Voting Season Again

COME SPRING IT WILL AGAIN BE time for a trustee election-and in what's becoming another tradition, a petition candidate will appear on the ballot in addition to the three candidates chosen by the Alumni Council. All are running for the seat being vacated by Nancy Kepes Jeton '76.

This go-round, however, finds an electorate still polarized by last fall's knock-down-drag-out fight over a proposed new constitution, which laid bare the alumni community's ideological rifts. A few calendar pages later, alumni-either smarting from wounds or giddy about the constitution's defeat-are being asked, again,to shape the future of the College.

With the constitutions coll petition candidates had until February 2 to collect the 500 signatures required to be on the ballot. It was an effort in which University of Virginia law professor Stephen Smith '88 succeeded and Janos Marton '04, also a self-declared candidate, failed to get the necessary support.

Smith, who once clerked for U.S. Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas and is a close friend of successful trustee petition candidate Todd Zywicki '88, wants the school to spend less money on professor research but more to rejuvenate the football program. "I was disaffected foryears, though the school was like a patient in need of reconstructive surgery," Smith says. "But [the constitution vote] in the fall energized me, made me realize there are alumni who care to fight."

Smith gathered more than 600 signatures by the deadline to assure a spot on the ballot, while Marton mustered just 335 despite a head start.

Marton, a two-time former Student Assembly president who currently attends Fordham Law School, says the

For his part Smith is vague about how he obtained his addresses. "There are lists circulating, "he says.

Although Marton had explored running last year—even after a falling-out with some anti-constitution alumni supporters over Dartmouth's affirmative action policy, which Marton supports—he blamed the holiday break as a factor in this year's failed attempt. Focused on improving student internship opportunities as a means of enhancing career opportunities, Marton says he wants to keep the issue alive. "It's very important for the College," he says.

Even absent Marton's maverick spirit, the ballot handpicked by the Alumni Council appears to represent an effort to appeal to disaffected voter.Sandy Alderson '69, CEO of the San Diego Padres baseball team, may be proof of that, having never held any alumni job. In fact, Alderson, a Vietnam veteran, fell out of touch with the College in the 1970s after it cut its ROTC program. "The council definitely nominated a broader array of candidates this year," he says. "I mean, I've been kicking tires and hanging around minor-league ballparks for 20 years." While he stresses that his would be an independent voice, Alderson, who voted in favor of the proposed contitution, says he doesn't think the College is broken. His focus would be on preserving a quality undergraduate education. "It's what the College is known for, what its reputation for excellence is built on," he says.

Sherri Oberg '82, Tu'86, of Wellesley, Massachusetts, meanwhile, says her post-graduation involvement with the school—she's been president of the Alumni Council and is married to Curt Oberg '78, former player turned assistant football coach—is an asset, putting her in earshot of students. They tell her class sizes are too large and that the 8:1 studentteacher ratio should be lowered so every professors charge is just six undergrads, she says. "We should be asking the candidates, 'Why are you doing this?'" says Oberg, who runs Acusphere, a biotech company focused on safer heart checkups. "What matters is if they're knowledgeable, committed and passionate."

Areed, says John Wolf '70, a former U.S. ambassador to Malaysia who runs the Philadelphia-based Eisenhower Fellowships. A career abroad has convinced him that Dartmouth needs to boost its international reputation to attract more overseas students. "The world is much more dynamic than the Northeast, where most students come from," he says,"and Dartmounth should be more ndynamic, too.: International students now total just 7 percent of the studen body, according to wolf.

More about the trustee candidates can be found at www.voxthevote.org. Voting opens April 1 and ballots must be received by the College via mail or Internet no later than May 15. - C.J.Hughes '92

Wolf 70

Oberg '82

Oberg'82

Aideison'69

Smith'88

Marton '04