The Association of Alumni annual meeting was held in Hanover on Saturday, April 10. President John Mathias '69 led the meeting. His remarks for gathered alumni are reprinted below.

Remarks of John H. Mathias, Jr.

Association of Alumni of Dartmouth College Annual Meeting

April 10, 2010  Hanover, NH 

I know that most of you are here today not to hear my remarks but rather to hear the election results, so I am going to keep things short.

I first came to Hanover in the fall of 1965 as a financial aid student.  My parents didn’t go to college.  I was what President Jim Wright used to call a “first generation” college student.

Things were much simpler then.  For example, it was obvious to me from my first day on this beautiful campus that I was to be the privileged recipient of a staggeringly generous gift from perfect strangers.

From that day forward, in ever increasing ways, I have always known that I would owe an enormous lifetime debt to Dartmouth, and that Dartmouth would owe me nothing. 

·                When I was sitting at home in Chicago minding my own business three years ago, before I became involved in alumni/ae politics, the thought never occurred to me that I had any entitlements from Dartmouth.

·                Actually, the thought never occurred to me to get involved in alumni/ae politics at all, but you know the rest. 

·                As I stand here today, I can tell you that regardless of the outcome of this election, I will continue my volunteer servic e to Dartmouth just as I have every year since my graduation in 1969.

I know that most of you in this room have done and will continue to do the same.

We are so fortunate to have a superb new President, Jim Yong Kim, a true world leader. 

·                We can all be very proud of the response of our College and its students to the Haitian earthquake disaster and of the continued leadership shown by President Kim in world health issues.

·                It is my hope that, among everything else he is doing, President Kim will help to change the subject for alumni/ae politics away from introspective negatives into more constructive and positive ways for alumni/ae to become involved in addressing the great issues facing our world today so that we might join forces to make a difference. 

Here are my personal perspectives:

I do not view the College, its administration, or its Board as adversaries but rather as colleagues.  We have common interests and objectives which I want to help promote. 

I respect those generous alumni/ae whose philanthropy has so greatly enhanced our College over the years for the benefit of today's students and those for generations to come. 

I respect those tireless alumni/ae volunteers who give their time and service so selflessly in support of Dartmouth. 

They are my friends — not my enemies — and they have my sincere gratitude.  I want to work with them, not against them.

I have great respect for Dartmouth parents, who care deeply about their children and Dartmouth today.  They deserve our attention as much as anyone.

To me, there are not good alumni/ae and bad alumni/ae, insiders and independents, or any such dichotomy.  There are only good alumni/ae.  We all became insiders the moment we matriculated at Dartmouth, and insiders we shall remain forever.

These are challenging financial times for everyone everywhere, including here at Dartmouth.  There has been a lot of pain in Hanover among some dear friends and their families as budget cuts have necessitated changes and layoffs.

Now more than ever the time has come for Dartmouth and its good alumni/ae to join together to answer the call of President Kim to increase our support of the greatest undergraduate college anywhere, especially including our financial support.

In this respect, I believe the time has come for us to develop a way to conduct our alumni/ae elections without diverting enormous amounts of money into campaigning which could and should go to Dartmouth instead.

I will end by citing two time honored sayings that seem particularly appropriate for Dartmouth alumni/ae today.

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

“From those to whom much is given, much is expected.”

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AS OF MAY 5, 2010, THIS PAGE WILL REMAIN QUIET UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.

THE NEXT ELECTION CAMPAIGN WILL BEGIN WITH ALUMNI TRUSTEE NOMINATIONS IN THE LATE FALL, 2010 AND THE ELECTION WILL BE IN THE SPRING OF 2011.

Most recent update - May 5, 2010