Dartmouth Establishment Campaigns Again

Alumni Council member J. Michael Houlahan ’61 forwarded an email to various alumni publicizing the latest campaign message from Alumni for a Strong Dartmouth. The email was sent to him directly from Geoff Berlin ’84, the mastermind of the ASD website and one of the group’s primary supporters.

Berlin’s email:

From: [Geoff Berlin ’84 ]To: [J. Michael Houlahan ’61]Subject: STRONG DARTMOUTH: Rebuttal on the issues
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2005 9:09 AM

Dear J. Michael,

ALUMNI FOR A STRONG DARTMOUTH seeks to advance the debate on the election issues that have been raised by the candidates.

We offer a rebuttal to the views expressed by the petition candidates on the following issues:

– Has Dartmouth strayed in its mission?
– Does Dartmouth have too few faculty?
– Does Dartmouth have the right faculty?
– Does Dartmouth repress free speech?
– Does Dartmouth have the right trustees?

You will find this rebuttal at http://strongdartmouth.org/rebuttal.html

Please pass this link on to your Dartmouth friends and classmates.

Thanks for all you are doing to get out the vote!

Best regards,

Geoff Berlin ’84

This email, apparently establishing a link between Berlin and the Alumni Council through Councilor Houlahan, creates a further tangle on the already complex web of connections that ties the College to this group.

Officially, ASD is not violating the alumni Trustee election rules, which prohibit “campaigning by the candidate or his/her supporters” beyond two official emails. But ASD isn’t exactly holding to the spirit of those regulations, either, however badly designed and unduly restrictive the rules may be.