ANOTHER REPORT TO THE ALUMNI

Chairman of the Council on Student Organizations

The normal undergraduate of today is profoundly convinced that the one really practical thing he gets in college— the thing that will count most in life— is the human understanding acquired in his association with other students and the business training of his extra-curricular activities. There is more to be said for this point of view than there really ought to be, though it is hardly fair to expect a member of the faculty to say it. I have a suspicion, however, that in any case the dicta of the faculty will not entirely change the student's view of the matter. Be that as it may, it is evident enough that student activities, properly regulated, do offer opportunities for the most valuable sort of training. One of the problems of the college is to make these opportunities count.

Most of us have only to think back a moment to our own college days to realize how large a part—-and how vital a part—our extra-curricular activities played in our own education—such as it was. Of the value of athletics I shall not speak here. In the first place, it isn't necessary. In the second place, I am just now holding a brief for the other side, and the importance of the part played by non-athletic interests in an undergraduate's education isn't always as apparent as it ought to be, especially to the man on the outside of college walls, who is inclined to'remember his four academic years in the ruddy glow of big athletic triumphs, and who has the college continually recalled to his attention by shouting headlines across the sporting page. The victories of field and track are spectacular. The tense physical struggle of man against man, of college against college, is stimulating. And it tends to crowd out of mind those quieter, less spectacular activities which demand no less of effort, no less of persistence, but effort and persistence of an intellectual, organizing, administrative sort. Yet it must be obvious that these activities—in music, dramatics, debating, journalism, and so on—are at least as valuable as athletics in training men— which, after all, is what we are about.

These non-athletic interests often exactly parallel curricular courses and give the undergraduate what he needsi most: a chance to express in action what he has been learning only as theory. If real education is self-expression rather than passive receptivity—as can be pretty convincingly argued—there is a .good deal to be said, after all, for the student valuation of his extra-curricular activities, particularly non-athletic. To justify this valuation of his, however, several things are necessary: The standard of achievement must be high. The business side of these activities must be efficiently administered. Honors and offices must come as the result of' proven ability, not of popularity or petty politics. The affiliation between student organizations and the college courses which involve the same subjects must be close enough to be of the utmost value to both. Finally— and most of all—the undergraduate must be made to feel that he is as important a representative of the college, and has her honor to uphold, quite as definitely in a non-athletic as in a more advertised, —but certainly not more important—athletic activity.

These several ends can best be attained by a friendly cooperation between faculty, undergraduates, and alumni in the government and encouragement of non-athletic interests. The machinery for such cooperation already exists in the Council on Student Organizations, but of definite expression of interest by the alumni there could profitably be more. It is such "alumni expression, added to his own natural impulse, that is necessary to spur the undergraduate to the fullest realization of what he can do for the college. He must know that his performance is being watched by those who have gone out before him and who are expecting him to carry the name of Dartmouth to the front—visibly and notably to the front—in matters musical, dramatic, and literary, as well as on the football field or in the hurdles. Such support would both improve performance and increase the educative possibilities of the college in ways intimately related to courses in fine arts, in literature, in drama, in music, and in public speaking, to say nothing of journalism and business administration.

A nexus between the alumni, the faculty, and the undergraduates in this matter of non-athletic activities is already provided for, as I have said, in the form of the Council on Student Organizations other than Athletic—more popularly and conveniently known as the Non-Athletic Council. This Council, as at present constituted, was formed in 1912. It is composed of eight members: the three members of the Faculty Committee on Student Organizations; an alumni representative, elected by the Alumni Association; three undergraduates. —the President of the Players, the Manager of the Musical Clubs, and the Chairman of the Prom Committee; and the Graduate Manager, who is non-voting. The three undergraduates for each year are chosen by the Council of the preceding year. The President of the Players is selected from a list of three men nominated to the Council by the Players. The Manager of Musical Clubs and the Prom Committee Chairman are elected by the Council from the group of non-athletic heelers.

