GRADUS AD PARNASSUM
Faculty Support... Beer... How Are Your Ancestors?Contributors . . . Professor-Emeritus . . . Secretaries
President Hopkins' statement to the faculty last month, made in behalf of the Trustees, announcing the imminence of a revision of faculty salaries was not unexpected. With general knowledge existent of the precarious condition of Dartmouth finances it was evident that instructional and library expense, representing nearly 75% of the year's budget, must be reduced another year. Completely cooperative and understanding, the assembled faculty applauded the action of the Administration. A sample of what we believe to be the general spirit of the teaching corps is given in this note, appended to a gift to the Alumni Fund, received from a member of the faculty:
I am sending back a ten per cent salarycut which I wish you would put into theAlumni Fund to the credit of the classquota—with the hope that it will raisethe class percentage above its usually lowfigure!
In appreciation of the College's generosity which has made this possible, . . .
Prompted by the action of sister states on three sides New Hampshire voted for beer last month. The new commission of three, appointed by Governor Winant, is busy granting licenses to speed the day for the legal sale of 3.2 ("Phi Bete") beer in this section of New England. The College will permit its sale in the cafeteria and grill, at the Hanover Inn, and the Outing Club House. Main Street stores will have licenses and no restrictions have been announced as to places where the new brew may be consumed, as well as sold. College authorities are eager to remove from existence the "romance and glamour" of driving to neighboring communities for a thirst-quencher.
Harry Hillman now numbers journalism among his accomplishments. As secretarytreasurer of the Association of College Track Coaches of America, -Harry is charged with editing and publishing an Association bulletin which, he states therein, is "to be published at intervals." The April number includes a column headed: "A New Deal and What They Want" and some of Harry's cracks are all right. For example:
Tom Keane—Softer golf balls.Harvey Cohn—A neio rear name.Harry Hillman—Move New Hampshirenear the Gulf Stream.
William W. Niles '83 of 11 Wall St., New York City, suggests a new contest to the editors in the following letter:
Contests seem to be the order of theday and as I can no longer qualify for the100-yard dash or indeed for any of theless strenuous athletic events I hereby propose to enter a contest of a different kindwhich does not require athletic prowessof any kind, not even a good wind. Ihereby challenge all comers, catch-as-catchcan, free-for-all, collar and elbow or without regulations, except a reasonable regardfor the truth, to a contest as to who canexhibit the longest list of college graduateancestry without a break. The prize winnerto receive a leather medal with the wordsinscribed thereon "I won" with the datebut nothing else.My entry is as follows:
William W. Niles, Contestant, Dartmouth 1883. William W. Niles, Father, Dartmouth
1845. William Niles, Grandfather, Dartmouth 1796.
Nathaniel Niles, Grandfather, Princeton 1766.
Samuel Niles, Grandfather, Harvard 1731 Samuel Niles, Grandfather, Harvard 1699.
I hereby agree to submit to you the rulesof the contest and to name the judges;but would suggest that the contest bethrown open to all comers.
If not too late this contest might add tothe zest of the next Commencement!
Among the contributors to this issue are Dean E. Gordon Bill, Director of Admissions and Dean of Freshmen, D. G. Allen '34, and William U. Swan, author of the article: "Pioneering in Telegraphy." Mr. Swan is director of the Swan News Service in Boston and has contributed numerous articles to various periodicals. Allen, whose home is in Manchester, Mass., is a leader in Outing Club activities and has recently been awarded a Senior Fellowship for next year.
Doc Woods is largely responsible for the way Hanover looks. With the coming of Spring Doc's solicitude for lawns, shrubbery, flowers, and trees knows no bounds. His concern about these growing things is one of the reasons why visitors to Dartmouth in June can stand in front of the Inn and exclaim en regard a the beauty of the campus and adjoining walks and vistas. Doc is our best local authority on gardening, and a good one too. "That's a beautiful young tree," he said, admiring a sturdy young elm being placed by his crew in a position near the Library. "That young tree has got a great future ahead of it," and he added "-if it lives." Looking at the huge elms around the campus one understands what Doc means. Growing older they become more beautiful. Every decade adds to their grandeur. The young elm in its new place at the head of the campus will watch Dartmouth life come and go—not for the brief span of an undergraduate generation, nor for the lifetime of a teacher, but for a century, and more.
