Nominating Alumni to the Board of Trustees: A How-to

A Democratic Process

The Council constitution aims to make the selection process a truly democratic one, with strict guidelines as to how the alumni-nominated trustee positions are appointed. The Board of Trustees is made up of 26 seats, including the president of the College, the governor of New Hampshire, and 16 charter trustees who appoint their successors. If you’re keeping count, that leaves eight alumni spots to be hand-selected by the alumni community.

When an alumni trustee vacancy occurs—traditionally when their term has expired— the NomCom steps in. The NomCom is the team responsible for fielding and reviewing submissions and identifying final candidates for each open slot.

“Choosing alumni trustees is the most important function the NomCom has,” said Bruce Danziger ’83, president of the Council this year. “All of us on the committee put a lot of thought into who we think would best represent the alumni community on the Board at a given time, and we research, discuss and vet hundreds of alumni-nominated candidates during each cycle.”

In a year of an alumni trustee vacancy, the official submission window opens to all alumni, typically from July to mid-September. At that point, every submission received is documented and reviewed—thoroughly.

“We review every single nomination, and each submission is assigned to a NomCom member to do more fulsome research. At that point, the committee considers each candidate,” said Carolan.

It’s a deliberate and thorough process, with multiple weeks of meetings, both scheduled and adhoc, to sift through all the nominations and give each candidate their due. “We take a lot of care and attention to make sure every candidate is thoroughly considered,” Carolan said.

Richard Glovsky ’69, a member of this year’s NomCom, reiterated the seriousness with which they approached the task.

“The nominating committee takes its responsibilities very seriously,” he said. “The discussions are vigorous, the number of nominations is very substantial. The winnowing of those nominations is not just protracted, but seriously contemplative.”

Nominations are accepted on a rolling basis—meaning, even if a nomination is made the day after the submission window closes in any given year, it is kept on file and included in considerations the next time an alumni-appointed trustee spot opens.

Once the NomCom selects the final candidates, they are officially presented to the Council at their fall meeting.

Understanding the Petition Process

If the election is contested, the third-party Association of Alumni will administer an election, in accordance with their constitution.

All alumni have that 60-day window to put forth petition candidates. Alumni trustee candidates who are nominated via petition must gather the requisite 500 alumni signatures to be placed on the election ballot.

If a petition candidate is confirmed, a popular vote among all alumni is held over the winter, and the two candidates with the majority votes would be seated.

While these circumstances have not frequently occurred, it’s an important part of the democratic process. “It's a right that the alumni have to contest a candidate,” Carolan stated simply.

Though the process is lengthy, it’s all worth granting alumni the right to influence their representation on the Board of Trustees. And Carolan doesn’t want the weight of that privilege to be lost on her fellow alumni.

“Whatever you want to see in the trustees, it is incumbent on you to put forward people that fit that bill,” Carolan said. “This an entirely democratic process. Everyone is reviewed and if you want to see more of this or more of that, it's on you to find those people and get us those names.”