Future Action and Planning
The following statement, written by Chairman Wallick,was the concluding section of the report of the Committeeon Alumni Relations.
AT the start of the study on alumni relations, one simple point had to be stated and re-emphasized. This was that as good as these relations may be there are always opportunities for improvement. It is the kind of thing where goodness and abundance are mutually helpful. As valuable as these attributes may be, the relations between the alumni and the College always have been and always will be a personal thing, needing close-to-home ties to maintain their sincerity and vitality. Good relations begin and end on the Hanover plain and in every other place where Dartmouth resides in the hearts of men. They are not something that can be ordered up or regimented. The parties to these relations must want them to be good and exert every effort to make them so.
The College has work to do and goals to reach that are extremely important to its constituency - particularly its body of loyal alumni. It is up to the latter to provide the very best that they are capable of in helping the College to equip itself physically and financially, as well as in the human skills, to accomplish the most that can be done in its stated mission to serve society.
For its part the College needs, as we see it, to recognize and accept the challenge of an expanding national organization. This truly nation-wide interest in Dartmouth, and wider geographical distribution of alumni, presents an opportunity for much increased activity by regions and areas to match the splendid work done through classes. This movement requires positive action by the College in terms of accepting the enlarged field and scope of activity, establishing staff manpower to meet alumni interest at least half way, and moving vigorously forward to strengthen Dartmouth far beyond anything that can be achieved by half measures with failure to meet its unique chance for unexcelled national leadership.
Today and tomorrow the College can and must provide ever-increasing opportunity for educational advancement to those who are best qualified to use it advantageously for the common good of mankind. This country as never before needs the type of leadership such education alone can produce. Those responsible for the country's higher education must meet these needs and Dartmouth must contribute her share.
All who greatly care for the College must be made to see the need of meeting this issue together, for Dartmouth has but one single purpose and the responsibility for accomplishing it is indivisible. Far more than in other enterprise, the progress made depends on how effectively the efforts of all are combined.
It is for this reason that for the past few years the College has evinced mounting interest in marshaling its full strength through planned advances in all areas of its operations. In the spirit of this planning venture, the study of alumni relations was undertaken to gain some insight into the place and strength of the alumni in the current scene and to understand what it should be for the period ahead. Two years have been devoted to this effort - two years of painstaking research, extended examination and creative thinking to discover ways and means for advancing the usefulness of the alumni to the College.
The study is not complete - if indeed it ever can be. The committee is not satisfied with what has been accomplished. It feels, however, that a good beginning has been made, and that the number of impressions and clues which have emerged are of sufficient importance to warrant the continuation of the work that has been started.
A majority of the recommendations included in this report will require further study and action by the appropriate approval authorities and other College agencies which have the responsibility for their introduction and administration. Many of the proposals are long-range in character, requiring continuity and coordination of effort over a period of time to produce the most beneficial results. Others are in need of further study and planning before their values can be determined. It is for this reason that the committee would urge that this report to the Trustees Planning Committee be considered as a guide to further action rather than as a blueprint of a multi-purpose project designed to show the exact specifications of the role of the alumni in Dartmouth's future.
Further evaluation of alumni organization and relations will doubtless reveal other and additional possibilities for strengthening this important force in the dynamics of Dartmouth's expanding future. It is, therefore, the committee's expectation that the findings and recommendations presented in the foregoing will provide a sound basis for continuing work and study in this field. It is likewise hoped that it will prove to be useful to the College officers engaged in or responsible for the various activities in which alumni participate, the Alumni Council and its standing committees, the councilors in their respective districts and, above all, to the Trustees Planning Committee in carrying out their comprehensive design for Dartmouth's future dimension.
If the CAR program can thus be utilized to point the way to further progress in the already distinguished history of successful alumni relations of the College, the Committee on Alumni Relations will feel well repaid for its time and effort.
