MORNING SESSION

The Problems of an Undergraduate Secretary

A. W. STOCKDALE '20

Alumni returning to Hanover frequently make the statement that the College is not what it used to be. Mr. Stockdale proceeded to show how to a certain degree this must be true where 1700' men are present instead of the 500 or 1000 of earlier days. Where there used to be one or two sections in one course there may now be twenty or thirty. Men do not meet so often and it is physically impossible that they should all be acquainted.

The upper classes now in College have an unusually difficult problem. During the war most of the activities of the College were suspended and now men are coming back technically with a given class but actually having entered with an earlier one. But things are gradually getting normal and the vital question is to get started. This is being done through the medium of class smokers, and for the present senior class this represents the first get-together as a class for the last two and one-half years.

One of the serious problems of an undergraduate secretary's work is the size of his class. It is necessary for a secretary to start compiling the records in the freshman year and there is always a certain loss of momentum, as the officers change from year to year. Another difficulty lies in the fact that during the war class records were largely lost and have to be collected from the beginning.

Another serious problem for the secretary who is trying to unify his class is the small percentage of fraternity members. In the present freshman class only 38 percent belong to fraternities, but of course a very much larger percent is universally recognized as valuable material.

Considerable discussion ensued as to how the work of the undergraduate secretary might be made more effective and simplified. Suggestions were offered as to keeping the freshman book in the Alumni Records Office and the employment of associate secretaries for assistance in the matters of clerical work.

Reports of the Year

J. R. CHANDLER '98

Mr. Chandler disclaimed any special ability to discuss class reports because his election to the ranks of the secretaries was so recent and because of his lack of familiarity with class reports in general. He had, however, been studying some of the recent ones and had come to the conclusion that any report must be a good one, since it showed real interest and activity. He singled out some of the classes that had made a notable record in their reports and called attention to the fact that it was those classes that had kept together best. The Class of '76, for instance, had never missed a report. Others to which he alluded especially were '78, '87, '89, '99 and '04. A novel idea was tried by the secretary of 1900, who wrote to the wives of some of his classmates for pictures of their husbands when they were babies. The pictures received were published in a class report and a prize offered to the man who could name the greatest number correctly. This illustrates an important element in such reports, namely, the human side. A report may be a wonderful document in itself, but if it is merely machine-made statistics it will lose its value as a force to weld the class together. This human element is conspicuous in the reports of 1908, 1910 and, perhaps more than in any other recent. report, the newspaper which 1918 is editing, "The Roar".

Dartmouth Clubs

W. E. WILKINS '13

Although it is natural that the Association has in the past given most of its attention to the class secretaries who come in closer contact with the alumni, it is nevertheless true that the alumni clubs and associations have a definite mission of their own. From the background of his close association with the Boston Club, Mr. Wilkins was able to give the secretaries many valuable suggestions. Wherever a Dartmouth Club is located it should be the point of contact of all the alumni and the College. The problems facing the clubs include the difficulty of amalgamating the interests of mien of different ages, the disorganization caused by the war, and the incompleteness of the address lists.

Special devices may have to be adopted to keep up the interest as the season progresses. During the football season this is not difficult, but in the winter months activity may lag. The Boston Club has successfully supported a hockey team. Other devices used have been illustrated talks with moving pictures of the College, reminiscence nights, sons of members nights, intercollegiate smokers, and informal luncheons. Some colleges have developed their alumni activities rather along the club lines than through the class secretaries, but they cannot do exactly the same sort of work. It is significant that the membership of various classes in Dartmouth clubs is directly proportionate to the activity of the class itself. Each organization has its definite function, and certainly that of the Dartmouth clubs may be made of important service to the College.

The Physical Development of the College

H. E. KEYES '00

This year Dartmouth suddenly awakened to the realization of the fact that the challenge of physical growth must be accepted or the velocity of the College must be turned in other directions and concern itself not with growth in size, but with internal development. But, conceding the major importance of the latter, it must be recognized that a responsibility has arisen for increasing the size of the plant, even if the College remains stationary in numbers for a number of years to come, and this future growth cannot be haphazard, but must follow some definite plan.

The College has fortunately been able to call upon experts in this field, and Mr. Frederic Larson, the College architect in residence, in cooperation with Harry A. Wells '10, have been working on a plan which will allow for the careful placing of buildings as the funds for their erection may become available.

With a large scale diagram of the College property, Mr. Keyes explained the plan on which it was hoped to develop the plant in the future. The buildings which must be provided as soon as the funds can be obtained include a new chapel, a dining hall, a library, an enlarged hotel, a biological laboratory, a new chemical laboratory, a new heating plant, new dormitories and new recitation halls. For its current income the College is depending very largely upon the alumni through the operation of the Alumni Fund. This year it is asking the alumni for the income on $1,000,000 and after next year it hopes to get the income on $2,000,000 each year. For the great physical development outlined above Dartmouth looks confidently to the generous interest of those who are in a position to share their capital with educational institutions, and prefer to share it with Dartmouth, in bringing about this vision of the future.

