Vox Clamantis: Parity and the Presidential Search
By Alexander Abate, The Dartmouth Staff
Published on Friday, May 9, 2008
To the Editor:
With all due respect to John Mathias '69, his piece insults the intelligence of both students and alumni ("Time For Alumni Unity," May 6). To be clear, I take issue with his motivation and reasoning, not with his love for Dartmouth.
The reason behind the timing of President Wright's resignation -- announced a mere three days after the court granted an injunction against the Board's expansion plan -- has now become abundantly clear. With his resignation, the Board-packers can now claim the "most pressing issue facing Dartmouth" is the selection of its next president. Mathias goes on to pronounce that we must "consider the added difficulty of attracting the candidate Dartmouth needs while a divisive lawsuit creates instability and uncertainty."
Mathias completely (and I would also argue deliberately) obfuscates the real issue here: parity. He continues: "Alumni governance and 'parity' should be addressed in constructive dialogue ... the trustees welcome such dialogue." He tries to portray parity as a fleeting, unimportant principle. In reality, any study of Dartmouth history unambiguously reveals that alumni involvement brought the College to where it now resides.
I agree with Mathias on two points: I want to end the lawsuit and find the most capable president to lead Dartmouth. To achieve this end, we must vote against the Board-packing plan. Once the College accepts the almost 120-year tradition of parity, the lawsuit will be withdrawn and Dartmouth can move forward.