Assembly LX: Free Speech, Free Expression and Free Inquiry at Yale
Friday, April 26 through Saturday, April 27, 2002
AYA Town Meeting

Before the official opening of the Assembly itself, the officers of the Board of Governors, Maureen Doran '71 MSN, Michael Kashgarian '58 MD, Philip G. Boyle '71, and Edward A. Dennis '63, hosted an AYA Town Meeting. At this meeting, they explained the processes, discussions and decisions undertaken with respect to the 2002 Alumni Fellow election. Doran began by explaining the process by which alumni fellows are elected. She then went on to explain how the Board came to its decision as to their role in the alumni fellow election this year.

The Yale Corporation is made up of nineteen trustees, called Fellows. They are the President of the University, ten Successor Fellows who are chosen by the Corporation itself and who typically serve two six-year terms, and six Alumni Fellows, elected one each year by the alumni for a six-year term. (In addition, the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of the State of Connecticut serve ex officiis, but do not typically attend Corporation meetings.)

Essentially, there are two ways in which a candidate may be placed onto the Alumni Fellow election ballot. An Alumni Fellow Nominating Committee is appointed each year by the AYA Chair to poll widely among alumni and University personnel for possible candidates, conduct extensive research on the careers and public records of possible candidates, and then compose a final slate of candidates to present to alumni.

It is also possible for an eligible alumnus/a to obtain a place on the ballot through a petition process. This process involves the collection of a number of petitions equal to 3% of the prior year's number of qualified alumni. Once it is determined whether any petition candidate has qualified, the nominating committee may act to complete the slate so that from two to five individuals total appear on it, including any petition candidates.

This year, there were two candidates on the ballot: Rev. W. David Lee '93 M.Div. and Maya Lin '81, '86 M. Arch., '87 D.F.A. (Honorary). Lee qualified for the election through the petition process and Lin was nominated by the Alumni Fellows Nominating Committee.

By early January, the AYA had received a number of inquiries from alumni regarding campaign mailings and emails sent to them on behalf of Lee. The AYA sent a message to alumni volunteer leaders to clarify that the AYA was not the source of the mailings, that the AYA was not endorsing the petition candidate, and that the AYA had not provided alumni contact information to the petition candidate.

As additional time passed, the AYA Board of Governors became increasingly concerned that Lee was not disclosing in his campaign materials his funding ties to Yale's unions and his board memberships with local advocacy organizations harshly critical of Yale. The Board was also concerned about the strong disparity between the candidate's statements on the public record about Yale and the candidate's presentation of his views about Yale to alumni. In late March, the Board finally voted unanimously to make available to alumni the full record of published information about the candidates and the election process itself by way of an election Web site and two mailings sent to all eligible voters in the election.

Following her presentation of this history, Doran opened the floor to questions and comments from the assembled delegates. The lengthy discussion ranged from the problems caused by the politicization of a trustee election to the nature of the information distributed by the AYA Board to alumni. (Note: the election outcome was not known at the time of the Assembly, but has since been announced. Maya Lin won the election, polling 41,575 votes to 8,324 for David Lee.)