Trustees did not help Smith with monetary contributions
By T.J. Rodgers, Trustee
Published on Wednesday, March 28, 2007
To the Editor:
Trustee candidate Sandy Alderson '69 speculates wrongly that there is a group of trustees funding the petition trustee process ("For the first time, money enters into Trustee race," March 7).
For the record, neither I nor any entity that I control has contributed financially either directly or indirectly to the campaign of Stephen Smith '88.
To be fully candid, I did interview Smith and sign his ballot petition because I thought he was both more independent and more issue-oriented than the only other candidate I interviewed -- Alderson.
On the issue of Smith's independence, I advised him not to campaign on the basis of free speech on campus because of the great progress that has been made on that front in the last two years.
Apparently, the law professor and former Supreme Court clerk, who more fully understands the Bill of Rights than I, disagrees with me and sees room for improvement in Dartmouth's free speech environment -- and even more room for improvement in its Committee on Standards disciplinary system.