alexander hamilton center turks & caicos - Hamilton College

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featuresPlanning for the AHC intensified in early 2006.Discussions about the AHC were private, which is notuncommon with projects in development. Questions aboutgovernance were raised last summer, according to Dean ofFaculty Joseph Urgo, who added that some changes to thecharter were made. Over the course of the summer, Bradfieldmet with the Committee on Academic Policy to get theiradvice on the proposal, and by the start of the school year,the founders and the administration are toasting the imminentannouncement of the AHC.AnnouncementA press release by the College on Sept. 6, 2006announced the founding of the AHC with unbridledenthusiasm. Urgo “characterized the center as “an excitingfaculty initiative, one that will draw renewed attention on thiscampus to the considerable scholarly interest in the lifeand work of the founder who leant his name to ourcollege.”In late September, Menges made a verbalpledge of $2 million to be given to the AHC andasked that the College reallocate $1.6 million of hisprior donations towards the new center.OctoberDespite the fanfare thataccompanied the announcementof the AHC, by October it wasclear that there was going to be adebate over the AHC’s charter.Questions were raised aboutgovernance, specifically aboutthe role of the dean offaculty and presidentin overseeing thecenter on campus,and also how facultywould be involved inthe center.At a facultymeeting on Oct. 10,a group of professorssubmitted a resolutionurging that the AHC charterbe amended. The concernsexpressed in the resolutionabout the charter were fourfold:neither the presidentnor the dean would haveinfluence upon replacement ofthe AHC’s Board of Overseers;it was possible for the Board ofOverseers to only have one Hamilton faculty member on it;the term of the director of the AHC was unclear, and couldbe indefinite; and finally, the charter could be amended withoutthe approval of the president or the dean because of theautonomy granted by the AHC charter.Professor Steve Orvis helped write the facultyresolution, and acknowledged that the faculty “had no actualpower.” Orvis, who chairs the government department,believed that the main problem with the AHC’s governancewas its Board of Overseers, the key governing board ofthe AHC. “The dean has oversight over all similar campusorganizations, but he would not have oversight over the AHC,and the faculty was concerned about this,” said Orvis. He alsofound it problematic that an on-campus college organizationcould have a board of members that were mostly people fromoutside of Hamilton.Urgo was more concerned with the fiduciaryresponsibilities and the oversight that the dean of facultywould have over the AHC, than the role of faculty inthe center. “We weren’t looking to have specific facultyinvolved in the AHC unless they wanted to be,” hesaid, “although we did expect interaction with facultyon campus.” Urgo felt that one of the strengthsof the center’s Board of Overseers was the factthat outside scholars would fill its ranks, whichwould encourage interaction with scholarsaround the nation.Pellman noted that the faculty’sanxieties with the charter did notconcern their own involvement,but rather the involvement of theadministration in the governance ofthe AHC. “I truly don’t think anyoneon the faculty was interested in being‘in the loop’ of the governance ofthe center,” said Pellman. “But thefaculty was very concerned that thepresident and the dean were not goingto be substantively included in the loop.”Professor Kathryn Doran spokeat the faculty meeting on behalf of theresolution’s signatories and reiterated thatthe objections to the center were based ongovernance, not ideological differences.The center’s charter never explicitlysaid it would be conservative, and indeed “thefounders of the AHC claimed it was nonideological,”said Professor Nancy Rabinowitz.“But at the same time, the charter said theAHC would explore capitalism, democracy, andother terms loaded with ideology.”Bradfield believes the concerns over thethe continental | spring 2007 23