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An Alumni Councillor Reports: Pre-empting the Election at Dartmouth
Grant Bosse ‘94 reports on his blog that he was the only Alumni Councillor to dissent from the Council’s otherwise unanimous nomination (89-1) of only a single candidate for each of the two open Alumni Trustee slots:
The Dartmouth Alumni Council just voted 89-1 to nominate two candidates for the two Trustee positions up for election next spring. I was the one. Never before have I felt like such a voice crying out in the wilderness.
The Nominating Committee brought forward two outstandingly qualified candidates, Mort Kondracke ‘60 and John Replogle ‘88. Both men are extemely distinguished in the field, both made the trip to Hanover to introduce themselves to the Council this weekend, and both spoke passionately about their love of Dartmouth.
While I can’t quiblle with the Nominating Committee’s work in filtering the field of Dartmouth graduates down to a pair of Trustee candidates, I am left to wonder the point of an election with only one candidate for each office.
Tom Daniels ‘82 Chaired the Nominating Committee, and justified the decision to limit the field to one candidate based on “rumblings” that other candidates would surely emerge through the petition process, and that they wanted to ensure a one-on-one contest. Yet there is no guarantee that a petition candidate will qualify for the spring ballot, or that there will be only one challenger. What the Nominating Committee has done is game the system in an attempte to redetermine the outcome of the Alumni election.
Voters deserve a choice. That needs to be the cornerstone of any election. Yet the Nominating Committee, and the Council through its vote today, has decided to substitute its judgement for that of the voters. There are real issues facing Dartmouth, and real choices on where the College goes under the Kim Administration and beyond. Kondracke and Replogle may be outstanding Trustees, and might end up supporting them both once I learn about their priorities for Dartmouth. But I would never use my new position as my Class Representative on the Alumni Council to tell my classmates how to vote. I’m going to try my best to get them good information about both candidates, even if they end up unopposed, so that my classmates and the rest of the Dartmouth Community can make an informed choice.
Elections are inherently messy. Tempered get frayed and feelings get hurt. But the Nominating Committee, in its zeal to avoid any unpleasantness, is generating far more division. In a conference call before my first meeting of the Alumni Council, I was instructed that it my job not just to communicate the actions of the Council to my classmates, but also to advocate for the election of their slate of candidates. I’m skeptical of In Loco Parentis when it comes to college students. This paternalistic doctrine certainly has no place after graduation.
I may be wrong, but despite today’s vote, I know I’m not alone. We deserve a real choice about the direction Dartmouth takes. I’m sick of Trustee Elections being all about how we elect Trustees. Let’s trust our classmates to choose between competing ideas amongst qualified candidates who all love Dartmouth. Let’s have a real election, and then let’s move Dartmouth forward together.
Grant Bosse ‘94
Alumni Council Representative
Dartmouth Broadcasting Board of Overseers
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