REFERENCED E-MAIL MESSAGES:

> –––- Forwarded message –––-
>
> From: Concerned Alumna <
>
>
> This trustee election matters tremendously for the future of
> Dartmouth College and it’s critical that all alumni take the time
> to understand the issues and positions of each candidate, and
> VOTE.
>
> To refresh your memory, the trustee election allows for multiple
> voting, so you can vote for one or six people, with the persons
> having the highest numerical total winning.
>
> As a concerned alumna, I believe that the two petition candidates
> – Peter Robinson ‘79 and Todd Zywicki ‘88 — present destructive
> views of the College, that their election would be highly damaging
> for the institution and President James Wright, and that their
> messages about wanting to make Dartmouth better are really ‘code’
> for going backwards. I highly urge you NOT to vote for them, and
> tell others as well; here are some points I would encourage you to
> share:
>
> Athletics – Dartmouth athletes would be stunned to hear that
> they’re mediocre, per Peter Robinson (neither Robinson or Zywicki
> were athletes at Dartmouth). The women’s basketball team is
> undefeated in Ivy League play, and men’s hockey is ranked 17th
> nationally, with women’s ranked #2. Men’s soccer won the Ivy
> League title, the figure skating team was national champion in
> 2004, the Rugby Football team has qualified for the nationals this
> spring, and men’s basketball just defeated Princeton, Cornell and
> Columbia: quite a hat trick for first year coach Terry Dunn!
>
> If athletics is in disrepute at Dartmouth, consider the University
> of Michigan: Dartmouth has 34 teams with a student population of
> 4,500, while national powerhouse Michigan has only 27, with a
> student population of 38,000. Since 1969, Dartmouth has increased
> the student body by 35 percent, but the number of teams by 70
> percent. President Wright has stated repeatedly that
> intercollegiate athletics activities are a central part of the
> educational experience at Dartmouth.
>
> Football – Buddy Teevens ‘79 is the new Dartmouth football coach
> and he’s satisfied that Dartmouth is an environment to which he
> can recruit football players successfully, with the full support
> of the President, the athletic director, the dean of admissions
> and the dean of students – all focused on supporting Dartmouth’s
> strongest winning record in the Ivy League.
>
> Undergraduate focus – What Dartmouth has is what every other
> college wants. The Dartmouth academic experience is rich and full,
> and student satisfaction is at its highest levels ever. If either
> petition candidate spent time on campus, they’d see how vibrant
> student life is, with nearly 300 student groups. The number of
> applicants to the class of 2009 is the highest in Dartmouth
> history!
>
> To quote students in The Dartmouth: “Dartmouth isn’t perfect, but
> keep it all in perspective. To focus on what’s wrong about
> Dartmouth is to miss out on everything that’s right about it.” The
> petition candidates claim the administration (and current Board)
> has weakened Dartmouth; clearly virtually all students disagree!
>
> Dartmouth’s future – Let’s talk about continuing Dartmouth’s pre-
> eminence in 2050, not what Dartmouth was in 1950. No great
> institution focuses on its rear view mirror. A new Booz Allen
> survey recognized Dartmouth as one of the 10 most enduring
> institutions in the world, with the likes of GE, Oxford and The
> Rolling Stones. Dartmouth isn’t ‘broken,’ in fact it’s terrific.
>
> Faculty – The Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience targets
> support for 25 new Arts & Sciences faculty positions to further
> decrease class size. 96% of Dartmouth students surveyed are
> satisfied with faculty! If Dartmouth’s priorities change, there’s
> a substantial risk that the College would lose many bright lights,
> especially younger, talented educators.
>
> The petition candidates say Dartmouth faculty members don’t like
> teaching, preferring research. Yet student guides to colleges
> consistently rate Dartmouth faculty as among the most exciting and
> involved professors across the country. Zywicki himself hasn’t
> taught students at George Mason University for TWO YEARS as he
> worked at the FTC and is now visiting at Georgetown Law Center.
> Dartmouth professors teach at Dartmouth!
>
> Alumni involvement – Neither petition candidate has meaningful
> participation as alumni. Other alumni have contributed MILLIONS of
> man-hours, interviewing and recruiting students, running clubs and
> class organizations, serving on Alumni Council, contributing to
> the College Fund, etc. It’s fine to be an outsider, but you owe
> the institution involvement FIRST. “Hijacking” the Dartmouth Board
> of Trustees isn’t the way we operate at Dartmouth.
>
> Greek organizations – today there are more Greek organizations
> than when either petition candidate was a student. There is no
> ‘war against fraterNities and sororities.’ President Wright has
> publicly stated his support for them, and recently Phi Delta
> Fraternity was rechartered.
>
> Free speech – the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education is
> a self-appointed group that allegedly monitors speech on campuses.
> It rates most Ivy League colleges, as well as Stanford and MIT and
> many other top colleges, poorly. Why isn’t Peter Robinson fired up
> about Stanford? Moreover, Trustee TJ Rodgers has written to FIRE
> recommending upgrading Dartmouth’s rating because HE IS CONVINCED
> THAT THE COLLEGE PROTECTS FREE SPEECH!
>
> The petition candidates claim to be running independent campaigns,
> but their materials were mailed from the same PO box in White
> River Junction and are EXACTLY the same. Mmmm.

> Lastly, Robinson and Zywicki both speak about their debt to
> Dartmouth for their education, their friendships and their
> careers. Has either repaid that debt? Ask them. After all, alumni
> generosity is what allows Dartmouth to continue to educate each
> generation and if you’re not supporting the College, you’re
> preventing someone else from benefiting as you have.

*****
From John Kalb “03

Re: Trustee Election

I hate to add to the growing blitzwar, but I just wanted to add a couple thoughts.

The anonymous “concerned alumna” hits it right on the head in the third paragraph, perhaps without intending to: this election is a referendum on where the College is going, and more specifically, on Dartmouth’s current leadership.

Personally, I vote no confidence.

During my freshman year, Susan Dentzer was quoted in the New York Times magazine as saying, “we do strongly believe in free choice. But, we want those choices to be very structured kinds of choices.”

That’s what this is about: control.

And don’t think this power grab is restricted to undergrads. In 1990, fewer than 200 alums were invited to an Alumni Association meeting — allegedly for “housekeeping matters” — to amend their constitution so that the Board could re-elect Alumni Trustees without consulting the Association, and to route the nomination process through the College’s Alumni Relations office.

Since then, there have been several further attempts to further disenfranchise alumni by watering down the Association’s power by adding numerous un-elected members.

This isn’t just about sports, or about frats, or about most of the issues mentioned below. This is about an Administration that is committed to insulating itself, and which treats the students and alums — the heart and soul of Dartmouth — with contempt.

Sure, there have been some tactical victories lately. The College backed off its attempts to eliminate the swim team and to regulate the Greek system because they were facing an enormous alumni revolt, and President Wright has been talking a better talk.

But that doesn’t mean that the current leadership hasn’t harmed the College, or that they deserve a vote of confidence.

When I applied to Dartmouth, the alumni giving rate was 60%. Last year, it was 47.4%. How can the current Administration lead the Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience if they’ve burned so many bridges?

Moreover, a lot of the arguments in this letter are bizarre. For example, why does it matter that neither Zywicki nor Robinson was an athlete as an undergrad? Lots of independents support a strong Greek system, and no one calls that inconsistent. Also, how does their lack of participation as alums have anything to do with their love of Dartmouth? Generally, if one likes a ship, one won’t take part in sinking it.

John

*****