Under appointment by the Council are various other managers of organizations. The Business Manager of the Players is selected from the regular non-athletic heelers who come out at the beginning of sophomore year and secure the suffrage of their class in a regular election. The Manager of the Musical Clubs, the Manager of the Forensic Union, and the Manager of the Band are chosen from the same group. The Publicity Manager for the Council is selected by means of a special competition. The leader of the Players' Orchestra and the Head Usher are also elected by the Council, after a canvass of applicants. Assistant Managers are chosen from the sophomore heelers at the end of a thorough try-out during their sophomore year. They act as assistants during their junior year, and automatically become Managers in senior year—unless removed for cause.

In the case of the Players, where specialized dramatic ability or knowledge is essential, the Council confirms the election by the Players themselves of the members of their Executive Committee, including, beside the President, a vicePresident, Secretary, Stage Manager, and Property Manager, chosen from men who have heeled for two or three years in one or another capacity. In addition to this, the Council appoints a Faculty Counsellor of the Players—not a Council member—who sits on the Executive Committee of the Players. In like fashion a Faculty Counsellor is appointed to the Executive Committee of the Musical Organizations, which is made up of the Managers and Leaders of the Glee Club, the Banjo and Mandolin Clubs, and the Band.

It is evident that there is a thorough-going centralization of power in the Council. The power which resides in the Council of appropriating funds, and the power of the Faculty Committee to excuse necessary absences from class, provide an ample incentive to the various organizations to lend a sympathetic ear to the suggestions of the Council. This friendly association between faculty members and students is the best evidence of the wholesomeness of the Dartmouth undergraduate attitude. Administrative problems have been everywhere approached in a spirit of cooperation that has worked for the good of the College and for that of the organized activities as well. Were it only possible to have an alumni representative at every meeting of the Council, instead of once or twice a year, the triumvirate would be complete. The ideal, of course, would be alumni representatives from, say, New England, New York, and the Middle West. That is a pipe dream, as far as weekly meetings are concerned; but the value of maintaining such constant and varied touch with the alumni is worth a serious thought. Let us smoke a few more pipes over it.

To realize the diversity of our present-day non-athletic interests it is only necessary to count over the organizations with which Non-Athletic Council concerns itself. There are the Players, the Musical Organizations, the Dramatic Orchestra, the Forensic Union, the Arts, the Chess Club, the Junior Prom Committee, the Press Club, and the various undergraduate publications to which the Council stands in an advisory capacity.

The Players, who have from time to time done really notable work, are finding the Little Theater in Robinson Hall an excellent dramatic laboratory for the performance of serious undergraduate attempts at playwriting as well as of the work of professional playwrights. In addition, they have presented more popular plays to larger audiences in Webster Hall. Last year the Players gave six performances in Hanover: "The Founders", a revival, at the Sesqui-Centennial; Ibsen's "Ghosts"; Clyde Fitch's "The I ruth", at both Prom and Commencement; "Chasing Around", an undergraduate musical comedy; and a revival of "Oh, Doctor!", the eminently successful undergraduate musical comedy of the previous year. "Oh, Doctor! was also taken on tour to Brookline, Lawrence, Worcester, and Concord. This year has seen productions of "The Thir-teenth Chair", Shaw's "Androcles and the Lion", Sheridan's "Rivals", and an excellent undergraduate musical comedy, "Rise, Please", in addition to original and professional one act plays in the Little Theater.

