2012 Alumni Trustee Candidates

Benjamin F. Wilson '73

Ben Wilson is the Managing Principal of Beveridge & Diamond, P.C., the nation’s oldest and largest environmental law firm. His litigation and counseling practice involves complex commercial and environmental matters. He represents major corporations and local governments in state and federal courts.

A native of Jackson, MS, Ben graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth in 1973. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and named a Rufus Choate Scholar and Senior Fellow. He was vice president of his class and a member of the varsity football and track teams. After graduation, he founded a mentoring program to foster academic success among minority students and has been active in fundraising. Ben’s three brothers (Harrison, John, and Richard) also attended Dartmouth. Ben is a graduate of Harvard Law School. He has received numerous awards for his legal and charitable work. He serves on the boards of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company and the Environmental Law Institute. Ben and his wife, Merinda, have a daughter, Rachel.

Statement

Financial Health/Facilities

The College must be in the strongest financial position to remain among the premier academic institutions in the world and able to attract superior students, athletes, faculty, and administrators. This will require fundraising with clearly defined goals. Having managed my law firm during this critical economic time, I know firsthand how difficult, yet necessary, it is to reduce costs in order to preserve an institution’s financial integrity. President Kim made a great start in ensuring the financial strength of Dartmouth by reducing the expense growth rate, eliminating the 2011 deficit, and implementing a plan to close the 2012 deficit.

We must remember that Dartmouth is competing not only with other Ivy League schools but with outstanding institutions across the country, and increasingly the world, for top students, athletes, faculty, and administrators. In recent years, Dartmouth has made significant investments in a capital program that has allowed us to upgrade our facilities and remain competitive with our peers. We must continue to do so.

Social Responsibility

For-profit and nonprofit corporations, government, and individuals increasingly acknowledge today an ethical obligation to society at large. Early on, and later inspired by Presidents Tucker and Dickey, Dartmouth faculty and students have seen it as their responsibility to address the world's challenges. Faculty and students from Tuck, Thayer, and Dartmouth Medical School, and in our academic programs, want to play a leading role in addressing the great issues of the day. May this be ever so.

Diversity

In the coming years, the world will place a premium on the ability to implement ideas that improve people’s lives. It is critical that Dartmouth train students not only to develop but to accomplish great ideas. The achievement of this lofty goal is best served in an educational environment that highly values diversity and tolerance.

I believe that Dartmouth is the ideal place for students to appreciate the cultural diversity presented by a student body drawn from every state and many countries. Ultimately, a diverse Dartmouth will enable students and faculty to succeed in an increasingly global community where ideas and their implementation will require shared leadership and commitment from all.

The Best Must Become Better

Although Dartmouth enjoys preeminence among colleges and universities, we must not take this for granted. In every aspect of our operations we must recognize, like president Abraham Lincoln, that “[t]he dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present.” We must engage students, faculty, and others throughout the world on issues that matter. Our undergraduate, graduate, medical, engineering, and business schools must continue to innovate. The horizons of our students and faculty must not be threatened by the absence of funding or physical resources. The best—Dartmouth— must become better.

If I am afforded the honor of being elected to the board, I will be a great listener, support our faculty and students in every way I can, help Dartmouth confront its toughest challenges openly and courageously, promote diversity and tolerance, and ensure that, as was true for me, every Dartmouth student will receive the greatest gift of education: the opportunity to persuade and to be persuaded by others.

For more information, view the Trustees for Dartmouth site.

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