Dartmouth Alumni Association Petition Slate:

I see that a group of Dartmouth Alumni have qualified for the ballot as petition candidates to run for the leadership of the Dartmouth Alumni Association Executive Committee. As Dartmouth alumni may be aware, a new Dartmouth alumni constitution has been proposed that would dramatically change the election process for voting for trusteees, and in particular, would change the rules for petition candidates to gain access to the ballot as well as changing the voting rules for trustee elections. The full text of the proposed alumni constitution is available Alumni Relations homepage. The petition slate for the leadership of the alumni association pledge that they will oppose the proposed changes to the alumni constitution that would change the trustee petition process and voting rules.

You should visit their web page if you want more information (including commentary on the proposed alumni constitution), but they summarize their platform as follows:

Our petition slate of candidates pledges to:

Amend the existing constitution to allow all alumni to vote in Association elections, whether they are physically in Hanover or not; restore the right of alumni to vote for the second term of alumni trustees (taken away from alumni in 1990 without notice); and insist the Administration accept budget transparency as offered at many other colleges.

Preserve the current petition trustee electoral process, provide full disclosure of election results; oppose any change in the constitution that restricts alumni participation; give dissenting voices access to College publications.

Support the preservation of Dartmouth as primarily a liberal arts college, with its resources concentrated toward achieving the highest level of undergraduate education.

I have not been able to locate any information about the those who have been nominated by the alumni association or whether they support the proposed changes to the alumni constitution and trustee election rules. If that information is available, somebody please send me the information and I will update this post to provide links to the relevant material.

Voting for the alumni association leadership will be October 23 (Sunday of Homecoming Weekend) at 11:00 a.m. Specific information about the meeting is available here.

Regardless of who your support and your views on the new alumni constitution and trustee election rules, I hope that all Dartmouth alumni will make an effort to attend the meeting of the alumni association meeting to vote for the alumni leadership and to express your views on the new constitution. This is, obviously, a very important election for Dartmouth's future.

Let me make very clear that this post is not intended as an endorsement of either the alumni association nor the petition slate, but simply urging alumni to participate in the alumni association meeting on October 23.