Vincent Jones 52 Heads Alumni Council

Vincent W. Jones '52 of Long Beach, Calif., was elected president of the Dartmouth Alumni Council at the 124th meeting of the Council June 14 through 16 in Hanover. He succeeds Norman E. McCulloch Jr. '50, who presided over the annual sessions.

Mr. Jones is general counsel for the Pacific Coast territory for Sears Roebuck and Company. A Rhodes Scholar, he holds a B.A. and an M.A. from Oxford University, where he distinguished himself in athletics as well as intellectual prowess by becoming the first American in 20 years to win a "rugby blue" for playing in the game against Cambridge. He earned his LL.B. at Stanford University.

Recently appointed by Governor Reagan to California's consumer fraud task force, he was elected its chairman by the 14 other members. He is active in community and professional groups, and has held high office in the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints. An Alumni Councilor since 1969, he is a member of the board of the Southern California Alumni Association, and has served since 1953 as a class agent.

Josiah Stevenson IV '57 of Wilton, Conn., an executive with Chesebrough-Ponds, Inc., in New York City, was elected vice president of the Council. He was class president from 1967 to 1971, when he was elected to the Council. J. Michael McGean '49, Secretary of the College, was reelected secretary.

Members of the executive committee, in addition to the officers, are F. Charlton Mills III '38 of Cleveland, Ohio; Richard W. Lippman '42 of Philadelphia; Kevin I. Sullivan '54, Buffalo, N.Y.; and John G. Demas '55, Westport, Conn.

The Council elected eight members-at-large to serve three-year terms: Willard C. Wolff '31 of Etna, N.H.; Stanley C. Smoyer '34, Princeton, N.J.; Charles H. Davison '50, Chicago; S. Peter Spalding '53, Waterville, Maine; Frederick B. Whittemore '53, New York City; Richard J. Vaules Jr. '57, Phoenix, Ariz.; Wilburn P. Durousseau '58, Los Angeles; and Benjamin S. Read Jr. '62 of Atlanta, Ga. Walter L. Bush Jr. '5l of Minneapolis, Minn., was reelected to a second three-year term.

Prof. Jere R. Daniell II '55 was elected as the Council's representative on the Board of Overseers of the Hanover Inn for one year.

The new undergraduate representative to the Council is James L. Sullivan '73, of Holyoke, Mass., who succeeds Charles W. Leer '72.

The two major items of Alumni Council business were a detailed report by President Kemeny on Dartmouth College budgeting for the coming year as well as for the five-year period through 1977, and the final report of the Council's ad hoc Indian Symbol Study Committee.

President Kemeny stated that the Dartmouth Trustees, in studying the College's financial outlook in relation to the rate at which the annual budget had grown over the past decade, had come to the decision that after 1972-73, for which the budget had already been prepared, the growth rate in annual net expense should be held down to an average of 5%. Annual net expense, he explained, is that part of the budget for which there is no earmarked revenue, such as grants and income from endowment for specified purposes.

At the 5% growth rate, diminishing annual deficits will still be incurred until 1976-77, at which point in a five-year projection the ascending lines of revenue and expense will meet and the College will return to a balanced budget.

President Kemeny expressed optimistic hope that a foundation grant would help the College to meet the transition costs of the Dartmouth Plan for year-round operation and coeducation. The figures he presented to the Alumni Council, however, were projected deficits without benefit of any reduction that such a grant would bring about.

The preliminary budget for 1972-73, for example, now shows a deficit of $291,000, after transition costs of $537,000 and an expense of $79,000 for maintenance of new facilities. Without these latter costs the growth rate for the year would be 5.5%.

The long-range budget projection for the years 1973-74 through 1976-77, again without foundation support, shows a combined deficit of $2,875-million, of which $990,000 is attributed to YRO/COED transition costs and $918,000 to maintenance of new facilities. Among these new facilities are the Murdough Center, the Fairchild Physical Sciences Center, on which construction has just begun, and Cameron-Burleigh Hall, the former Phoenix House which is being remodeled for administrative use.

The largest annual deficit, estimated at $1.583-million would occur in 1973-74, a year in which no component of the Third Century Fund will be available for current use and in which the next salary increases for senior faculty and staff become effective (senior increases are currently made on a biennial basis). Transition costs for YRO, although smaller than for the previous year, will continue without the later offsetting income from increased enrollment.

Thereafter, the annual deficits are projected at $661,000 for 1974-75, $621,000 for 1975-76, and $10,000 for 1976-77, the point at which income and expense are expected to return to their normal balance.

The Trustees, after prolonged study and the stipulation of a reduced growth rate, have agreed that the projected period of deficit budgeting, leading to a break-even operation five years hence, is a justifiable and financially acceptable plan for the College as it works its way to full implementation of the Dartmouth Plan of year-round operation and coeducation.

Since the Council meeting last month, President Kemeny's hope that projected deficits could be eliminated or substantially offset has been realized with the receipt of a $500,000 foundation grant and other gifts. These gifts together will wipe out the anticipated deficit for 1972-73 and significantly reduce those estimated for the following years.

Vincent W. Jones '52 (right), the newly elected president of the Dartmouth AlumniCouncil, with Josiah Stevenson IV '57, the Council's vice president.