March 21, 2006
Dear Fellow Alumni,
The officers and executive committee of your Alumni Association have been working on several matters of interest in recent months about which we would like to update you.
At the October 23, 2005, Annual Meeting of the Alumni Association during which we were elected, we clearly heard that alumni would like to be able to vote on matters of interest to them without having to come to Hanover to cast their ballots. As a result, we proposed an amendment to our constitution to allow all-media voting for future amendments to our constitution. This amendment was passed at a Special Meeting of the Alumni Association on February 12, 2006.
As many of you know, the Alumni Governance Task Force (AGTF) has been working on a fundamentally new, more transparent, and more democratic single alumni governance structure. After four years of work, this document is within weeks of being ready for public dissemination leading to a vote on its ratification during this summer.
The guidelines for all-media voting on future amendments to the constitution, including the AGTF's proposal, are also nearing completion. We expect to post them on the Alumni Association's Web site no later than April 3, 2006.
In the interest of fairness and democracy for all alumni, additional amendments to the current constitution will be included on the upcoming ballot for the AGTF's proposal if they are accompanied by the requisite signatures of one percent of the alumni body. While it seems unlikely that any petitioned amendments will have received the extensive input and debate that the AGTF's proposal has, we trust alumni to make their own judgments about the worth of alternative proposals.
The AGTF's proposed constitution includes provisions for all-media voting for alumni officers, including the executive committee. In the event that the AGTF's proposed constitution is not passed, the current executive committee is developing a plan to conduct the annual meeting in such a manner as to allow official and petition candidates to be announced, have the opportunity to state their platforms, and be elected by all-media voting.
Those of you who would like to learn more about the AGTF's proposal are encouraged to attend or tune in to the March 27 Webcast in Boston sponsored by the Alumni Association and the Alumni Council. For more information on this event, please go to the following URL: http://www.dartmouth.edu/home/webcast. Let your voices be heard!
For Dartmouth,
Allen V. Collins '53
President
Merle Adelman '80
First Vice President
Precious Stargell '85
Second Vice President
Stanley Colla '66, Tu'86
Secretary-Treasurer
Executive Committee:
Kate C. Aiken '92
Albert T. T. Cook, Jr. '62
Ann Haley Fromholz '90
William L. Hutchinson '76
Frederick A. Roesch '60, Tu'61
Kaja K. Schuppert '95