Commentary

Dartmouth Undying Issues a Position Statement

on the Upcoming Trustee Elections 

Dartmouth Undying’s mission is to unite the Dartmouth family in support of Dartmouth College and its mission.  One of the ways we do that is by enabling alumni to participate in electing responsible and constructive Trustees and alumni organization leaders through fair elections.  In this spirit, we will provide information to you that will help you understand the issues and will familiarize you with the candidates for any of the open governance positions.  We have no role in the selection of candidates, but consider our role of energizing alumni to participate in the voting process critical to the welfare of the College.  We urge all alumni to know the merits of candidates for office and to VOTE when the time comes. 

The Board of Trustees has established clear criteria for the selection and conduct of  Trustees of the College.. Dartmouth Undying will urge all alumni to vote in the upcoming election for those candidates they believe will best serve the College, using these guidelines. Dartmouth Undying expects every candidate to have demonstrated personal accomplishments that will serve the needs of the College and to have shown support for the College with constructive and positive words and deeds. 

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Dartmouth Financial Issues at the Forefront

It is not within the mission of Dartmouth Undying to engage in the day-to-day governance of Dartmouth College. We do not believe that we should either tell or suggest how the College should administrate, educate or operate. We have no intention of broadening our charter in this regard.

We do believe, however, it is within our responsibility to inform alumni and others who have shown an interest in our organization about significant issues facing Dartmouth. One such issue, which is prominently in the news right now, is the financial health of the College. Because of a serious drop in the endowment of the College (see also the last paragraph here), a series of action plans are underway.

On December 1, 2009 President Kim addressed the Dartmouth community with his financial plan for the College leading up to the 250th anniversary of Dartmouth in 2019. His forty-five minute slide presentation was followed by a Q&A session for those in Alumni Hall and  it has been posted now on the budget website http://budget.dartmouth.edu/.

On January 15, 2010 President Kim gave a second presentation, and update on the work of the College to address serious financial issues. The next step is to meet with the Trustees the first week in February at their next regularly scheduled meeting. 

We further suggest you keep informed about current financial discussions by going back to this link for more detail: http://budget.dartmouth.edu/. This page, titled “Strategic Budget Reduction and Investment” will lead you to other pages of interest about the College financial plans.

 Also, you can see Dartmouth audited financial statements for the past eight years by going to this link: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~control/reporting/ppp.html. This will help you put all the numbers in perspective.

Finally, because Dartmouth is not alone in the crisis created by lower endowment values, there is a wealth of information about other colleges and universities here:

 http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&q=university+endowment+losses&start=0&sa=N

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INFORMATION ABOUT UPCOMING ALUMNI TRUSTEE ELECTIONS - 2010

For the past two years, election of Alumni Trustees has been frozen by the Dartmouth College Board of Trustees. In the fall of 2007, the Board asked both the Alumni Council (DAC) and the Association of Alumni (AOA) to amend their constitutions to allow one person - one vote balloting for all alumni trustee elections. This has been accomplished and the Trustees announced earlier in 2009 that elections may resume in 2010. Over the next three years a number of alumni trustee seats will open because of expiring terms of current trustees. In 2010 there are two open seats. After a thorough vetting process, the DAC has announced their candidate for each open seat as indicated on the Home Page of the Dartmouth Undying website. They will be presented to the alumni for a vote and the election will be held electronically and by mail for the four week period from March 10, 2010 to April 7, 2010.

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ASSOCIATION OF ALUMNI (AOA) ELECTION INFORMATION

There will also be an election of officers and executive committee members of the AOA in 2010. This election will be simultaneous with the alumni trustee election. All seats are open, but current officers may run for reelection. The slate of candidates for this eleven-person body was announced on December 21, 2009. 

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FOR THE RECORD

THE ALUMNI TRUSTEE NOMINATING PROCESS

This notice is posted so that all alumni of Dartmouth will understand the process of nominating candidates for the office of Alumni Trustee of Dartmouth College. It should be considered a reference. It was prepared for the current campaign, but it is applicable to all campaigns. Names and dates will change as appropriate in future elections.  It was prepared by the Nominating and Alumni Trustee Search Committee of the Dartmouth Alumni Council and is presented here as a service to alumni.

