More Participation

The fifth biennial conference of the Black Alumni of Dartmouth Association, a group whose existence has been described as "divisive" by some of the parties in recent trustee elections, was held in Hanover at the beginning of August. Shortly after the three-day conference, we talked about the meeting's agenda and attendance with Samuel W. Smith '49, associate director of the Alumni Fund and a vice president of the Black Alumni Association.

About 50 people attended, Smith reported, ranging in age from William Dent '13, Dartmouth's oldest black alumnus, to students presently enrolled at the College. Organized around a series of workshops, the conference focused on some of the usual areas of alumni concern: student life, academics, alumni affairs, and career-advising for students and recent graduates. The student-life workshop, for example, looked at how black students are faring at Dartmouth and at how they perceive their experience here. It explored ways in which alumni concerned about student life could be of help to the College and to undergraduates how alumni could assist students in taking advantage of opportunities and resources at Dartmouth and after graduation and it addressed areas of the recruiting, admissions, and advising processes that might be strengthened.

In a panel discussion on academic life, Professors William Cook and Dianne Pinderhughes presented their perspectives as black faculty members, and the career workshop offered students and alumni a chance to discuss employment and educational options and strategies. The main theme of the session on alumni affairs, Smith related, was "participation, support, and keeping in touch with the structure for involvement in College affairs that has already been established for the alumni as a whole. This kind of involvement has been one of the emphases of the Black Alumni Association since its inception. What we're concerned with, in general, is how we as a group of people with some special perspectives and resources can contribute to and participate in the entire spectrum of Dartmouth alumni affairs."