Josiah Stevenson ’57, Chairman of the Alumni Governance Task Force, defends his group’s proposals for a new Alumni Association constitution in today’s Daily Dartmouth.
In its twenty months of analysis and deliberation, the AGTF has not been influenced by the College Administration or by the Board of Trustees in any way.
Discussions about how alumni nominate trustees have been going on for years, ever since the multi-candidate balloting system was instituted in 1990.
He goes on to explain that, in AGTF’s view, the current alumni Trustee election system actually favors petition candidates:
The current system allows petition candidates to collect signatures two months ahead of the balloting, while restricting communications from the Alumni Council-nominated candidates, effectively allowing petitioners to campaign while nominated candidates must remain silent. Is it fair to allow some candidates to promote themselves before others can do so? This is not an issue of politics, but of equity.
Stevenson suggests that the proposals should not be hammered through at the next Association meeting, as was unsuccessfully attempted in 2003 with the last “reform” attempt. Instead, he says a vote should be held next spring—though it could still come up for a vote this time around.
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