To Make What's Good Better
A TPC Study of Alumni Relations Aims
ON Saturday morning, January 12, Guy Wallick '21 of San Francisco addressed the members of the Alumni Council gathered in Sanborn House library. As preparation for his report, the Chairman of the Committee on Alumni Relations (CAR) had sent a 31-page interim report to each Councilor. Mr. Wallick heads a fourteen-man committee charged with the horrendous job of making better what many at other colleges think is already best. But, from the tone of his report, it is clear that CAR will be raising sights all along the course of its study and will, like all other task groups under the Trustees Planning Committee, settle for nothing less than the best as the College approaches its bicentennial in 1969.
The Trustees Planning Committee (TPC) was established by the Board in September 1954 under the chairmanship of Harvey P. Hood '18. It was charged by the Board to study the aims and purposes of the College in the widest possible sense. The Board said, in effect, "Look into every aspect of Dartmouth, evaluate present progress and recommend those steps that will bring Dartmouth to the utmost strength toward accomplishing its purpose."
The major areas of study for the Trustees Planning Committee have been delegated to various ad hoc and standing committees. The areas range from a restudy of Dartmouth's purpose to community planning and alumni organization and public relations.
The Trustees formed a Committee on Alumni Relations to function under the general direction of the TPC and named Guy Wallick chairman. Specific areas for study for CAR took shape in the following subgroups: I, Present Alumni Relations and Alumni Relations in other Colleges; II, Communications and Public Relations; III, Class and Regional Organization; IV, Alumni Participation in College Organizations; V, Intellectual Interests and Activities; and VI, Enrollment and Admissions. Members of the Committee were chosen carefully to be representative of the alumni body as a whole and, in most cases, for a particular interest or skill in some one phase of alumni activity.
Sidney C. Hayward '26, Secretary of the College, serves as secretary of the Committee; other members are: Dean of the Faculty Arthur E. Jensen, Richard M. Pearson '20, Sidney J. Flanigan '23, George B. Redding '29, George C. Nickum '31, Robert S. Oelman '31, Carlos H. Baker '32, Donald C. McKinlay '37, Charles G. Boltè '4l, Harry C. Bush '4.4, Malcolm McLane '46, and David M. Leslie '51.
Hanover staff members serving the Committee are Mr. Hayward; the Director of Admissions, Edward T. Chamberlain '36; and Robert L. Allen '45, and J. Michael McGean '49 of the Secretary's office.
The full Committee met first in Hanover last June. The Chairman had sent each member a detailed study of the job at hand. The group proceeded to detail the subgroup studies and gain a general orientation for the project. A second meeting was held in New York in October when progress reports of individual subgroups were made. Because there is an over-lapping of interest between most groups, an effort has been made to keep the members of CAR in touch with progress in all areas, and correspondence has been considerable. But bulging files have indicated real progress, and most groups are well along with their work.
The subgroups are the basic working organizations. They are:
SUBGROUP I
Present Alumni Relations, Alumni Relations in other Colleges and Fund Raising. Messrs. Hayward, Allen and McGean.
This subgroup will study the development of alumni activity at Dartmouth. Dartmouth now enjoys a fine reputation as a leader in alumni activity. Is this reputation merited? What can be done to improve alumni relations and are there lessons to be learned from other colleges? What is the future of alumni activity? Also, what suggestions can be made by CAR to help strengthen Dartmouth's fund-raising efforts?
Group I will not only carry on its own work, but will distribute materials and information pertinent to other groups. Of all CAR subgroups, this study by Group I is the most inclusive.
An outline of the history of Dartmouth alumni activity has been prepared by the subgroup and distributed to all CAR members.
SUBGROUP II
Communications and Public Relations. Mr. Boltè, chairman, and Messrs. Pearson, Flanigan, McLane and Allen.
The word "communication" to any CAR worker implies a two-way channel between the alumnus and the College. The members of this CAR group met with the Alumni Council Committee of Public Relations last fall to plan methods of approach and to discuss a complete report of present public relations activities that was sent to all CAR members in September. Present media that have been or will be examined include THE ALUMNI MAGAZINE, The Bulletin, From Hanover (the parents' magazine), speakers from Hanover, press, radio, TV and motion pictures.
