Rhetoric or Real Reform?
By Rick Routhier, Past President of the Alumni Council
Published on Friday, July 27, 2007
To the Editor:
In his recent guest column Professor Stephen Smith decries the latest "establishment" challenge to alumni rights ("Countering Campaign Charge," July 17).
Fortunately, Trustee Smith is now in an excellent position to make a real difference, if he chooses to focus on real issues.
Whether he spent $20,000 or $200,000 is not the issue. Is it conceivable that Professor Smith can approve of the need for any candidate to raise any money in order to participate in a Trustee election?
Trustee Smith should therefore take the lead in reforming the election system -- a system he claims he had to fight so hard to beat (again, great rhetoric). He might begin by suggesting simpler hurdles for petition candidates to access nomination. He might then suggest specific ways in which the College could support all candidates fairly. He might also suggest a method by which the Alumni's Nominating Committee could become more representative itself, perhaps through the direct election of its members by alumni.
It will be a telling sign of his leadership whether or not he makes an effort to lead the reform of a system that he feels is so unbalanced and unfair.