Summary of Recommendations

Group I - History and Purposeof Alumni Relations

Sub-Committee: Sidney C. Hayward '26, chairman. Associate members: Robert L. Allen '45 and J. Michael McGean '49.

This subgroup study was undertaken to develop an understanding of the events, circumstances and objectives that underlie the present alumni organization and program at Dartmouth College, and to compare this program with that of other colleges to determine

- What we can learn from the past that will be helpful in shaping the alumni program today and for the future.

- What we can learn from the alumni programs of other colleges that could be adopted to advantage at Dartmouth.

History and Objectives

1. The initial effort in the Group I study area was the preparation and distribution of a 114-page document entitled "History and Objectives of Alumni Relations — Dartmouth College." This material includes a chronological story of the reasons for and resultant effect of the "alumni movement" on the affairs of the College and an analysis of its major objectives. This document, presented as a separate part of the CAR report, should be useful to those who will have the responsibility for further action and planning in respect to alumni organization and relations. It is recommended, therefore, that copies of this history be made available to members of the administrative staff of the College, Council members and others who will be dealing with the subjects encompassed in the CAR study.

Alumni Council History and Manual

2. Another project of historical, as well as practical, value undertaken by Subgroup I was the preparation of a history of the Alumni Council. This history, together with other informative material on the operations of this body, will be useful to councilors and others in gaining an understanding of the genesis, responsibilities and functioning of this important alumni organization.

In addition to its historical significance, this material can be used as a manual for councilors; first, as a guide in connection with the discharge of their joint responsibilities to the alumni and the College, and second, as an aid in present and future planning concerning the organization and operations of the Alumni Council.

Owing to the short tenure of office of Council members and the variety and volume of business conducted by the Council, a need has been felt for a guide or manual for councilors similar in purpose to those presently available for class and association officers.

The first draft of such a manual has been prepared and distributed to Council members, including, among other things, sections covering the history, objectives, organization, functions and achievements of the Alumni Council. The Alumni Council History and Manual is presented as a separate part of the CAR report. Inasmuch as the manual will expedite orientation of new members, as well as facilitate the work of the Council and its standing committees, it is recommended that copies of the manual in completed form be made available to all present Council members and to each new member on notice of election. It is also recommended that this manual be up-dated every year and that the proposed Council Committee on Alumni Organization and Relations be given the responsibility for developing its full usefulness.

Study of Programs of Other Colleges

3. Information concerning alumni organization and activities at other private liberal arts colleges has been obtained in limited amount. Also available is a report on staff activities on alumni and public relations in the Ivy League, including Amherst. Full information about intellectual activities for alumni at Princeton is also available.

Through membership in the American Alumni Council, and normal working relationships with other colleges, what is going on in the field of alumni relations is generally known to the secretary's staff. Each college has developed patterns and plans which seem to work best for it, and there appears to be little that is unique or not generally known to the trade.

Dartmouth has pioneered with its own alumni program. While no claim is made for originality or uniqueness, much that is being done at Dartmouth grew out of its own rich experience, with a minimum of adaptation from others.

We are confident that no other college has undertaken a study of alumni relations comparable to the CAR project. While the committee has had some guidance in what others are doing, it has largely relied on its own experience and that of fellow alumni to point the way. Nevertheless, it is felt that it is pushing ahead and exploring along lines that will be of interest to other colleges.

Any full-scale review of historic and up-to-date alumni programs in the Ivy League, including a selection of other similar institutions around the country, might well be the subject and object of a major foundation study which could be profitably sponsored by the American Alumni Council.

Group II - Alumni Communications

Sub-Committee: Charles G. Bolté '41, chairman; Sidney J. Flanigan '23, John E. Masten '33, and Malcolm McLane '46. Associate member: Milburn McCarty Jr. '35. Staff member: Robert L. Allen '45.

The Class Newsletter

i. In accordance with a recommendation made while our study was in progress, the College has taken steps to assure part-time staff help to assist class newsletter editors in an expanded publication program. We recommend that this man be mindful of the opportunities of distributing over-all College news for the use of newsletter editors and, also, that he encourage them to publish newsletters on a year-round basis.