Also to be considered are liaison and understanding between alumni and the Trustees, and between the Alumni Council and other policy, governing and operating groups of the College.
SUBGROUP III
Class and Regional Organization. Messrs. Pearson, Redding, Bush, Leslie and McGean.
Subgroup III is studying the relationship of the alumnus to his class. What makes a fine class? What are the most rewarding aspects of class membership? How can class functions be improved and broadened?
There are now no alumni clubs; many are operating well and serving the Dartmouth men in their areas admirably. What further progress can be made in club organization? What is the proper place of the club in the over-all relationship of the alumnus to the College?
This group will also consider the possibility of establishing regional alumni organizations.
SUBGROUP IV
Alumni Participation in College Organizations. Mr. Oelman, chairman, and Messrs. Nickum, McKinlay and Hayward.
This study will evaluate the nature and extent of alumni participation in Dartmouth affairs through service as elected or appointed members of governing, policy, and operating organizations of the College. These alumni organizations will be studied carefully with an eye toward possibilities for their improvement.
SUBGROUP V
Intellectual Interests and Activities. Mr. Baker, chairman, and Messrs. Flanigan, Redding, Jensen, Bolté, McLane and Allen.
Someone has said that a Dartmouth man is an undergraduate for four years and an alumnus for fifty. Group V is concerned with continuing the intellectual interest that an alumnus has in the College for those fifty years. This reduces to "How can the College serve the alumnus intellectually?" Can subgroup V develop a twoway channel of communication on intellectual matters where it is the alumnus who returns to Hanover to nourish as well as to be nourished on intellectual fare? A closer association between the alumni and the faculty is obviously desirable and it is up to subgroup V to devise the means of accomplishment. In this way, alumni can become not only supporters of the educational work of the College, but also participants.
SUBGROUP VI
Enrollment and Admissions. Mr. McKinlay, chairman, and Messrs. Nickum, Bush, Leslie and Chamberlain.
The effectiveness and importance of Dartmouth's enrollment program is unchallenged. This relatively new activity has organized alumni workers through the National Enrollment Committee. The CAR study will consider how present activity may be strengthened. It will have available materials, based on information about the Class of 1960, concerning what motivates a young man to attend college.
THE Committee on Alumni Relations is a working organization and has been from the start. The first Hanover meeting helped line up the subgroup studies and pointed the need for some consolidation of study areas. A further tightening up may prove advantageous. Membership in some subgroups has been broadened as men with some particular skill in an area under study have been asked to sign on as associates.
It is important that CAR'S work tie in well with the interests of several committees of the Alumni Council. CAR will keep the Alumni Council fully posted on its activities and development. When discussing the relationship of CAR subgroups to permanent Council committees, Mr. Wallick has emphasized that CAR is a relatively short-term project serving only in a study-advisory capacity.
In his report to the Council last month, the CAR chairman said it was fortunate that the present TPC study of alumni relations did not come as the result of a crisis or because of pressures. The present unhurried atmosphere, he said, makes it possible for the Committee to enter into a deliberate study.
In his written report to the Council, Mr. Wallick said that, beyond the accomplishment of a worthwhile purpose, the characteristics by which an institution is judged are based on the institution's sense of character—its sense of justice, modesty and humanitarianism. "These are," he said, "human characteristics and ones by which institutions will be known. They are the determinants of what an institution is on the inside - and thereby make it what it is on the outside. If this be true, alumni relations, then, like personal relations, is something that an institution earns, not something that someone goes out and gets.
The target date for CAR'S report to the Trustees Planning Committee is June of 1958. The sights are up, the problems have been stated, the personnel is at hand, and there is time to accomplish the job.
The Committee on Alumni Relations at its organization meeting in Hanover in June. L to r, seated: Sidney C. Hayward '26, secretary; George B. Redding '29; Sidney J. Flanigan '23; Guy P. Wallick '21, chairman; Roger C. Wilde '21; Richard M. Pearson '20. Standing: Malcolm McLane '46, Harry C. Bush '44, Carlos Baker '32, Charles G. Bolte '41, Donald C. McKinlay '37. Members not shown are Dean Arthur E. Jensen, David M. Leslie '51, George C. Nickum '31 (who succeeded Mr. Wilde) and Robert S. Oehnan '31.
