October 3, 2007
Dartmouth Alumni Group Sues College Over Planned Changes in Board of Trustees
One of Dartmouth College’s two official alumni groups announced on Tuesday that it planned to seek a court order to prevent the institution from making a controversial change in the structure of its board. In a divided decision, the executive committee of the Dartmouth Association of Alumni voted to take legal action to block the college from filling eight newly created trustee slots. Even the alumni group’s president, William J. (Bill) Hutchinson, said he “deplores” the legal action.
Critics have blasted the planned board overhaul as diluting alumni participation, and an association official called the lawsuit a “last resort.” Dartmouth officials said the lawsuit had no legal merit. The board overhaul follows a series of increasingly bitter elections for alumni trustees, the last was followed by $300,000 in protest advertisements. —Paul Fain
Posted on Wednesday October 3, 2007 | Permalink | Comments
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“Chronicle” readers should know that the lawsuit has been filed by a cabal of reactionary Dartmouth alumni. The vast majority of College alumni find their actions embarrassing and highly counterproductive.
— Christopher C. Schons, Dartmouth Class of 1988 Oct 12, 11:26 PM #
The issues between Dartmouth Alumni and the Administration/Trustees have been developing over several years. Many alumni were ill-at-ease with the increasing Commercialization of the college, and the reduced focus on Great teaching, tough standards, rigorous indoor/outdoor challanges, etc…The administrative costs had skyrocketed, but the academic budgets had not. Alumni increased their support of candidates for the Trustee slots, pushing for REFORM ar at least, no further backsliding. This annoyed the trustees, (that their stewardship would be questioned), so they decided quickly increase the size of the Board, giving themselves the right to select the candidates—-a sort of “court packing process”, not unlike the attempt by FDR many years ago. Many alumni protest this as being Unfair and unreasonable—-a wrongful attempt to eliminate opposition.
— C B Law, Sr '53 Oct 14, 01:54 PM #