Free Speech and the Trustee Election

The president of the Alumni Association has responded to a question about the extent of free speech protection given to the alumni Trustee candidates and their supporters, who in theory are currently barred from campaigning.

From: [John Walters ’62]To: [John Sharer ’72]Subject: Re: Alumni for a Strong Dartmouth Website
Date: 03/01/2005 12:56 PM

Thx, John. What I really was referring to is the right of individuals to say what they will. We have imposed restrictions on the candidates themselves, as tenuous as that may be, but how do you stop one of your classmates from backing a particular candidate on his website or blog? We’ll grapple with this, and I’ll keep you posted.

As an aside, one thing we did this year was expand the communications cycle to permit each candidate to send out two emails at any time during the campaign, to allow them to react to issues that might come up or perhaps to respond to comments of others that they believe need clarification or correction. We hope all the candidates will utilize this medium, though from what we’ve seen so far that process may only spawn an avalanche of responses over Class listservs, etc., etc.

Regards,
John

The original question, from John Sharer ’72:

From: [John Sharer ’72]To: [John Walters ’62]Subject: Re: Alumni for a Strong Dartmouth Website
Date: 03/01/2005 12:15 PM

John:

As an attorney, you know, perhaps better than I, that the first amendment does not apply to a private institution such as Dartmouth College, nor does it apply to the election or ballotting process.

Thanks for your message. Please let me know the outcome of the Ballotting Committee’s deliberations.

Thanks.