A word to our Dartmouth readers — please vote

Dartmouth alums have only one week left in which to vote in the current round of alumni elections. Voting closes on Wednesday, April 7.
This year, we are electing two Trustees, but only one slot is contested. In that race, our friend Joe Asch is running against John Replogle. For the reasons set forth here, I voted for Joe.
The other race is for the Executive Committee of the Association of Alumni. My friend Mike Murphy leads the Dartmouth United slate. Incumbent John Mathias heads the other group.
If there were a law against false advertising in alumni elections, Mathias would be working on a second life sentence. For example, Mathias campaigns on a platform of promoting civil discourse and unity among alums. Yet, he referred to Joe Asch as “almost pathological” in his criticism of Dartmouth’s former administration.
In 2008, Mathias and his slate promised to make a sincere effort to restore parity on the Board of Trustees between appointed and elected members. Mathias stated: “What the Trustees have done yesterday, they can undo tomorrow, if a suitably persuasive case can be made for them.”
But according to meeting minutes from the eleven sessions convened by Association Executive Committee during its first term in 2008-2009, the Executive Committee took no action on the issue of parity. In fact, according to the minutes, the issue wasn’t even discussed.
Thus far in the Committee’s 2009-2010 second term, it has held at least five meetings. The most recent minutes indicate that, conscious that its reelection attempt was around the corner, Mathias and company finally decided to take up the issue of parity with the Board of Trustees. One week before his slate announced that it had nominated itself to run for a third term, Mathias held a meeting with Board Chairman Ed Haldeman on December 15, 2009.
There is no indication that anything has come of the meeting. What’s clear is that Mathias and his colleagues are either unwilling or unable convincingly to make the case for parity to the Board. In either event, it is time to change the leadership of the AoA.
Dartmouth Alumni can vote in the election by returning the ballot they should have received or by voting online here.

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