CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – For two decades, Dartmouth College has tried to rein in underage drinking at its fraternities – one of which inspired the movie “Animal House” – and make the Hanover campus more welcoming to women and minorities.
In the past four years, some conservative-leaning alumni have pushed back, electing by petition four trustees who support football, fraternities, free speech instead of hate-speech policies, and a rededication to undergraduates.
As a result, a once ho-hum process has taken on the trappings of a major political contest, complete with fundraising and direct-mail campaigning.
The conservatives’ latest victory came Thursday, when the college announced University of Virginia law professor Stephen Smith had defeated three candidates nominated by the Alumni Council, a group that serves as a liaison to college administrators.
Supporters say the petition trustees are forcing the college to pay more attention to alumni, who previously were treated only as cash cows.
“They have, in many respects, been discouraged or disappointed by the direction of the institution, and they have disengaged,” said Anne Neal, president of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a mostly conservative Washington group that promotes alumni activism. “Dartmouth has been a test case for reinvigorating alumni voices.”
The current election system requires the Alumni Council to nominate three people for one open seat. Petition candidates then have 60 days to gather 500 signatures to get on the ballot. Opponents say that means a minority uniting behind a single petition candidate can thwart the will of most alumni who end up splitting their votes among the others. An effort to change election rules failed last year.
Rick Routhier, chairman of the nominating committee, said Friday that Smith’s unknown supporters spent an inordinate amount of money to promote their agenda.
He called Smith “a very accomplished guy,” but said he had not given any money to Dartmouth or been involved since graduation.
Smith’s conservative credentials include a clerkship with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas; he also is a Catholic who said he does not believe in the idea of creationism.
“That begs the question of who were his supporters,” Routhier said. “I think the majority of alumni looked at his background and marketing points, and it was very skillfully done and said, ‘I’m a bootstrap guy who loves the college.’ … People also don’t read the fact that he’s a published fundamentalist and believes in creationism.”
“That’s just one of the many absurd charges they made during the course of the campaign,” he said. “When they focus on politics, it’s just a diversion, because the issues I’ve run on are not political issues.”
He said the numbers tell the real story: Most alumni trust his independence and agree with his proposals: cutting Dartmouth’s administrative budget and using the savings to reduce class sizes; improving the performance of sports teams; and ensuring due process for students accused of breaking college rules, usually for underage drinking.
One of Smith’s opponents – San Diego Padres owner Richard “Sandy” Alderson – largely shared those views. He spent about $75,000, but fully disclosed his donors, Routhier said.
According to the college, 18,186 alumni – 28 percent of all graduates – cast a total of 32,941 votes (they can vote for more than one candidate). Smith got 9,984 votes, meaning more than half checked his name. The college would not disclose individual tallies for the other three candidates, but they split 22,957 votes.
On his campaign Web site, Smith described his background growing up in Washington, where his disabled mother raised him and three siblings on welfare. At Dartmouth, Smith double-majored in history and philosophy, played freshman football and basketball, and joined a fraternity.
“These experiences enabled a shy black kid from a poor neighborhood to acquire a trained mind, self-confidence and friendships that endure to this day,” he wrote. “When I arrived in Hanover at age 16, I had nothing. Now I owe Dartmouth everything. That small college made me.”
As for not donating money, Smith said he, like many alumni, was voting with his wallet against college policies he disliked, including what he sees as an overemphasis on graduate and research programs at the expense of undergraduates.
He said he also was forced to raise about $75,000 in campaign money from like-minded alumni to compete with the council’s nominees, who were supported by college administrators.
On Friday, college President James Wright said he shares Smith’s goal of offering the “strongest undergraduate program in the country,” although they may disagree on methods. To attract top professors, the college must support their research, he said.
He said he hopes Smith will come to see that Dartmouth is doing a good job.
“It’s not that we have anything that needs to be remediated here,” he said. “For those people who don’t like goals that include diversity, that don’t include faculty doing scholarship, I’m sorry, but I think those are the best traditions of Dartmouth.”
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