The Musical Clubs last year gave four concerts in Hanover. They gave a joint performance with Pennsylvania in New York, followed by one at Peekskill and at Vassar. There were also concerts at Somerville, at Lowell, and at and at .Bellows Falls, Holyoke, and Northampton, and at Keene and Lebanon. The western trip of the Clubs, which won high praise everywhere, included concerts at Albany, Buffalo, Detroit, Evanston, Chicago, Toledo, Cleveland, Youngstown, Pittsburg, Atlantic City, and Springfield, Massachusetts. This year the Clubs have had a similar program. The Glee Club has, moreover, come strikingly to the front by winning second place for itself and on a close decision—in the Intercollegiate Glee Club Contest held in New York in February between Harvard, Dartmouth, Amherst, Columbia, Princeton, Pennsylvania, Penn. State, and New York University. For this splendid showing Professor McWhood, of the Department of Music, is largely responsible. Incidentally, also, it is a proof of the value of a close relation between an undergraduate activity and a college department.

The Forensic Union last year debated with Brown, Williams, and Harvard, this year with Brown, Williams, and Bowdoin; and, furthermore, succeeded in wrestling a victory from the hitherto unbeaten debating team of Ripon College, on its triumphal tour of the East.

The College Band enlarged its activities this year by giving a most satisfactory concert in Webster Hall, and scheduling concerts to be given at Concord, Manchester, and Nashua.

The Arts, a social organization of undergraduates and faculty members; continues to play a useful part in college life by inviting to Hanover speakers on literary and artistic subjects, and by providing for frequent informal talks by members of the faculty.

Junior Prom has grown, with the growth of the college, into an affair of considerable magnitude. Through the Prom Committee the Non-Athletic Council is responsible for the management of the tea dance, supper, and ball, and for the accompanying Players' and Musical Clubs' entertainments. The fraternity house-parties at this time, as well as those in the fall and at Carnival, have come under the general supervision of the Council in the matter of duration, hours, and out-of-Hanover entertainments—so that the Prom and Carnival periods are periods of not a little activity. 'Activities' is, in fact, quite the proper word for what goes on.

The other interests with which the Council concerns itself require little more than an occasional bit of friendly discussion or a little assistance in accounting, by the Graduate Manager. It has been the purpose of the Council, through out, to act as far as possible merely as a sort of clearing house for these varied activities, and the relations sustained with the various undergraduate organizations have been of the friendliest kind. In fact, the role of the Council is not to regulate, but to make regulation unnecessary.

An indication of the way in which the business of the Council has grown, is the increase in moneys taken in and expended yearly. In 1916-17 the receipts were $5,470; in 1917-18 (the war year) they were $2,-302; 381; and the amount handled for thecurrent year bids fair to be larger still. From its receipts the Council has been able to set aside and invest, through the college treasurer, an endowment fund now amounting to about $9,000. At present the interest on this sum is being reinvested. When the whole has been sufficiently increased by further saving it will serve as an endowment to carry the cost of Council administration or to apply to some especially desired equipment of the non-athletic activities of the college.

It is, of course, obvious that for the satisfactory handling of these varied interests, the care of administrative details, the scheduling of performances, the closing of out-of-town contracts, the oversight of the large number of heelers for positions, and the accounting for the considerable sums received and spent, an experienced business man is necessary. The time has passed when undergraduates, or a merely yearly appointee, can keep track of all the interests involved. The Council was therefore singularly fortunate in securing in 1916 the part time services of H. G. Pender, who acts also as Graduate Manager for the Athletic Council. A large part of the success and efficiency with which non-athletic activities have developed in the last five years has been due to the energy and care of "Jigger" Pender. Without "Jigger" it would certainly be difficult to carry on until the Council found somebody else just like him—and that , would be difficult too.

Professor Richardson, in the last number of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE, made what he happily called "a report" to the alumni on the athletic interests of the college. We are following his precedent in this account of the non-athletic activities. Now, reports always carry morals. 1 he moral of this one is that every step which can be taken in the direction of a closer association between the alumni and the Non-Athletic Council in the encouraging and governing of student organizations will improve both interest and performance and will be enthusiastically welcomed by faculty and undergraduates alike. The Council extends a most cordial invitation to every alumnus to drop in, in person or by letter, share in our discussions, and give us a tangible evidence of his interest. We know you are interested, but we like to hear about it, too.