Alumni Council Delegate Letter
September 2008

September 12, 2008

Gentlemen of the Class of '60:

As many of you know I will be our Class's delegate to the Alumni Council for the next three years. I am looking forward to representing our collective interests, views and opinions.

I would like to get your input. What concerns you about Dartmouth? What is right about Dartmouth? Is there a specific question that you want me to raise in the Alumni Council? Any suggestions or thoughts or musings on any Dartmouth-related (or, if you must, McCain/Obama, Russia/Georgia, etc. etc. related) topic?

I personally am particularly interested in the following items (starting with the most obvious one); and I invite your comments.

1. An update on the search for a new president of the College. (The Search Committee currently is completing or has completed a definitive job description and is creating a pool of about 200 candidates. Both tasks are to be completed in September. The Search Committee is holding "town meetings" in selected cities in the fall. The 200 people pool will be reduced to about 20 by December. Sometime in February we should have a new president.)

2. The makeup of the Board of Trustees in the future. (The lawsuit to stop the expansion plan was dismissed, as promised, by the newly elected executive committee of the Association of Alumni. The trustees have promptly announced the appointment of five additional alumni to the Board of Trustees. Each appointee, on the face of it, appears highly qualified and certainly is a loyal alumnus/a of Dartmouth. But 40% of alumni voting, voted against this abrogation of parity between alumni-elected and appointed trustees. What does this do to our vaunted financial support, cohesiveness and loyalty? As far as our Class is concerned it apparently did not affect our Alumni Fund giving. I would like to hear your thoughts and suggestions. And let's not only hear from the two edges of the bell curve . . . let's hear also from the center.)

3. A discussion and resolution of the gender inequality in the social life at Dartmouth. (There are about the same number of women undergraduates at Dartmouth as men. As of June 15, 2008, 989 women and 939 men belonged to either sororities or fraternities. There are 13 fraternities and 7 sororities on campus that function fully. The fraternities have memberships ranging from 48 to 103; the sororities from 87 to 155.

Many women complain of gender inequality insofar as their social life is concerned. They posit that the only real social scene exists within the Greek System of fraternities and sororities. National fraternities and sororities apparently prohibit drinking of alcoholic beverages on the premises of their chapters with the significant difference that most if not all fraternity chapters at Dartmouth have claimed and received exemptions from such rules. (I assume because of "grandfather clauses.") Some national sororities also place limits on the number of guests that can be in the sorority house at any one time. The College has prohibited the establishment of additional local sororities or fraternities for, I am told, cost reasons. The existing sororities are evidently overcrowded and most lack adequate facilities, although the College is trying to help by finding additional facilities.

The result of all this, say the women, is that they must seek their social life on the men's playing field, i.e. the fraternities. They'd like to have a social life on their turf. They are seeking redress. The first step, now under way, is to request "exemptions" from their national sororities. The next step will be to prevail upon the College to permit local Greek houses again.

The Dartmouth has addressed the question several times in editorials and op-ed pieces. The Alumni Council discussed it last year but without apparent tangible results. I would like to see this problem addressed.

4. Why do we have two alumni organizations, the Alumni Council and the Association of Alumni? (The reasons for the existence of the two bodies have been explained to me a few times by now. I must admit I am as perplexed as ever. Nearly 50 years of managing -- and sometimes mismanaging -- business units and companies of different sizes have taught me that the simpler an organization is arranged the better. One representative body is simpler than two. So why do we have two?)

Please email me your comments on any or all of these items. And, send me your views on any other topics that concern you. I will value your input.

I will keep you posted about what happens in the Alumni Council and on campus in as concise and brief a manner as possible. I will continue to ask you for your opinion on issues that arise. But you don't have to wait for me to ask. Sound off whenever you feel like it. But if you prefer not to get these missives, tell me and I will have you removed from the mailing list.

Best regards,

Axel Grabowsky
agrabowsky@earthlink.net