The Class Secretary's Column

2. We recommend that the class secretary's column in the ALUMNI MAGAZINE may be less lengthy, providing the newsletter appears frequently and with a larger volume of class news.

Effective Person-to-Person Reporting to Dartmouth Constituencies

3. We recommend to the Alumni Council that its members be urged to make regular person-to-person reports to their constituencies. This same reporting is in order for other Dartmouth officers who are in touch with College affairs and we recommend that our thoughts on this matter be transmitted to them through the appropriate associations.

Reports by College Officers

4. We recommend that the President and other principal officers of the College make occasional, informal reports to the alumni body through the ALUMNI MAGAZINE. Recognizing the MAGAZINE'S space problems, class notes may be shortened as newsletters expand.

Speaking Programs

5. We recommend the further extension of the Hanover Holiday type of program at alumni meetings, with more faculty speakers.

6. We believe that speakers from Hanover should be chosen with great care and we recommend that, if possible, opportunities in the new curriculum calendar be utilized to release faculty members from teaching responsibilities for one of the three terms in order to address alumni groups, speak at schools and before other audiences.

The Dartmouth in Portrait Calendar

7. We recommend a continued effort on the part of the editors to include photographs that are concerned with the intellectual aspects of the College.

Dartmouth Films and Television

8. We recommend that the College's film program be stimulated as much as possible, that an annual "Newsreel of the Year" be produced, and that the projected film on the liberal arts college enter production as soon as possible.

9. We recommend, also, that the College leave no step untaken to see that it makes the maximum use of television. We recognize that this recommendation could have far-reaching effects in Dartmouth's public relations activity.

The Annual Report

10. We recommend that the College consider making an annual report to the alumni body in format similar to the best of the industrial publications.

Over-Communication

11. We recommend that the College take care to assure that the number of Dartmouth communications received by the alumnus is held to a minimum in order to assure maximum attention for those communications that do reach him.

Information to Enrollment Workers

12. We recommend that means be devised for transmitting to local enrollment groups information concerning the progress at Dartmouth being made by their students.

The Bulletin

13. Our recommendation that clippings of College news stories appear in each issue of The Bulletin has already been carried into practice and will be continued.

Group III - Alumni Organization

Sub-Committee: Robert S. Oelman '31, chairman; George B. Redding '29, George C. Nickum '31, John E. Masten '33, Donald C. McKinlay '37, Harry C. Bush '44, and Robert A. Bowler '51. Associate members: Louis V. Wilcox '23, Creighton C. Hart '28, and John B. Faegre Jr. '33. Staff member: J. Michael McGean '49. Assistant to chairman: William H. Finigan.

Trustee Organization

1. Recognizing that the Board of Trustees has from time to time in its history examined its own position in the College affairs and in view of the current desire of the board to examine all aspects of the College, including those organizations in which the alumni participate, in order to bring them to the highest service to the College, the committee feels that the Board of Trustees, against the background of the final reports and recommendations submitted to them by CAR and other committees established by the TPC, may wish to reappraise its own position in Dartmouth's future through a special study by a representative committee established by the Board, possibly using professional counsel.

Note: At a meeting of the Board ofTrustees on February 5, 1958, in NewYork, a resolution of its executive committee was accepted, recommending thata study of the Board organization beundertaken. A Committee on Trustee Organization has since been named to conduct this study.

Regional Organization

2. The establishment of seven regional organizations to supplement and strengthen existing channels of communication between both the College and the Alumni Council and the alumni. Our concept here contemplates strengthening existing area organization in alumni clubs and associations throughout the country and coordinating these and other alumni activities in regions, rather than creating entirely new organizations. It is recognized that adequate staff assistance will need to be provided in Hanover to service this expanded national activity.

Note: After referring this recommendation to an ad hoc committee, TPC has approved a modification of CAR's regionalproposal and has referred it to theAlumni Council and the administrationfor implementation. Included are continuation of regional conferences and theformation of a group of Council membersrepresenting the seven regions to workwith the College to strengthen and coordinate regional organization and activities, as recommended by CAR. Furtherstudy is being made by the Council.

Alumni Council

3. In view of the importance of nominating alumni for service on the Board of Trustees and for selecting members of the Council to serve as its officers and committee chairmen and making other appointments and elections, it is recommended that the Nominating Committee inform the Executive Committee of all nominations before they are submitted to the Council for approval.

