Dartblog

In culling through past issues of The D, the following contretemps surfaced.

[Trustee Stephen] Smith accused Kim of supporting [Trustee candidate] Replogle’s campaign, as Kim’s visits to alumni clubs across the country coincided with Replogle’s appearances at the same clubs. In a letter to the Editor of The Dartmouth, Smith added that he was “very distressed” to see Kim getting involved in the election.

Kim refuted the accusations.

“The notion that I was campaigning with specific candidates is absolutely false,” Kim told The Dartmouth on April 1. “I have been asked on many occasions whether I support one candidate or the other and I have said explicitly every single time that I do not.” [Emphasis added]

A little background is in order. When I announced that I was going to run for a seat on the Board, the heavy guns of negative campaigning were wheeled in from the other side. Starting in February, the charge that I would be a micromanager was repeatedly voiced by my opponents and by the boosters on the Alumni Council working in close concert with them. Somehow, it seemed, a deep knowledge of the College, wide contacts within it, and the aquaintance of people who work with Dartmouth, made me unfit for office. The word micromanager was used over and over again.

A few days before the March 10 start of voting, the following appeared on the websites of my opponents, and in campaign paper and e-mailings sent to alumni by them and their supporters:

Last Wednesday night (March 3) President Kim met with some 700 alumni at the Dartmouth Club of New York. When asked in the public Q&A session what qualifications he’d like to see in Trustees to be elected by alumni beginning March 10, President Kim [replied,] “I think we need someone who is wildly successful in his career, who would bring to the Board a wealth of experiences that would help us to take Dartmouth to new heights. I also think that what we don’t need is someone who wants to second-guess everything we do and get involved in micromanaging our administration around operational details that are really my responsibility. The Board needs a big thinker who is an accomplished, proven leader, and I need a true partner whose counsel I can seek. I’ve developed that relationship with many on the board who are world-class leaders of global companies and I think that’s a great model.” [Emphasis added]

In my campaign, I also emphasized the importance of at least one Trustee living in Hanover and being close to the daily life of the College in order that the Board have a perspective on Dartmouth independent of the Adminstration. Two weeks into the voting, the following vignette was broadly distributed by the same means as the above quotation:

Before the largest crowd in the Dartmouth Club of DC’s history, President Kim responded on Wednesday (3/24) to an alumna’s question about the optimal Trustee qualifications as follows: “This is not a management job - it’s my responsibility to manage the College. We need someone with wide experience across a broad career, who will come in for the five annual meetings and focus on the critical strategic challenges we face. And I need someone who can provide real expertise when I want to reach out for counsel. How great is it that when questions come up on human resources challenges, or other important matters, I can tap into the expertise of someone like Jeff Immelt (CEO of GE), who can give me the benefit of what he’s doing running a big business right now.” [Emphasis added]

Not to put too fine a point on it, but while President Kim did not endorse my opponents by name, any attentive voter could easily see where his sympathies lay. Imagine the Pope coming to America just before an election and emphasizing to Catholics their duty to actively oppose abortion, or an international leader speaking out prior to American voting about the importance of universal healthcare. Nobody would fail to understand their underlying political message. Certainly my opponents knew what President Kim was saying; they broadcast his remarks far and wide.

President Kim will speak in Moore Theater on Thursday on the habits of mind that are “essential for your success as students and for a lifetime of leadership.” I wonder if he will address the subject of veracity?

Note: Moore Theater’s capacity is only 481 people, yet there are over 700 students in attendance this summer. Why would President Kim’s speech be booked in such a small venue, rather than in Spaulding Auditorium (capacity: 900)? Answer: Turns out that the group Rusted Root is playing in Spaulding tonight.