As the end of trustee election campaign period draws near, some alumni and former trustees have formed Alumni for a Strong Dartmouth, a controversial third-party group that has been accused of undermining traditional campaign regulations.
With less than a month remaining in the campaign period, the group has endorsed the four candidates nominated by the Alumni Council over the two petition candidates currently on the ballot.
The organization has come under attack recently for questionable third-party campaigning activity. A letter to the editor that ran in The Dartmouth on Tuesday claimed that Alumni for a Strong Dartmouth is in violation of the trustee candidate "Policy on Campaigning," which prohibits candidates or their supporters from campaigning directly or indirectly ("A Call for Trustee Campaign Reform," Mar. 29).
However, the group's third party campaigning is allowed under the policy, according to President of the Association of the Alumni Committee and Chair of the Ballot Committee John Walters '62.
"It's incorrect to say that [Alumni for a Strong Dartmouth] is in violation of the guidelines," said Walters. "It probably is a violation of the spirit of those guidelines, but all the ballot committee can do is restrain the activities conducted by the candidates themselves."
Peter Robinson '79, and Todd Zywicki '88, the two write-in candidates, are "lacking compared to the other candidates," according to the Alumni for a Strong Dartmouth website. While the group opposes this year's particular write-in candidates, its website states that the organization supports petition candidates in general.
A representative of the organization could not be reached for comment.
As write-in candidates, Robinson and Zywicki gathered the requisite 500 alumni signatures to place their names on the ballot. While the four Alumni Council candidates, Sheila Cheston '80, Gregg Engles '79, Richard Lewis '84 and Curtis Welling '71, underwent a rigorous and intensive interview process to earn their candidacy, both Robinson and Zywicki are also well qualified for candidacy, said Walters.
Walters expressed the frustration of the ballot committee -- and allegedly of the trustee candidates themselves -- at the actions of Alumni for a Strong Dartmouth. Under the guidelines of the campaign policy, the candidates are not permitted to solicit endorsements or campaign, but the association is not bound by these rules.
"I wish none of this was going on," Walters said. "We've had requests from candidates to stop the website but we don't have the power to do that."
"Unless it can be proved that an e-mail or website has been set up by a particular candidate, because of the nature of free speech, there's nothing that the balloting committee can do about it," he added.
Last year's trustee election faced similar third-party campaigning issues, said Walters. This year, the campaign guidelines have been expanded to permit each candidate to send up to two e-mails to the alumni body during the six-week campaign period to combat the circulation of misinformation and third-party campaigning characteristic of the election last year.
A number of candidates have already chosen to send an e-mail early into the campaign period, to the surprise of the ballot committee.
Five of the six candidates have opted to send an e-mail, with a sixth e-mail to be sent over the next few days, said Walters.
"Three of the six candidates sent the first e-mail right out of the gate," he said. "We were anticipating that they would send them during the course of the campaign period. I would assume that some of the candidates will address the [Alumni for a Strong Dartmouth] issue in their remaining e-mail, but they may do what they wish."
Zywicki and Robinson follow in the wake of last year's successful write-in candidate T.J. Rodgers '70. However, Walters said that petition candidates are not the norm for trustee elections.
"If I look back over the last 25 years, it's happened three or four times," he said. "It's not the normal situation, but it's becoming more common."
