2010 Association of Alumni Executive Committee Candidates

Emily Esfahani Smith ’09
Petition Nominated Candidate for Secretary-Treasurer

Biography
Emily graduated with honors in the Philosophy department, and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She was Vice President of her sorority and a team captain of the Dartmouth Ethics Society. While serving as the elected Editor-in-Chief of The Dartmouth Review, Emily was awarded a William E. Simon research fellowship grant to investigate press freedom in the Iranian media. After graduation, she accepted a Bartley Fellowship at The Wall Street Journal, where she worked on the editorial pages. Emily now writes for the Washington-based Weekly Standard. She was born in Switzerland and grew up in Montreal, speaking French and Farsi.

Statement
I adopt the statement of J. Michael Murphy and urge the election of our entire Dartmouth United slate.

We all owe something of ourselves to Dartmouth.  We all own shares in Dartmouth’s future. Like you, I spent four incredible years at Dartmouth. And like you, I believe that Dartmouth’s alumni are its greatest asset. I will do everything I can to represent the diverse interests of alumni, and to be a strong and independent voice before the administration and the Trustees.

In this race, independence is everything.  While my opponent is no doubt a loyal daughter of Dartmouth who loves this College as much as any of us, it must be noted that she also works in Dartmouth’s Office of Alumni Relations.  It is noble of her to devote herself to the College in this way, yet there are times when the Association’s leaders, fulfilling their obligation to represent the alumni, must embrace a position different from the administration’s. The only way to ensure that Dartmouth alumni are fairly represented is for all Association leaders to be independent of the College administration.

I know that alumni of all ages are concerned about the financial health of the college. Many would like to see more transparency from the business-oriented Board of Trustees. And, like me, many are very excited about the latest addition to the Dartmouth family, President Jim Kim.

But many alumni also feel that their role in college affairs has been increasingly marginalized over the last few years. Dartmouth belongs to all of us: rich and poor, men and women, black and white, Greek and unaffiliated. A new slate of independent Association leaders will ensure that their voices are no longer lost in the wilderness. We must bring back those alumni who have walked away.

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