"Well. I guess it's about time
"Well. I guess it's about time the pinkeye epidemic is starting again!"
This was the greeting offered Dr. Kingsford by an undergraduate as he left the Administration Building one day recently, and its timeliness is attested by the imminence of spring recess. Annually a marked increase in such ailments as pinkeye crop up just before the days that the College sets for recess.
But all the undergraduates are not so anxious to escape the folds of Hanover, especially following the throbbing month fast passing. Instead, were it likely that such a varied, interesting and stimulating program would be arranged, for the "heavenly ten days," it is an even bet that a sufficiently large percentage of students would remain to take advantage of the opportunities.
The "melting days" have each added 'a bit more to the ever increasing appetite of Dartmouth for differing views, original lectures, artistic pleasures and aesthetic gratifications. What could such a procession as Albert Spaulding, Robert Frost, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Frank Swinnerton, Oswald Villard, Donald Ogden Stewart, Tony Sarg, A. Bayard Wace, Captain Grant Williams and Frederick K. Morris do but whet the desire of this 1924 student body ?
Besides there has been interfraternity basketball, the handball tournament, Players productions, organ recitals, class smokers, and and—well, hour examinations.
The so-called "intellectual awakening" of the College has been marked by two interesting developments, also. First, the spark dropped by Alexander Meiklejohn when .he referred to the current delegation of Phi Beta Kappa men as "these young thinkers" set off the long expected discussion of the relative merits of "marks" and "original thinking" in the Dartmouth. Several flares dragged the horrible curtain of 3.2 averages aside for the campus to peer in and find an assortment of "weirs" (supposedly), while lengthy discourses disparaged the value of marks as an indication of intellectual eagerness or even ability. The old question was raised for re-hashing, "What is the purpose of the College?"
One student responded by quoting the original statement of the goal of Dartmouth, which was in effect "to convert the heathen."
The storm was loosed particularly on the garnering of facts for facts sake, to which a faculty member answered that a certain number of facts were indispensable. Then TheDartmouth came out and stated that it recognized the "fact", and that it approved teaching such facts as were necessary to induce thought. When the storm had cleared and the campus discovered that there really had been no vast difference of opinion, President Hopkins announced the appointment of the following committee of seniors for the purpose of investigating educational policies and tendencies in other colleges and suggesting desirable changes for Dartmouth: C. G. Aschenbach, W. H. Cowley, W. S. Dußois, J. A. Fleming, W. A. Gardner, C. A. Knudson, N. F. Maclean, R. M. Morgan, Dick Morin, J. M. Reid, A. N. Thurston, and M. H. Watkins.
The other great battle of the month centered around the political stage. First, the question, "Resolved: That Liberal and Conservative parties should be substituted for the present Democratic and Republican parties in America," was the subject of the most recent intercollegiate league debate. The Dartmouth team, composed of F. B. Wallis '25 and T. D. Steel '26, upholding the affirmative, lost to Wesleyan in Hanover; and the Green affirmative team, composed of H. B. Stockwell '24 and W. B. Sleigh '25 won from Rutgers and the University of Pennsylvania on a trip.
But these decisions in no way affected the organization of the Dartmouth Club of Independent Political Action, which had banded together in Hanover. This group of liberals and radicals, meeting in the rooms of the Round Table, pledged themselves to support any liberal candidate who' might be nominated by a third for President. Also, they drew together an "open letter to college students," calling upon undergraduate Americans to accept the challenge of the oil scandal and unite for the purpose of starting a Labor Party in America backed by intellectuals.
A touch of conflict between the "disgruntles," as The Dartmouth terms the new group, and the conservative "Coolidge Club," was had when Villard, editor of The Nation and a believer in a new party movement, spoke on the same night that Elmer A. Stevens, of Boston, addressed a "Coolidge Stampede." Mr. Villard spoke in Dartmouth Hall in the afternoon on the decadence of American politics, and at night on "Europe and Our Duty." His audience on both occasions was larger than that drawn by the "stampede," although Miss Ruth Hovey, a chorus girl, appeared in support of Coolidge. The Dartmouth later deprecated the "sensational" tactics of the Coolidge Club in bringing a chorus girl to attract an audience.
Other political discussions during the month were precipitated by the appearance of S. K. Ratcliffe, English lecturer on "Ramsey MacDonald and his Government," and Roger N. Baldwin, pacifistic radical on "Revolution and Non-Resistance."
The one practical joke which has been attempted this year failed on the occasion of Mr. Stevens's speech. An enterprising liberal had rigged up a huge sign, "Gas, Oil, Petroleum," which was to have been revealed when the curtain was lifted for Miss Hovey. But the device was discovered, the curtain was not lifted and the College had to wait for TheDartmouth to tell about it. The initial letters, G—O—P had been printed large and black.
The artistic month was entertaining and interesting. The appearances of Robert Frost and Edna St. Vincent Millay for readings induced quite a plunge into the study of contemporary poetry and the writing of "spring" verses. These artists made distinctly good impressions, especially through the combination of their intense personal charms with the beauty of their work.
The musical month consisted of a concert by Albert Spaulding, the noted violinist, and several organ recitals.
Drama was limited to the visit of Tony Sarg's marionettes, for "Don Quixote," and the production of "The Admirable Bashville," of G. B. Shaw; and "The First and the Last" by John Galsworthy.
The following 26 men of the class of 1923 recently were awarded their degrees, following completion of their requirements in February. Bachelor of Arts: Henry Robertson Barrett, Jr., of Katonah, N. Y., Ralph Edward Duffy of Worcester, Mass., Lester Strauss Gutterman, Chestnut Hill, Mass., Thomas Stokes McConnel, Beaver, Pa., Thomas Harlan McKnight, Sewinckley, Pa., Field Paul Morgan, Claremont, N. H., Henry Anthony Sullivan, Worcester, Mass., and Richard Maurice Udall, Boston, Mass.;
Bachelor of Science: Cyril Gaffy Aschenbach, East Orange, N. J., Robert James Buckley, Natick, Mass., Charles Alexander Calder, East Cleveland, 0., Nathaniel Pendleton Carver, Brookline, Mass., Paul William Dame, South Royalston, Mass.; Cecil Fitzhugh Gordon, Washington, D. C., Bernard Page Haubrich, Claremont, N. H., Francis Xavier Heep, Yonkers, N. Y., Perry Edward Joslin, South Lyndeboro, N. H., Walter Henry Kopf, Mt. Washington, 0., Jesse Permin Ludington, New York, N. Y., Robert Livingston McMillan, Brookline, Mass., John Strahl Paisley, Melrose, Mass., Joseph Greeley Pollard, Omaha, Neb., George Vanderhoef Vanderbilt, Greenville, N. Y., Edward Northrop Wackerhagen, Racine, Wis., Howard Raymond Walker, Greenwich, Conn., and George Fred Weston, Springfield, Mass.
