Conservatives at the gates

IN YOUR article on Dartmouth's trustee election ("College trustees clash on key values," City & Region, April 3), you neglected important background information on the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, which is supporting the efforts of conservative alumni groups to seat like-minded candidates at colleges and universities across the country.

ACTA was cofounded by Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, and receives funding from conservative political foundations such as the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the John M. Olin Foundation, and the Randolph Foundation. Its president, Anne Neal, was general counsel and congressional liaison for the National Endowment for the Humanities under Lynne Cheney during the administration of President George H.W. Bush.

ACTA claims to be for academic freedom; however, its true mandate is to undermine what its supporters call "that last leftist redoubt, the college campus," in the words of T. Kenneth Cribb.

To characterize the struggle at Dartmouth as one of alumni emancipation is incorrect. Indeed, these groups are counting on the vast numbers of unsuspecting alumni who never bother to vote. If more alumni were informed and involved in trustee and other alumni leadership elections, these reactionary groups could lose their momentum.

STANLEY COLLA
Hanover, N.H.

The writer is secretary-treasurer of the Association of Alumni at Dartmouth.