Grafton County Superior Court Judge Edward Fitzgerald III issued a preliminary dismissal order on March 10 for a class-action lawsuit filed by seven College alumni against the College and the Alumni Association.
Last May, William Tell Jr. '56, the lead plantiff in the case, and six other alumni, filed a suit containing a total of six claims against the College.
The claims comprise two groups. First, the suit claimed the solicitation of money by the "Will to Excel" fundraising effort, run by the Alumni Association in 1992, was fraudulent because alumni were not informed that donations would be used to fund the elimination of the single-sex Greek system.
Secondly, the lawsuit also claimed that the voting rights of alumni in Board of Trustees elections were dishonored by actions of the Board.
This latest suit was the third Tell's group has filed against the College, according to Acting College Counsel Sean Gorman.
Originally, in 1995, the group sued on grounds related to the claims concerning the Trustee elections in the most recent suit. They later filed another similar suit. Both were dismissed.
Tell's group appealed in both cases, but the appeals were subsequently denied.
Fitzgerald said he will likely issue a detailed order regarding the the most recent suit this week to clarify his reasons for dismissing the case. He declined to comment further on the ruling.
Acting College Counsel Sean Gorman told The Dartmouth that Tell filed the latest suit against only the College, but the Alumni Association intervened as a defendant as well when informed of the case's claims.
When asked about the possibility of an appeal, Gorman said, "I wouldn't have thought [Tell's group] would have appealed the last two so it wouldn't surprise me if they appealed this one."
The other alumni supporting the suit with Tell include Paul Canada '50, James Godsman '62, William Hutchinson '76, Robert Fuller '80, Jack Maloney '87 and Matthew Brzica '93.
Godsman told The Dartmouth that the group filed the suit because "the Board of Trustees feels like they can operate outside of the loop" of alumni. "They've basically misled a whole bunch of people."
"What's taking place is just a travesty," Godsman, a former member of Phi Delta Alpha fraternity, said of the notion that the College wishes to eliminate the single-sex Greek system.
He also said he has ceased donating to the College and will not include the College in his will.
Tell could not be reached for comment.
