Saturday, June 9, 2007

New Chair of the Board of Trustees

Ed Haldeman '70 was elected chair of the Board of Trustees, replacing William Heukom '64, who is retiring from the board. Haldeman is the CEO of Putnam Investments and has been on the Board since 2004. Stephen Mandel Jr. '78 was elected to fill Neukom's seat as a charter trustee, and Leon Black and Jose Fernandez were reelected to their seats.

The Dartmouth press release includes a letter from Haldeman to alumni.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tell 'em not to mess with the 1891 agreement giving the alumni half of the Board!!!!! Leave a commnent here:

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~news/releases/2007/06/08-comments.html

Anonymous said...

"Alumni can’t speak for students in trustee elections"
By Luis-Alejandro Dinnella-Borrego ‘07
The Dartmouth
Thursday, May 24, 2007

To the Editor:

I feel the need to address Steve Horvath ‘66’s letter to the editor (“The alumni have spoken,” May 21). He states that “the bottom line is that the system worked.” The question I have is, who did it work for? It certainly did not work for the students. I think one of the problems our College faces is the fact that the people who are most affected by trustee elections do not have a say in the election process. Students (undergraduates and graduates) are ineligible to vote in trustee elections. Considering the sweeping powers that the Board of Trustees wields over the affairs of the College, I find this fact to be very disturbing.

According to the website for the Board of

Trustees, the board “is granted final authority under the original Charter of Dartmouth College to establish such …ordinances, order and laws as may tend to the good and wholesome government of the said College….” Other statutory functions of the board include the appointment of faculty and principal administrative officers, the purchase and disposition of real property, the establishment of salary scales and the awarding of degrees. In short, the Board of Trustees has ultimate responsibility for the financial, administrative and academic affairs of the College.” With such broad and expansive powers, all of which affect the lives of students attending the College, I find it appalling that those people whose lives are affected the most are virtually excluded from voting for members of that body.

While it is true that the alumni have spoken, it is evident that the students have not. The Board of Trustees is essentially the governing body that determines the future direction of the college and that also impacts the amount of tuition we pay. I believe that it is a disservice to the College that we as students are denied the right to choose who serves on the Board of Trustees when we are the ones who are most impacted by the board. How can someone honestly say that the “system worked” when students were excluded from voting for members within that system? So long as Dartmouth continues to deny students the right to participate in elections for the Board of Trustees, these elections cannot be considered fair. I believe that the Board of Trustees should pass appropriate measures to enable all students to vote in trustee elections; this voting right for students is an essential ingredient to enable Dartmouth students to be fully integrated into the Dartmouth community.