Election Rules Violations — II

In the second apparent violation of the alumni Trustee election rules in as many days, Alumni for a Strong Dartmouth founder Geoff Berlin ’84 has written an op-ed in the Daily Dartmouth explicitly attacking petition candidates Peter Robinson ’79 and Todd Zywicki ’88. In his 714-word article, Berlin named the candidates and called them “disparaging” of Dartmouth, “utterly mistaken” and “alarming,” adding that they are “inclined to mislead.”

The Trustee election rules, however, prohibit “any effort to garner votes” in “the form of written, electronic or telephone communications.” Presumably, attacking one slate of candidates to benefit another would meet this definition.

Much of Berlin’s Buzzflood-esque rhetoric is identical to that on the Strong Dartmouth website. In his op-ed, Berlin writes,

The petition candidates would also lead one to believe that Dartmouth’s commitment to teaching is waning, or as Robinson puts it, that “too many [Dartmouth professors] see teaching as a burden they must endure to perform their real work, research.” In fact, Dartmouth scores at the very top of U.S. News and World Report’s rankings in undergraduate teaching. The reality is that scholarship goes hand in hand with teaching and, in any profession, those who maintain the highest standards of excellence are the most inspiring mentors or teachers.

The website, registered to Berlin’s name, has this to say on the same topic:

Some people believe that Dartmouth’s commitment to teaching is waning, that too many Dartmouth professors see teaching as a burden to be endured in order to perform research. In fact, Dartmouth scores at the very top of U.S. News and World Report’s rankings in undergraduate teaching. … Alumni for a Strong Dartmouth is convinced that scholarship goes hand in hand with teaching and that, in any profession, those who maintain the highest standards of excellence are the most inspiring mentors or teachers.

The only difference between the two selections is that the op-ed names one of the candidates, suggesting that Strong Dartmouth’s stated mission to clarify the “issues and positions of the candidates” is a touch misleading.

With regard to sports, Berlin again copied-and-pasted from the group’s website. His op-ed says,

The petition candidates, neither of whom was an athlete at Dartmouth, mislead alumni to believe that the College’s commitment to athletics is also waning. … Men’s soccer won the Ivy League title, and the rugby football team has qualified for the nationals this spring. Men’s hockey is ranked 17th nationally and women’s hockey is ranked third in the country. Women’s basketball is leading the Ivy League and men’s basketball is in a three-way tie for second place. The Dartmouth figure-skating team was national champion in 2004!

And on the Strong Dartmouth website, almost exactly the same language is used:

Some people, even two in particular who weren’t athletes themselves at Dartmouth, believe that the College’s commitment to athletics is waning and that the teams and clubs are posting mediocre results. The truth is far different: Men’s soccer won the Ivy League title, and the rugby football team has qualified for the nationals this spring. Men’s hockey is ranked 17th nationally and women’s hockey is ranked #3. Women?s basketball is leading the Ivy League, and men’s basketball is in a three-way tie for second place. The Dartmouth figure skating team was national champion in 2004!

On the issue of fraternities, Berlin and Strong Dartmouth cite the same misleading admini-speak from President Wright where he says there is no “campaign to eliminate or to significantly curtail the Greek system.” Interestingly, there is no mention of Wright’s deeds nor indeed of his stated desire to end the Greek system “as we know it,” deferring instead to his pleasant-sounding words about “community” (which incidentally is the excuse Wright also uses to curtail speech).

Though Alumni for a Strong Dartmouth claims not to “endorse specific candidates,” three of its members, many of them with strong ties to the College establishment, have so far come out swinging against the petition candidates.