4. The enlargement of the Alumni Council from 40 to 50 members to permit representation from the newly established Class and Club Associations, as well as more proportional representation.

5. The establishment of specified election districts within each region for councilor elections in order to formalize existing practices and insure better geographical representation on the Council.

Note: It is proposed that the presentseven Alumni Council Districts be called"Regions"; that Alumni Council Election"Districts" be established within each region; and that National Enrollment Districts be redesignated as EnrollmentAreas.

6. A review of the standing committees of the Alumni Council, giving consideration, among other things, to revising the make-up of the Executive Committee, the elimination of the committees on class and club organization and the addition of a Committee on Alumni Organization and Relations.

7. In order that the Alumni Council may administer its responsibilities more efficiently, the committee has proposed that a Manual for Alumni Councilors be prepared to include all necessary information needed by a councilor to become acquainted with its history and purpose, its organization, its method of operation and to perform his duties as an officer or a member of its standing committees. (Copies of this manual are now available.)

National Enrollment Committee

8. The establishment of an Executive Committee of the National Enrollment Committee which will meet annually with the Council Committee on Enrollment and Admissions. This committee shall be made up of one national enrollment committeeman from each region, appointed by the Regional Council chairman.

Association of Alumni Club Officers

9. The newly formed Association of Alumni Club Officers is urged to develop a program for club improvement and expansion.

Group IV - Intellectual Interestsand Activities

Sub-Committee: Carlos H. Baker '32, chairman; Sidney J. Flanigan '23, George B. Red- ding '29, Dean Arthur E. Jensen, Charles G. Bolt 6 '41, and Malcolm McLane '46. Associate member: Milburn McCarty Jr. '35. Staff member: Robert L. Allen '45.

A General Recommendation

1. We recommend that all possible steps be taken to rewrite the Dartmouth stereotype. This recommendation is central to all work of Subgroup IV. It must be proved over and over again to the Dartmouth public that the College's primary concern is with ideas, brains, talents - with the education of tomorrow's leaders.

Speakers

2. We recommend an acceleration of the important program of carrying faculty out to alumni groups and of the program of bringing prominent individual alumni to Hanover for lectures in the College and associated schools.

Dartmouth in Session

3. We recommend that the College invite back to Hanover small groups of alumni workers for a thorough reacquaintance of what is going on in Hanover with a major emphasis on what the College is doing intellectually.

Convocations and Conferences

4. We recommend a continuation of the sort of conference idea best exemplified by the September 1957 Dartmouth Convocation on Great Issues in the Anglo-Canadian-American Community.

5. We suggest also two-day conferences using College facilities, presenting topics of genuine interest and importance to members of the alumni body.

Summer Center in Adult Education

6. The success of the Dartmouth curriculum of the AT&T and other groups indicates that this sort of service might be extended to the alumni. We recommend that the College seriously consider this possibility.

Regional Conferences

7. We recommend at regional conferences held by the College that a faculty lecturer speak on a topic of broad popular interest, or, perhaps, that a symposium on a similar topic be arranged involving alumni and faculty panelists.

Hanover Holiday in Reverse

8. The purpose here is to stimulate thinking on important topics. We recommend that the possibility of organizing panels of alumni to discuss topics of wide interest be considered and recommended to local clubs as part of their speaking programs.

The Alumni Magazine

9. The recommendation to include "Intellectual Supplements" as regularly scheduled sections of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE has already been acted upon through the detailed report of the September Convocation on Great Issues in the Anglo-Canadian-American Community. We retain our enthusiasm for this innovation which seems to us a direct way of stimulating intellectual activity within the alumni body.

Dartmouth Publications

10. The Dartmouth Publications imprint is an important way of stamping forcefully Dartmouth's concern for intellectual activities. Here, we recommend any practical extension of DCP production.

Films and Television

11. We recommend an extension of Dartmouth's film program to include intellectual activities of the College and presentations by Dartmouth's teachers.

12. We recommend that the College should be aware of the possibilities of securing air time for taped faculty lectures and that opportunities be sought to present Dartmouth films on television and, also, that television appearances of Dartmouth teachers should be encouraged.

