Thursday, March 26, 2009

Just Say No


I just got my ballot from The Association of Alumni of Dartmouth College asking for me to vote for or against the new Association Constitutional Amendment and for a slate of candidates for this organization … all of whom strongly support this amendment … amazingly, not one single dissenter. From reading the enclosed promotional material, I get the eerie feeling that I am being asked to participate in a sham democratic process that will put another nail in the coffin of true alumni/ae participation in the future of Dartmouth. It’s kind of like when Saddam Hussein used to be “democratically” re-elected in Iraq with 99.9% of the vote.

Basically, this amendment appears to me to insure that this association can no longer be dominated by the types that initiated the lawsuit against the college last year that attempted to stop the college’s Trustee board-packing scheme. This is done by making the Association of the Alumni effectively self-perpetuating and for the nomination of dissenters so complex that few will have the stamina to complete it. Therefore, I will vote “no” for this amendment and not vote for any of the candidates proposed by the existing Association.

If you don’t see any more posting on this blog in the next twelve months, it would be rational for you to assume that the Wright-thinking PC police have hauled me off to the boarded-up Hovey Grill in the Dining Hall to be re-educated in the ways of a true Liberal education.