The question of the program for Commencement was then brought up by Mr. E. F. Clark, who stated that examination of the records of recent Commencements showed that alumni were coming to Hanover on this occasion more and more by automobile, making it a week-end affair and leaving' in large numbers before Tuesday night, the result of this being that Commencement Day, the real climax of the week, is poorly attended by the alumni, and even this attendance is falling off. Examination of the records shows that the peak of the attendance is for the twenty-four hours from Monday noon to Tuesday noon. Mr. Clark presented a program showing how a slight change in the arrangement of the events would allow the Commencement period to be shortened by one day, bringing Commencement Day on Tuesday, and yet without sacrificing any of the traditional features.

The discussion of the proposition showed that the secretaries were apparently unanimously in favor of some such plan, and it was

"Voted that it is the opinion of the Secretaries Association that the program of Commencement should be revised along the lines suggested, closing on Tuesday night."

An interesting announcement was made at this point by Leo Folan '15 from information received in a letter from the father of Richard Hall of his class, the first Dartmouth man to lose his life in the war, to the effect that a memorial tablet made from New Hampshire granite is being prepared for erection in a suitable place in France.

Mr. W. D. Parkinson '78 expressed the hope that when a man has to leave College something might be done by which he should not be lost entirely, proposing that the College should devise some means to put its stamp of approval upon such deserving men by giving them, a certificate of the amount of work done. It was then moved and carried that the subject matter of Mr. Parkinson's remarks be referred to the Executive Committee for investigation and report.

The Nominating Committee was then called upon to report through its chairman, William D. Parkinson '78. The report was unanimously adopted as follows:

President: Henry H. Piper '76

Vice-President: Frank E. Rowe '91

Executive Committee: David N. Blakely '89, Chairman Arthur M. Strong '92 Clyfton Chandler '14 Leo M. Folan '15

Secretary-Treasurer: Eugene F. Clark '01

Member of Alumni Council: Laurence M. Symmes '08

Editors of Alumni Magazine: Homer E. Keyes '00 Eugene F. Clark '01

The President then called upon the Committee on Resolutions for its report, which was unanimously adopted as follows:

Resolved: That the thanks of the Secretaries Association be extended to the College for its hospitality and entertainment at this annual meeting, with due appreciation of the unusual merit, interest and value of the programs presented at the several sessions of the Association.

Resolved: That the Secretaries Association extends to the College, and to Mr. Keyes in particular, its appreciation of the businesslike and generous offer embodied in the plans for installing an addressograph machine in the Alumni Records Office, the use of which is to be open to the secretaries.

Resolved: That the Secretaries Association convened in Hanover this 28th day of February, 1920, gives expression by this resolution to its constant affection and deep regard for President Emeritus William J. Tucker, and rejoices in his continued association with the college community, and his able and important contributions to the interpretation of his generation, and to the discussion of current public affairs.

Finally: To Dr. Josiah W. Barstow of the Class of 1846, the Association of Secretaries of Dartmouth College extends affectionate greeting. Oldest of the living sons of the College, he has generously transmitted to those of a later time the vivid memories of an historic past. Perennially young in spirit, he has shared with them the hopes and responsibilities of an eager and ambitious present. In this hour of his infirmity, may the knowledge of the respect and affection of all Dartmouth men bring to him strengthening and good cheer.

Record should also be made here of a fraternal acknowledgment by Dr. Barstow of the resolution adopted by the Association:

Flushing, New York, 63 Jamaica Avenue, March 5, 1920.

Eugene F. Clark, Esq. Secretary of Class Secretary's Society of Dartmouth College.

My dear Sir:

Your official and most friendly letter of the Ist inst., carrying a message of brotherly greeting from the Class Secretaries Association of Dartmouth College is today received and claims the very grateful thanks of. one standing alone, "left over by fate" to find himself "solitarius pancorum qui ad modum restant." Still old age has its compensations among which the study of contrasts between human thought and action as one generation succeeds the next is not the least in value and absorbing interest.

Will you please assure your association (of which as long as I remain on the surface I may claim the title of Dean) of my full and grateful appreciation of their kind and generous greeting and accept for yourself, my dear Sir, my warm thanks and cordial regards.

I answer your note of course only by dictation as my right hand is no longer in commission. I am, dear Sir,

Very sincerely yours,

(Signed) I. W. Barstow, (Class of 1846)

Following the committee reports the Secretaries Association was adjourned to meet again in 1921.