Group V - Alumni Activities

Sub-Committee: Donald C. McKinlay '37, chairman; George B. Redding '29, George C. Nickum '31, Harry C. Bush '44, Robert A. Bowler '51. Associate members: Louis V. Wilcox '23, Creighton C. Hart '28, and John B. Faegre Jr. '33. Staff members: Edward T. Chamberlain '36 and J. Michael McGean '49.

In all successful alumni activities there are at least three elements which must be present on the part of the participants: enthusiasm, imagination and judgment. And equally as important, there is to be avoided a defensive attitude or approach. This is particularly true in those activities involving competition with alumni of other institutions.

Fellowship Activities

In order to sustain a continuing program for the future, we believe that there should be more careful planning and frequent objective appraisal of both club and class fellowship activities. For immediate consideration we recommend programs aimed at the following:

Class

1. Encourage the trend toward annual get-togethers in Hanover in the fall of the year, as well as the holding of occasional class meetings and social events at other locations as are within range of a sufficient number of class members.

2. Broaden the base of Hanover reunions with more emphasis on intellectual activities and attendance at Hanover Holiday; and, in addition, for the 20-year and older classes, include a well-thoughtout program for the teenagers.

3. Provide adequate staff assistance to the younger classes, both in the planning and execution of the fifth and tenth reunions.

Club

4. Encourage broader participation in the clubs and periodic checks, perhaps by self-examining questionnaires which each club would voluntarily submit to Hanover.

5. Insofar as feasible, discuss in advance with circuit speakers, their responsibilities, offer criticism of previous speakers and College help on public speaking.

6. Establish club newsletters to area undergraduates in Hanover, and "reports-from-Hanover" by the area undergraduates to their local alumni.

7. Provide for greater participation in club activities by parents of undergraduates and by wives of alumni.

8. Encourage early and regular participation by recent graduates, through free or nominal dues plans for the beginning years as well as appointment to active committees.

9. Encourage programs which portray Dartmouth to the younger and most impressionable members of the alumnus, family, the subteens and teenagers, both boys and girls.

10. Encourage continued and regular participation by older alumni through use as club directors, members of placement committees and of interviewing committees. Use more personal contact from club officers to encourage attendance of senior members at club meetings and gatherings.

Direct Contact

11. Arrange to make available during weekends at Hanover more College offices and officers for the visiting alumni and others interested in the College.

12. Encourage the President of the College to write periodically a short, personal message or thought in the ALUMNI MAGAZINE.

13. Consider preparation and use, on a sampling basis, of a periodic questionnaire to alumni such as that used by the Princeton Club of Trenton, N. J.

14. Recommend to the College Committee on Community Planning that consideration be given to the need for an adequately sized, moderately priced motel-like facility adjacent to the campus to accommodate alumni visitors and other guests. As an interim measure, consideration might be given to the use of the newer dormitories for summer accommodations of transient alumni.

Intellectual Activities

15. Make the alumni aware of the intellectual rewards that come from participating in service activities.

16. Encourage more participation of the faculty in alumni activities, particularly in the area of the educational programs of alumni groups.

17. Include more intellectual activities in reunion programs, as described under "Fellowship" and "Enrollment."

Service Activities

With respect to the meetings of the many organizations which administer these activities, we hear protests against time wasting and the all-too-frequent practices of "talking at" the members and of reading long, tiring reports. We believe that serious participation in meetings should be encouraged and ample time set aside for "new business" and active discussion on important issues.

Enrollment of Students

18. Review the manner of appointment or selection of Alumni Councilors and make whatever modifications that appear to be necessary to obtain responsible alumni, men who will perform well all the duties assigned to them.

19. Provide the Admissions Office with adequate staff and equipment to handle efficiently the present large job of servicing and training alumni workers both in strong and delinquent districts, and so that as we move into the period of increased secondary school population and applications the Admissions Office will be able to work with the alumni enrollment committees on a full-time basis, twelve months a year.

20. Analyze annually and cumulatively the enrollment work performed in each district with an annual report of findings signed by the responsible Alumni Councilor. If feasible, copies of this report should be sent to each alumnus in that councilor's area.

