made up of a self-perpetuating in-group of MBA-holding investors and business executives."
Trustees should spend more time at the College engaging with faculty, students and staff, according to Asch.
"[Current trustees] do not do this how could they with all that they have taken on? and therefore Dartmouth's Board will continue to be a rubber-stamp board," Asch wrote in his e-mail.
Most trustees have backgrounds in finance, investment and business administration, The Dartmouth previously reported. Only a few including the Board's most recent appointment, Annette Gordon-Reed '81 hail from academia.
Individuals with business backgrounds do not necessarily share the same skill sets or arrive with identical experiences, according to Boudreaux.
"I think there are different types of business people, and I don't really lump them all together," she said. "I also think there is a lot of access to academics in the administration and faculty already."
As a complicated organization, the College requires a governing body with members that can address issues of management, finance and strategic planning, Burgess said.
As the president of UnitedHealthcare, Boudreaux said her professional experience will benefit the College as it assumes a global leadership role with the 2009 Dartmouth Center for Health Care Delivery Science.
"I think because of the assets at Dartmouth, we're in a unique position to be a leader," she said. "One of my passions is around finding a solution to cost equality and access for health care. What's exciting is that [the Center] is really solving one of our most important problems."
Boudreaux and Burgess both said they plan to focus on meeting alumni and discussing their opinions over the next several months rather than running extensive campaigns.
"To a certain extent, there was a feeling from alumni that they were being inundated and they don't really want to see that much campaigning," Burgess said. "I certainly don't want to force myself into people's living rooms."
Boudreaux intends to utilize business travel as an opportunity to meet Dartmouth alumni across the nation and will attend the Dartmouth Club and Affiliated Group Officers Weekend on campus during Winter Carnival weekend in February, she said.
Individuals can submit documents to run as petition candidates until Feb. 3. Voting in the Trustee election will occur from Mar. 9 to April 6.
