After years of debate, Dartmouth's alumni "senate" will vote this Green Key Weekend on a proposed overhaul of the alumni government.
Approximately 75 members of the Alumni Council, one of two alumni governing organizations, arrived yesterday for a three-day meeting to culminate Saturday with a vote on a new alumni constitution.
The constitution would formally consolidate the Council into the second, wider group, the Association of Alumni, which consists of all Dartmouth graduates.
It would also expand the Council to some 125 members from around 100 and rename it the Alumni Assembly, while creating a separate new 16-member Alumni Liaison Board charged with representing "alumni sentiment" to the College's Board of Trustees.
Supporters like current Council president Rick Routhier '73 Tu'76 hope the new document would make things easier and more open than under the current two-tiered structure.
"It's cumbersome," Routhier said. "It's hard to adopt any improvements on the system because it involves voting on both sides over a long period of time."
If approved, the 13-page constitution would go on to a fall vote by the Association of Alumni, conducted for a month-long period over e-mail.
One potentially controversial provision requires alumni candidates for the Board of Trustees to pass through a nominating committee and disallows voters to choose more than one candidate. Alumni pick half of the board members, and in 2003 the proposed merge of Council and Assembly was narrowly voted down after students joined alumni to protest.
The effects that this and other revisions in the new constitution would have are still unclear, but alumni often argue on weblogs and at meetings about outsider access to decision making and whether the administration has too much influence over alumni.
While Routhier said this Council meeting is focused on "getting our house in order," he thinks there are not any big College concerns to discuss.
"It's hard to identify a particular burning issue that the alumni have very deep concerns about," Routhier said.
Routhier added that issues like the Greek system and class size have been discussed when they come up and said he is happy with the current administration.
"Certainly they're doing a great job and also I think the trustees, for what it's worth, have sunk their teeth into some meaty issues," he said.
Also this weekend, the councilors are talking about changes in the Council subcommittee system and meeting with their subcommittees and students.
Today, they will be attending midday classes and hearing from College President James Wright and Director of Admissions Karl Furstenberg.
A third-annual lobster bake to welcome seniors to the world of alumni was scheduled for Thursday night at Leede Arena, for which Alumni Relations staffer Lynne Gaudet '81 said over 800 seniors had already signed up early this week.
"You offer free lobster, they're usually willing to mingle with us," Gaudet said.
Gaudet said the Council's meeting is sometimes scheduled on Green Key Weekend to avoid conflicting with Mother's Day weekend.
"It works out really well because there are so many great activities going on on campus," she said.
The Council's next meeting is in early December.
