Council Constitution Amendments

Over a period of two years a special committee of the Alumni Council has been surveying present methods of making nominations and elections to the Council. This committee, headed by Carl F. Woods 'O4 of Boston, has reported progress at each of the last three semi-annual meetings of the Council. The other members of the committee are P. W. Loudon '14 and S. C. Hayward '26. Mr. Woods has also appeared before the Dartmouth Secretaries Association at its meetings in 1933 and 1934 discussing this question of amending the constitution of the Council.

In the November issue of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE an article appeared written by Mr. Woods describing in some detail the Amendments which are now ready for final presentation to the Council at its meeting June 15 and to the General Association of Alumni at its meeting June 16.

The suggested amendments are printed herewith according to the requirements to be met in amending the constitution of the Alumni Council:

Article V

Section 2. The Council shall consist of thirty-one members . (A changefrom the present number of twenty-eight,allowing for three additional membersfrom the new Southern District.)

(Paragraph 5)

The elective membership shall be as follows:

Three members from District I including the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, that part of Canada including Quebec and the provinces to the east, all foreign countries and all outlying possessions of the United States not included in District VI; one such member to be elected each year for a term of three years.

Three members from District II including the states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware; one such member to be elected each year for a term of three years.

Three members from District III including the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Ontario, Canada; one such member to be elected each year for a term of three years.

Three members from District IV includ- ing the states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, lowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas; one such member to be elected each year for a term of three years.

Three members from District V including the District of Columbia, and the states of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida; one such member to be elected each year for a term of three years.

Three members from District VI including the states of Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Canadian provinces west of Ontario, and the following outlying possessions of the United States: the Philippines, Hawaii, and Alaska; one such member to be elected each year for a term of three years.

(The above paragraphs allow for redistricting of Council representation into sixgroups instead of five. The chief changesare the formation of a new Southern district and the shifting of Wisconsin fromGroup III to Group IV.)

Section 3 (Paragraph 2) Before January 10 of each year the secretary of the General Association of Alumni of Dartmouth College shall notify the secretary of each approved alumni club or association of the number of elective members of the Council from his Council district whose terms will expire on the ensuing first of July. "Approved" alumni clubs or associations are those declared to be such by vote of the Alumni Council.

Such notice shall give the names of the Council member or members holding office until said first of July; shall state whether any such sitting member is eligible for reelection, and inform the association receiving the notice that one candidate may be nominated for each vacancy to arise on July first.

Alumni nominated must reside within the group of states within which the approved nominating association is located.

At regular or special meetings of each approved alumni association a candidate may be nominated; the name of this candidate, certified by the president or vicepresident of the association, shall be submitted by the Secretary of the Association to the Secretary of the General Association in Hanover, to reach him not later than March 10. He shall, as soon as practicable thereafter, inform all secretaries and nominees within the district of the names of such nominees. If there are more than three nominees in any district the secretaries of all approved associations within that district will then constitute an electoral college and will ballot on the names of the nominees thus submitted to them. Each secretary may ballot for not more than three names. The three nominees having the highest number of votes as a result of this balloting shall be considered the candidates 'from that district. If two or more persons receive an equal number of votes, and if by reason of such tie or ties more than three persons receive the largest number of votes, the number shall be reduced to three by selection by lot from that group of nominees, the tie vote for whom has caused the excess over three. The final nominations from the alumni association secretaries shall be received by the Secretary of the General Association of Alumni before April 10 each year.

The Secretary of the General Association of Alumni shall publish in the ALUMNI MAGAZINE not later than the February issue a statement of the vacancies, if any, to be filled the ensuing July 1. In addition to the method of ' making nominations through local alumni clubs and associations as explained above it will be possible for any group of 100 alumni qualified to vote in the Alumni Council election of that year to petition the Secretary in favor of a properly qualified nominee, the petition to carry the endorsement of the candidate whose name will then appear on the election ballot of that district. Such nominations must be received by the Secretary of the General Association not later than April 10.

If by reason of declination of nomination, or if the association representatives select only one nominee or for any other reason one nominee only remains in any district, no election balloting shall take place in such district and the nomination shall be equivalent to election. The secretary of the Alumni Association shall, however, at the time for forwarding election ballots notify each voting member in such district of the fact of such nomination and election.

The said secretary shall then as soon as practicable after April 10 in each year prepare ballots, one for each group of states, giving the names and residences of nominees for that group and send a ballot for his own group to each alumnus entitled to vote. The polls shall close on June 10th in each year.

The nominee in each group receiving the largest number of votes cast by qualified alumni residing in said groups of states shall be elected to membership in this Council, and the result of the vote shall be announced at the annual meeting of the Association of Alumni of Dartmouth College.

(In explanation of the above changes inthe constitution it should be borne inmind that only the method of makingnominations is affected. The method ofballoting for elections is still the same;namely, all graduates three years or moreout of college are eligible to vote uponthe nominees selected.)