Joe Malchow '08 letter

Dear Class Newsletter Editor,

My name is Joe Malchow, I'm a member of the Class of 2008, and, as voting on a new constitution approaches, I'd like to urge you to provide your classmates with balanced views on the document.

Why this need for balance? Because the materials youve already received have proven so one-sided. On July 26, for example, Michelle Sweetser '99 sent you an email explaining that the Alumni Relations Office is creating a number of articles about the constitution. Asking you to insert them into your newsletters, she attached two documents she said were neutral. I believe Michelle was misled. One of the two was composed by the Alumni Governance Task Force, the very group that drafted the proposed constitution  and that is now openly campaigning for its passage. The other was composed by the Office of Alumni Relations, whose neutrality on the constitution has been soberly called into question by The Daily Dartmouth.

And so I am writing to let you know that many current undergraduates, I am one of them, have taken a special interest in the proposed constitution. Although Im unaware of any students who have offered public support to the new constitution, many have publicly announced their opposition to the document. These include the president of the Dartmouth Democrats, the president of the Dartmouth Republicans, the editor of the Dartmouth Free Press (a liberal publication), the editor of the Dartmouth Review (a conservative publication), student bloggers, and many in the Greek community.

And my friend Emily Ghods, Class of 2009. Emily has produced a PDF article, which I have attached, that goes through each proposed change in the new constitution. She weighs the facts, paragraph by paragraph, and reaches logical conclusions.

I hope you'll consider getting Emily's article to your classmates, perhaps by publishing it in the next issue of your newsletter.

Sincerely,

-joe