Election Rules Violations — VIII

Alumni for a Strong Dartmouth has modified its website to directly endorse the official College slate for alumni Trustees.

Alumni for a Strong Dartmouth endorse the four Alumni Council-nominated candidates. Based on their records, their achievements and their Dartmouth involvement, we believe these candidates would make the strongest contributions to the Board.

Alumni for a Strong Dartmouth does support the petition process in alumni trustee elections, but in assessing the petition nominees in this election, we find them lacking compared to the other candidates.

In the past, the College-linked group has taken advantage a loophole in the wording of election rules, which seemed to permit campaigning against candidates. The organization is now working directly on behalf of these candidates and the College establishment, even though the Alumni Association’s election rules expressly prohibit them from doing so.

Campaigning by the candidate or his/her supporters beyond the two emails is inappropriate . Campaigning is defined as any effort to garner votes and may take the form of written, electronic or telephone communications. It is the responsibility of the candidate to communicate the dignity of the trustee nomination process to his or her supporters and to honor the spirit and the guidelines of the process.

One could actually interpret these regulations to mean that the candidates themselves could be disqualified, though it’s probable that the Balloting Committee will again rule in ASD’s favor. (Tip: ViTW)