Dear Fellow Alumni:

 

The work of the Nominating and Alumni Trustee Search Committee is officially underway.  The purpose of this note is to advise you of where we are in the process and encourage you to help us continue to generate good ideas for candidates to consider for the upcoming election.  Our role in the coming months is to attract and recruit the best talent to run for the two open trustee seats that alumni will vote on next spring.  We are conducting a rigorous process that hopefully will identify and attract the most qualified alumni willing to serve and run.  Our goal is to create excitement among all alumni about the nominees, avoid the rancor of recent elections, continue the positive momentum established with the recent constitutional amendment that received over 80% support of those voting and maintain the goodwill generated from the recent presidential selection process.  We want to incorporate a wide spectrum of views.  We want alumni to feel good about the nominating and search process that we intend to make fair, inclusive and transparent, yet also appropriately professional and discrete to those under consideration, as all search processes need to be.

 

 The Nominating Committee operates independently of the college.  It consists of 11 members who have been appointed or elected by their peers on the Alumni Council.  The collective profile our committee is representative of not only the 116-person Alumni Council but 69,000 alumni across a number of dimensions:

 

• By class ('70, '73, '75, '80, '81, '82, '87, '89, '91);
• By geography (Boston, New York, Washington, Atlanta, Cleveland, Minneapolis, LosAngeles, San Francisco);
• By profession (consultants, professionals and executives involved in the healthcare,media, technology, financial services, search and legal professions, as well a previously in government and the non-profit sectors);
• By undergraduate major  (Government, English, Engineering, History, Archeology,Urban Studies, Asian Studies);
• By undergraduate activity (eight fraternities and sororities, three senior societies and activities that include rugby, ski patrol, rowing, riding, student government, debate, Tucker Foundation, Rockefeller Center, DOC, and LSA/FSP);
• By Dartmouth activity since graduation (with the majority serving in some capacity atsome point as interviewers, alumni fund volunteers, district enrollment directors and/or club or class presidents or other officers);
• By demographics (including four women, two people of color, a Native American and an Asian American);
• By Dartmouth legacy (including a Tuck graduate and four who are part of multi-generational Dartmouth families, either as legacies or parents);
• By leadership in the alumni community (including the current President of the Alumni Council, the President-Elect, and two other former Nominating Committee chairs).   

Each member of the Nominating Committee shares a passion for Dartmouth and will invest enormous time in this process.  We have already reviewed, over the course of ten meetings over the past two years since the last election, nearly 400 alumni profiles, including over 70 submitted since the announcement of the forthcoming election.  We have started refining that list down to approximately four dozen highly qualified potential candidates, but continue to seek input.  Although we met recently for a full day in New York City, we will have at least 3-4 more full-day sessions in New York, Boston and/or Hanover and numerous phone calls between now and early December to review every name submitted as well as others whom we believe merit consideration. 

 

 We welcome and encourage continued input from all alumni and hope that our desire for nominations is reaching everyone through at least one of the many communications thus far.  These have included an all-alumni postcard mailing, a full page ad in the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, stories in Speaking of Dartmouth and Dartmouth Life, an electronic ad in the online version of The Dartmouth, and postcard hand-outs at most major alumni events this summer and fall.  We hope that communications such as these will also be distributed by Alumni Council members, class and club presidents and class newsletter editors to their constituencies.  Please feel free to contact tdaniels@spencerstuart.com or any committee member directly with your thoughts and recommendations. THE DEADLINE TO SUBMIT ALUMNI TRUSTEE CANDIDATE NOMINATIONS FOR THE 2010 ELECTION IS NOVEMBER 3, 2009.  We look forward to hearing from you and aim to communicate with you periodically as the process evolves. 

 

The Nominating and Alumni Trustee Search Committee