Dartmouth Alumni Council Meeting
Hanover, New Hampshire
May 18-20, 2006
To: Members of the Classes of 1965 and 1966:
As your representative on the Alumni Council, I attended the 192nd meeting of the Dartmouth College Alumni Council on
May 18-20, 2006 in Hanover.
Association of Alumni Constitution
The highlight of the meeting was the unanimous vote of the Alumni
Council to adopt the proposed new constitution for the Association of Alumni, as recommended and presented by the Alumni Governance
Task Force (AGTF), chaired by Joe Stevenson, Class of 1957. As many of you know, the AGTF was commissioned by the presidents
of the Alumni Council and the Association of Alumni in February, 2004. The AGTF was asked to address the deficiencies
of the current alumni governance system and to produce a single unifying constitution for the Council and the Association.
The proposed Alumni Association constitution seeks to invigorate Dartmouth alumni governance and strengthen the traditional
partnership between Dartmouth and her alumni.
Under the proposed constitution, the voice of alumni will be strengthened by (a) an innovative Alumni Liaison Board
with a direct, meaningful relationship with the Board of Trustees, (b) a widely representative Alumni Assembly of approximately
125 members (which will take the place of the Alumni Council and where each Class up to the 50th reunion will have its own
representative) and (c) a trustee nomination process that encourages two-candidate elections (with one-person, one-vote balloting),
making it easier to be a petition candidate and substantially leveling the playing field for all as regards campaigning.
The proposed constitution is the result of debate and compromise over a two-year period by the AGTF, which comprises
nine members, several of whom have been publicly at odds over the past five years but have now found unanimity in drafting
and agreeing upon this proposed document.
The proposed Alumni Association constitution will be distributed to all 66,500 Dartmouth alumni beginning in mid-June,
and an alumni wide vote to adopt the constitution will be commenced in September. A two-thirds vote of alumni voting
by mail and other appropriate means will be required to enact the new constitution. All members of the Classes of 1965
and 1966 are urged to read the proposed constitution and related documents when they are received and to cast their votes.
If anyone has any questions regarding the proposed constitution, I would certainly be pleased to try to answer them.
Dartmouth Student Body
The 192nd meeting of the Alumni Council witnessed much greater involvement
among Councillors and the student body at Dartmouth. In addition to a lobster dinner held with the Class of 2006 in
Leverone Field House on Thursday evening (at which members of the senior class and Councillors sat with each other at numerous
tables for eight), students also joined Councillors for lunch on Friday at the Hanover Inn and participated in small-group
discussions on various topics. Further, Councillors were, for the first time, offered an opportunity to attend undergraduate
classes and to witness first hand today’s students (and professors) in action.
Athletics Committee
As a member of the Athletics Committee of the Alumni Council, I attended
a meeting on Friday morning at which Athletic Director, Josie Harper, Assistant Athletic Director, Bob Ceplikas, and various
members of their respective staffs were present. The meeting was held in the renovated Alumni Gym (the renovations are
nearing completion and are quite spectacular; the new fitness center is truly state-of-the-art). Josie, as she does
every six months, provided an overview of the state of Dartmouth athletics including not only varsity sports but also club
and intramural sports. She reported that Dartmouth coaches were “generally pleased” with the admission level
of recruited student athletes in the Class of 2010 and indicated that the Athletic and Admissions Departments had worked much
more closely this past year in the review process. Bob Ceplikas then described all of the new athletic facilities being
constructed, including Varsity House behind the east stands at the football field and the new artificial turf football field
that will be installed for the 2006 season.
The Committee discussion focused primarily on the state of club sports which now comprise 26 different clubs (many
of which have achieved national prominence) and involve some 900 students. There is a demand for the College to recognize
additional club sports (for example, women’s lacrosse and women’s soccer have filed applications) but budgetary
and space limitations prevent any additional recognition at this time. The Committee was presented with a Student Assembly
Report entitled “Club Sports at Dartmouth” which lamented the lack of facilities and College funding available
for club sports at Dartmouth. I would note that, when junior varsity and freshman teams were eliminated some years ago,
club sports saw an immediate growth in interest and activity. After much discussion and comments from the student representatives
at its meeting, the Athletics Committee unanimously adopted a resolution calling upon the College, as a top priority, to install
at least one new artificial turf field near Sachem Field which would be available primarily for club and intramural sports.
Alumni Survey
During a plenary session of the Alumni Council, it was revealed that the Communications
Committee is working on an alumni survey which will hopefully be undertaken next year. This survey of all Dartmouth
alumni will be the first attempt in a number of years to measure Alumni sentiment on a host of issues.
Class of 2010
At the Saturday luncheon, Karl Furstenberg, Director of Admissions, reported on
the enrollment of the Class of 2010. This past year Dartmouth received 13,937 applications, a record, surpassing the
12,756 applications received for the Class of 2009. Of those who applied, 2,149 were admitted and 1,083 will matriculate.
The Class of 2010 will be 48.5% male and 51.5% female, the highest female level in the past five years. Roughly two-thirds
of the new Class come from public schools and one-third from private schools. The geographic distribution is consistent
with past years, with 6.6% of the students being classified as “international”. Approximately 30% of the
incoming class are students of color, with Asian American being the largest single group (13.7%). Fully one-third were
valevictorians and approximately 92% were in the top 10% of their respective high school classes. Finally, of note,
11% (119 students) of the Class of 2010 are legacies.
Kate Aiken’92
At Friday’s dinner, Kate Aiken, Class of 1992 and daughter of Jim Aiken,
Class of 1965, was presented with the “Young Alumni Distinguished Service Award” by the President of the Alumni
Council. Jim and his wife were on hand to witness the presentation. Congratulations to Kate!
In Closing I wish everyone an excellent summer and would be pleased to hear from you regarding any
matters concerning Dartmouth (
camon@whitecase.com). The next meeting of the Alumni Council (and perhaps last, if the new constitution is adopted) will take place in
Hanover on November 30 - December 2, 2006.
Hank