21. Give special attention to those districts which are weak by encouraging assistance from neighboring successful districts.

22. Increase the communication of "enrollment" to all alumni so as to increase the interest and understanding of all and the active participation of many. Encourage and assist each reuning class to include in its reunion schedule a program on enrollment and admissions, e.g., dramatization of hypothetical case studies, talks by the Dean of Freshmen, Director of Admissions and/or the football coach. Publish in the ALUMNI MAGAZINE annually each fall the names of the councilors charged with supervising enrollment, the national committeemen and the local enrollment and interviewing chairmen. (Indicate each area, district or club for which appointments have not been made so that all in that area, district or club may note.)

23. Continue the education of enrollment workers primarily through local and regional conferences, both formal and informal, scheduling work seminars which will use the case method of teaching; provided that each such conference shall be well organized and managed.

24. Increase and supplement the reports to secondary schools on their graduates attending Dartmouth so as to cover the performance of such graduates in their years at Dartmouth.

25. Make greater use in the enrollment program of the undergraduates and their parents.

26. Continue both the cooperation existing between the coaches and the Admissions Office and the close adherence by the DCAC to the College's admissions standards and policies. Strive for even better liaison between the two groups and between the DCAC and the NEC.

27. Since an exploration and selling program is no better than that which is discovered and sold, we earnestly recommend that as soon as possible a thorough study be initiated of the present admission standards and enrollment guides, and that there be included in this study an analysis of the secondary school records of "outstanding men," both Dartmouth and non-Dartmouth, in all walks of life. In short, we recommend that the College and the alumni point to the kinds of men we want our graduates to become and that a retrospective study then be made of these men as they appeared as juniors and seniors in secondary school.

28. The aforesaid study should be publicized and industry and the professions asked to cooperate with the results to be made available to them.

Fund Raising

We include here suggestions for future fund raising for consideration by the Development Council. If our views have merit, it is because none of the committee has been connected intimately with current Dartmouth fund-raising projects and hence they may be reasonably objective. We have tried neither to defend nor attack, only to be constructive.

29. In all areas of alumni activity it is strongly recommended that the service aspect of Dartmouth alumni life be spread broadly over the entire alumni body. In fund raising as in other activities, it is a temptation to think first and only of the same individuals in a class or region to do the work. With the caliber of personnel available, new blood should constantly be introduced among the class agents for the Alumni Fund; for example, as in enrollment and other projects.

30. The committee feels that for the present the annual Alumni Fund should continue to be executed by the class organization. However, we believe that as the regional organization, as recommended in the Subgroup III report, begins to function effectively, valuable field trials can be performed under which the work of all class agents in certain test areas would be coordinated. As the geographical spread of the alumni continues and the geographical separation of classmates increases, there may be a need for the larger classes to seek some form of decentralization, such as establishing regional class chairmen.

31. In this same connection, it appears that the clubs and recommended regional organizations will be able to provide increasing assistance in what seems to be the weakest portion of the fund-raising program; namely, the detection and attraction of substantial contributions from persons, foundations, and corporations of considerable means but with no direct contact with Dartmouth. It also seems important that the College should be attracting larger sums from her own sons' estates, and often the local alumni are better able to judge the financial ability of an alumnus than others living at a distance. The present capital gifts campaign is a first and long step toward an accelerated permanent search for large Sifts"

32. The Committee on Alumni Relations congratulates all concerned upon the Bequests and Estate Planning program as sponsored by the Alumni Council and operated through workers in classes past their 25th reunion. We feel that the results from this effort will add substantially to the endowment and capital gifts of the College. We believe, however, that the Bequests and Estate Planning Committee should appraise the current methods of obtaining accurate and specific information during a potential donor's lifetime of his planned bequests for the College. As a part of such appraisal, we suggest that this committee study the cases of those alumni who were expected to make substantial testamentary gifts to the College but who died without doing so.

33. Wider distribution should be given to the decision, and reasons therefor, of the Development Council not to use life insurance programs, group and otherwise, which some of our sister institutions seem to use as an adjunct to their fund-raising programs, particularly for the graduating classes, so that the alumni will understand why Dartmouth does not include these programs in her fund-raising procram.

