Dartblog

Following procedures laid out in the Association of Alumni constitution, recent Alumni Trustee elections have followed the below schedule:

• May to Early December: Alumni Council Trustee Nominating Committee interviews potential Trustee candidates.


• Early December: Committee announces candidate(s); 60-day petition period begins.


• Early February: Petitioner(s) must submit 500 signatures to earn a place on ballot.


• Early February to April 1: Campaign period


• April 1 to May 15: Voting


• May 16: Results announced

As we saw yesterday, 97.5% of the spending in Stephen Smith’s campaign was incurred in paying for mailings to alumni, advertising in the Alumni Magazine and placing on-line ads on The Dartmouth’s website. A proposal: If the AoA agreed to cover these specific costs in the future for both Alumni-Council-nominated candidates and petition candidates, in exchange for limits on other campaign spending, I would be surprised if the petition candidates didn’t accept such an offer.

Spending by petitioners would necessarily be unlimited during the petition-gathering period that takes place before voting starts, in order that petitioners may gather the necessary signatures. However, after the petition deadline, the College would cover the cost of ads by the candidates in the D and the DAM and, say, two joint mailings: one at the start of campaigning, and one just before the start of voting. Each mailing would include two sheets of paper per candidate on which candidates could write whatever they wished. That would be the allowed extent of written communications mailed by the candidates to alumni. The College could also organize limited e-mails by the candidates. The cost of web sites, columns for the D, and travel to Hanover would be borne by the candidates themselves as evidence of their commitment to the College.

If campaigns were organized in this manner, no serious candidate for the position of Trustee would be dissuaded from running due to financial considerations. In addition, the College would benefit from a thorough presentation of all of the issues that are important to candidates and alumni. Open debates on the state of the College are now Dartmouth’s signature; they are vital in focusing the adminstration on its stated goals and keeping alumni linked to day-to-day life in Hanover. Gone forever are the days when an Alumni Trustee campaign consisted of a summary of the candidates’ résumés and brief position statements wherein the word “excellence” appeared as many times as was grammatically feasible.

Voting starts in less than seven months.