Academic

Dartmouth Governance: No Democracy, Please

By Calvin Massey

Todd Zywicki, over at the Volokh Conspiracy  has a post concerning the Dartmouth governing board's attempt to dilute severely the voice of democratically elected alumni trustees.  Another take on this issue can be found here.  The entire issue raises the question of accountability of these mammoth non-profit private universities.  To whom are they responsible?  Their current students?  Their alumni?  Their faculty?  Only the board of trustees?  The state attorney general, in his or her capacity to ensure that the charitable purposes of the university are being carried out without fraud or other malfeasance?  Why does the Dartmouth board think that it should have the power unilaterally to alter the university's governance structure?  Perhaps the Dartmouth administration might like to invite Robert Mugabe to provide some governance tips.   

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on April 24, 2008 (boomark / email).