34. Because of the thorough care with which most major fund-raising activity is conducted - by both the Alumni Council and the Development Council - and the close working relationship that exists with many hundreds of alumni workers on these matters, we are not concerned with the need for radical changes or for the flashing of red or yellow lights at the moving flow of dollars toward the College. However, we would not place a green light permanently on these avenues since relationships with alumni are too precious, too close to the heart, and too vital to the over-all welfare of the College to have fund raising taken for granted. It should be viewed as a by-product of a strong two-way relationship between the alumni and the College, not as an objective of this. We urge that special interest groups be permitted to operate within their own limited bounds, but that the entire alumni body should not be burdened with requests for money except for the few most important projects as approved by the Trustees, Development and Alumni Councils, and others concerned.

35. Past emphasis on gifts to the 25th year class memorial fund is now changed. No longer the "one-time" solicitation for a capital gift, a formula has been worked out by the Alumni Council Committee on Class Gifts, the Office of Development, the class officers concerned for classes approaching their 25th to participate in the current capital campaign and at the same time build a 25th year endowment fund for the College. In view of probable future capital drives, it is clear that continuing study should be given to the feasibility of class capital efforts along with substantial support to the College.

Vocational Placement

36. Alumni: More publicity should be given the Office of Placement so that both the alumni and industry will know that its excellent services are available.

37. Seniors: Continue the present practices and in addition encourage the Office of Placement to establish a system of notifying local clubs of seniors seeking employment in specific areas.

38. Undergraduates: The Office of Placement should continue its present practices. This could be supplemented by publication in The Dartmouth of summer employment opportunities.

Additionally, the Alumni Council should direct its Vocational Committee, first, to establish blueprints for successful placement work by alumni clubs and, second, to supervise the clubs to insure the proper execution of these plans.

The ALUMNI MAGAZINE should inform the alumni in midwinter of each year of the need for summer employment and the desirability of hiring Dartmouth undergraduates, and should request that those having, or knowing of, jobs advise the local club or the Office of Placement.

39. Accepted Applicants: The blueprinting and supervision recommended to be done by the Alumni Council's Vocational Committee should include coverage of the accepted applicants group. In addition, the placement of this fourth group should be coordinated with the work of the local enrollment committee and approved by it.

40. Generally: The name "Placement Committee" should be substituted for "Vocational Committee" both at the Alumni Council and club level.

Public Relations

We recognize that public relations, like death and taxes, is ever present, and is a close relative of each alumni activity.

41. In addition to the availability on a generous basis of the present consultant on public relations, we recommend that the services of a firm of public relations counselors be retained to examine, appraise and advise on the public relations practices of the College. Close and objective scrutiny of this intricate problem would be wise and expedient if we are to gear ourselves to the demands of these dynamic days of change. Such examination and appraisal should include a study of the public relations aspects and by-products of the other activities: fellowship, intellectual activities, and service.

42. The Alumni Council should continue to encourage all alumni clubs and classes to discuss and plan their own public relations program in collaboration with Hanover, aimed at Dartmouth families and their Mends, secondary schools, applicants and their parents, and the public generally.

43. An adequate budget and staff manpower for a true, positive public relations program is essential.

Special Interest Activities

The Alumni Council and Development Council should give continuous scrutiny to all special interest organizations to prevent their auxiliary demands from interfering with or weakening the Alumni Fund and other official fund-raising projects of the College.

Direct Participation in College Affairs

44. We suggest that further study be given to the qualifications and criteria for selection of ail alumni who participate directly in College affairs in order to make whatever modifications that appear to be necessary to obtain the services of the most competent men available who are outstandingly qualified to perform their assigned tasks.

45. Establish in the Alumni Records Office, a continuous and up-to-date cross-indexed file of selected alumni by regions, occupations and Dartmouth service, that can be used as a basic and reliable record for the selection of candidates for leadership positions in the alumni organization.

Early Participation in Alumni Activity

46. The importance of early recruitment of new graduates into the ranks of alumni workers should not be overlooked. Active participation in class, club or some other form of service is to be encouraged on the part of the new alumnus. The preinduction training of officers of the graduating class is an essential step forward in this regard. Better means should be sought for getting new graduates in contact with alumni clubs and associations.