"Georgie D." Lord retires from active teaching at the end of this college year, now so close at hand. The oldest member of the faculty, both in age and point of service, he has taught greek and archaeology at Dartmouth since 1887, having graduated from the College three years earlier. It is mighty pleasant to look forward to the years ahead when Professor and Mrs. Lord can enjoy a period of greater leisure in the Hanover community. Their daughter, Marjory, and her husband, Prof. Artemas Packard, recently announced the arrival of a son who will find a ready playmate and friendly teacher in his grandfather, as he has been to many other young men in the past.
"You ought to advertise your alumnimagazine more than you do," says a critic."Run a picture of some old grad gazingwith enthusiasm on a copy of the latestissue."
The trouble with that idea is, there arealready too many people in advertisementsgazing ecstatically at this and that, such asfor instance the marcelled housewife withhands clasped in front of a furnace.
Dean Bill's excellent statement describing the new plan of admission to Dartmouth will be found as a feature in this issue. It merits careful reading by alumni for we will all be asked by friends and inquirers: "Why is Dartmouth letting down the bars?" or "There's so much publicity about the new plan of admitting boys to Dartmouth—what is it?" Dean Bill answers these, and many other, questions.
The Boston Herald commented editorially on the plan, under the title Dartmouth's Decision, as follows:
The recent tendency has been to reducethe rigidity of college entrance examinations. Even the more conservative institutions, like Harvard, have come to offersome alternate scheme of admission suchas "the new plan," which substitutes a fewbroad examinations for the traditionalpiling up of "units," or to accept withoutany tests students who rank extremely highin their school work. But to scrap completely the examination and certificatesystem and to judge each applicant exclusively on his individual record andreputation is almost a revolutionary step.In doing so, Dartmouth has done whatconservative educators are bound to sayis tantamount to "going off the gold standard."
Since 1921 Dartmouth has admittedfreshmen in accordance with a "selectiveprocess," plus the usual examination-certificate system. This involved a carefulscrutiny of a candidate's character, hispersonality, and other intangible qualities, and applicants from the South andfar West have usually received a slightpreference, in order to make the enrolmentnationally representative. The plan hasnot always worked well. At first there werea good many failures and disappointments. But experience in winnowing thesheep from the goats had greatly improvedresults, and Dartmouth now apparentlyfeels capable of making a boy's individualpromise the sole standard for his admission.
The decision will be cheered by "progressive" educators who have long combatedthe arbitrary character of the usual writtenexamination. It will also please manyteachers and parents, who have regrettedthe hidebound limitations that preparation for college entrance examinations hasplaced on secondary schools. Others, lessenthusiastic, will maintain that Dartmouth is, in effect, merely postponing itsentrance examinations to the end of thefreshman year when casualties are likelyto be heavy. The real test, however, willbe the intellectual quality of the first classto graduate under the new regime.
Congratulations to Harvard and to Prof. James B. Conant of the Harvard faculty on the announcement of the election of President Lowell's successor. A paragraph from ,a recent Harvard Alumni Bulletin editorial commenting on Professor Conant's selection will interest Dartmouth men:
He is a real scholar. He is broad-mindedand liberal. He has had adequate administrative experience. He possesses an engaging personality. We are certain that whenhis election has been confirmed, when hetakes up the duties of his new office andincidentally comes in touch with thosegraduates who have not yet met him, theywill speedily bear testimony that he measures up to the high standards set by hispredecessors.
For the 29th successive year the secretaries of alumni classes and clubs have come to Hanover for meetings of their Association. Founded in 1905, principally through the efforts of Dr. Tucker and President Hopkins, the Association and its steadily growing membership have been very important factors in the development of alumni participation and interest in the College. Throughout a full week-end program of meetings, talks, discussions, and more informal gatherings, there was one subject most in mind and that was the constant consideration given to ways and means of making class and club activities more effective. M'ore effective, that is, in a mutual fashion, for both individual alumni and the College. That's a pretty srood mark to shoot at.
