GRADUS AD PARNASSUM
FOLLOWING CLOSE ON the heels of publication of the fraternity section of the Social Survey Committee's Report to the President of the College, came the report of Dean Strong's group surveying health conditions at Dartmouth. The recommendation of the Committee that a Health Council be formed to include representatives of the different groups and individuals who are most concerned with the physical well-being of the student body was taken to the Board of Trustees and resulted in the appointment of a second committee to consider ways and means of setting up such a Council.
Beyond the immediate question of whether or not there should be a blanket fee for health insurance to be paid by all undergraduates, are other questions of equal importance although they may appear less significant to the average observer. The integration of such duties as fall upon the Medical Director of the College, the staff and clinic of the Hitchcock Hospital, the Department of Physical Education, the Medical School, and Dick Hall's House is a definite and sufficiently pressing need in the present situation to have received emphasis by the Health Committee in its report.
Although the survey was not concerned with details of organization for the plan of establishing a College Health Council and the group did not estimate the cost of providing medical care for the entire student body, the Committee did recommend that an increase in the tuition charge be made to provide a contribution from the student body for blanket health service, or insurance, and that the College should also provide funds for this purpose. The suggestion includes hospitalization as well as clinical consultation and treatment.
What the final result of this matter may be will be largely determined by the smaller group which is now studying the matter under the chairmanship of Professor F. J. Neef. A further report will be made to President Hopkins at a little later date.
REACTIONS TO THE conclusions o£ the Social Survey Committee in regard to the fraternity situation have been, in some cases at least, unfortunately based on scanty knowledge of the full report and on the general premise that something "is going to be done" right away. The facts are, of course, that the Committee did not recommend the abolition of fraternities; that it did not recommend any immediate action in regard to its majority approval of dissolution of national fraternity connections at Dartmouth; that the case of the minority, opposed to the indictment of national fraternities, was ably presented by the two dissenting members of the committee of fourteen; that the group simply made recommendations to the President of the College; and that action by the Administration could not be expected to follow immediately in the wake of submission of the report.
Those who condemn the Social Survey Committee for its study of the fraternity problem and the opinion finally submitted will doubtless agree upon reflection that the purpose of a liberal college to inquire into all things must be extended to include its own internal affairs. An examination of the political aspects of life in this country, whether one hundred years ago or at the present day, could not be defended as a part of the Dartmouth curriculum if we are to say that the present and future status of fraternities cannot be subjected to careful scrutiny and evaluation from time to time.
President Hopkins stated at the annual dinner of the Secretaries Association in Hanover last month, as he also said to the senior class at its recent dinner in Commons, that there need be no apprehension on anyone's part that any immediate action would be taken in regard either to the endorsement or the rejection of the Committee's report on national fraternity chapters at Dartmouth. He pointed out that sufficient time must elapse to permit alumni, undergraduates, and others to study the Committee's report and to compare its findings and recommendations with their personal experience. The President stated that he has asked the Alumni Council to take over the responsibility for gathering further opinion and data on the whole question and finally submitting its opinion to him. It is hardly conceivable that the Council, approaching this matter with its usual care and thoroughness, could arrive at any conclusions in the immediate future. As the representatives of alumni in every section of the country, the Council will need to take some time to discover what may be the prevailing sentiment in their respective constituencies.
THE FOLLOWING editorial appeared in The Dartmouth after publication of the fraternity report:
Reunion Baseball Games on the campus between the younger classes are a feature of reunion activities June 12-15.
Two of the Older Generation of Dartmouth Teachers At the top, Gordon Ferrie Hull, Appleton Professor of Physics, snapped while taking attendance in one of his lecture courses. Professor Hull, widely known and respected as a scholar in his field, has a great reputation for never forgetting a face. An old story runs: During the roll call he said, "Smith, K. T." and a student answered "present!" Professor Hull looked at him carefully a moment and said, "Are you sure your name is Smith, K. T.?" The lower half of the page shows Dr. Howard N. Kingsford, Medical Director of the College and Professor of Pathology in the Medical School. "Bush" Kingsford has dealt for years with the perennial outbreaks of spring fever and heartache which inspire young men to seek excused absences from their classes.
