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Alumni Relations“I frankly confess that the more I think of it the more it seems to me that in instituting a movement to change the charter in its fundamental trusteeship and in virtually inviting the body of alumni to join us, we have made the gravest mistake in the history of the College,” wrote Dartmouth President Samuel Bartlett in early 1891. During Bartlett's administration, Dartmouth alumni began to push for representation on the Board of Trustees and, because they controlled contributions to the College, they were getting it—to the great dismay of Bartlett and others in the College administration. Until 1891, the Trustees were unaccountable and self-perpetuating, as half of them are today. The initial opposition to alumni suffrage was largely ideological: “The most noisy men are those who would like to see the College quite swept off its old foundations into what they call liberalism,” said Trustee Henry Fairbanks at the time. “Our alumni will not do anything for the College only to volunteer to manage it. And the best men among them will not do this much.” Indeed, many alumni were dissatisfied with the way the College was run; thought Dartmouth was declining in relevance and quality. While Harvard, Yale, the University of Pennsylvania, and Princeton were modernizing their curricula, Dartmouth remained traditional, holding to the religious education of Eleazar Wheelock. Bartlett sought to permeate society “with Christianity,” and to set “examples in the great Republic;” his traditional outlook informed his management of the College. Bartlett held fast to the traditional disciplines of law, medicine, and teaching. The advent of alumni representation on the Board of Trustees brought a new commitment to the fields of business and engineering. It also compromised the College's theological disposition. There still is resistance to alumni suffrage. In 1990, the Trustees wrote in their internal minutes that “the role of the Alumni Association in the process of nominating Dartmouth Trustees should be eliminated and conducted by the College administration under the oversight of the Board of Trustees.” A current lawsuit by alumni against the College charges that Dartmouth has illegally revoked some of the voting rights alumni won in President Bartlett's time (see page 6). The College is fighting the suit. Once again, the opposition to alumni representation is ideological. At the inception of the Student Life Initiative last year, President Wright and the Trustees announced that they were taking a stand on principle, and would not be swayed—no matter how many alumni withdrew contributions. The recent report of the Committee on the Student Life Initiative attacks Greek societies for undermining the Dartmouth administration's “Principle of Community” and suggests strict College control of student social interaction and speech (see TDR, 1/24/00). One hundred and eight years removed from the Bartlett administration, Dartmouth may have financial resources vast enough to render the College less reliant on alumni contributions. But it can't ignore the alumni altogether. In plenary session on March 4, 2000, the Dartmouth Alumni Council adopted a series of resolutions regarding the Student Life Initiative Report. The alumni urged the Trustees to “keep first-year students in mixed housing with other undergraduates and to consider “leaving as much of student social planning up to the students as possible.” The Council expressed reservation about “leaving final judgment about whether [Greek] houses have met standards in the hands of one person, the Dean of the College, as there is a need for due process to be observed,” and also questioned “residency requirements, including no residency for the summer term and the seniors-only policy.” The Trustees should, according to the Alumni Council, consider “permitting the formation of new CFS organizations” and should evaluate “the financial repercussions of the proposed physical improvements and [offer] financial support by the College.” Though some alumni disagree, the Alumni Council does not share the Trustees' aim of a Dartmouth free of a single-sex Greek system. The Council, in fact, urged the Trustees toward “re-examining the apparent preference for the coed selective organizations.” The Council plans to submit a final report to the Board of Trustees by April. The report will include the resolutions as well as personal alumni responses to the Initiative, a report by CFS alumni, and dissenting comments related to the resolutions that any Alumni Councilor wishes to submit. The wording of the Council resolutions is somewhat tame, “urging” the Trustees to “consider” various student life recommendations. Yet it is still apparent that the alumni do not share the ideological hatred of single-sex organizations, or of Greek organizations, that the administration, faculty, and Trustees have displayed. The alumni don't, evidently, consider it detrimental to the Dartmouth Community that students may speak and associate freely. A century after the alumni won the right to vote for College Trustees, there is another ideological divide between the alumni and the Board of Trustees. True to form, the Wright administration is determined to whether alumni dissatisfaction. But, however limited the process might be, the alumni can vote now (see page 7). And the history of Dartmouth's alumni relations shows that, provided alumni have the will to fight, the College can't ignore them. — Steven Menashi |
