The Undergraduate Chair
Campus, After Period of Marking Time, Shows Signs of A Revival of the Student Life and Spirit of Pre-War Days
With this issue the MAGAZINE is pleasedto revive one of its traditional departmentsand to introduce as Undergraduate Editor,Paul J. Caravatt Jr. '45 of Hartford, Conn.He is features editor of the Dartmouth Log and before leaving college for military service was on the editorial board of The Dartmouth. He left Dartmouth in May 1943,served with the 36th Signal Battalion witha T/3 rating, and after two terms at theColorado School of Mines went overseaswith the 66th Infantry Division. He wasdischarged last December and returned toDartmouth in March. He is secretary of thenewly formed Dartmouth Veterans Cluband also is Hanover correspondent for theAssociated Press.
IT TOOK a long time to get used to wartime Hanover when we returned. Somehow, Hanover always remained the same in our mind; we imagined that fellows would always be going to classes, enjoying football games, and making the rounds of the fraternities. We knew that home had changed and that friends were scattered, but it was impossible to imagine Dartmouth not carrying on as usual. Probably this attitude was chiefly responsible for the shock received when we saw that the old spirit had largely disappeared, the "Daily D" had been replaced by the Log, the DOC and the COSO were nowhere near their old selves, and the campus was thronged with blue. Last semester was kind of dull, but a start was made toward a return to the old days. Green Key was started up again, and a Dartmouth Veterans Club was founded.
This semester can really be divided into two sections. The first section ended at V-J day. It was filled with waiting and a sort of deadened feeling. V-E day had come and gone; some talked of a long war with Japan, while others said it would be over soon. The main trouble was that both groups were inclined to wait and see, campus activities marked time except for intramurals. That is, they all waited except the veterans' organization. Several meetings were held in the old SAE house (now called the Dartmouth House and converted into an all-class social club). Meryll Frost '44 was elected president, John Rockwell '46 vice president, and Paul Caravatt '45 secretary. It was impossible to decide anything definite at these meetings because nobody knew how long the present conditions would last, but the group determined to help the administration as much as possible when reconversion was possible.
The semester started with a condition that was peculiar to Dartmouth civilian enrollment was the highest that it had been in several months, but it was composed mostly of freshmen. With an enrollment of over 300 civilian students, more than 250 were '49's. For about two days the "pea-green" freshmen were in awe of any person that faintly resembled their idea of an upperclassman. But somebody made a mistake; Russell Sage had nothing but '49's in it. It didn't take long for the bull sessions to get started and the word to get around that they could hold the whip if they organized. With Sage as the focal point, it soon became dangerous for an upperclassman to even appear, much less yell "Hey '49." Green Key decided to take
a hand in the situation and the Freshman Rush and Wet Down were revived. They were both a success so far as interest was concerned, but at times it looked as if '49 was the only class in college. One '43 ran the gauntlet through one '42, then the four '44's went through, followed by the few '45's that could stagger along. '46 and '47 made a showing, but when '49 hit the line it was more like the old days. Naturally the football rush was a farce. The "Grand Old Upperclassmen" condescended to meet the '49's (there weren't enough sophomores, so all the upperclassmen had to band together regardless of class) and a battle royal developed. We won't even mention the results.
That seemed to end the spirit for a while but then the biggest thing to hit Dartmouth in years happened. Of course this was the V-J day celebration. We really hadn't thought Hanover could turn out quite as hilarious a crowd. It started out fast with students running through the Inn lobby, Allen's Drug Store, and all the rest with wild whoops of "It's over, It's over!" Within five minutes they had emptied Webster Hall, leaving Alan Jones and Grace McDonald to carry on the great epic, Honeymoon Ahead, alone. People came pouring onto the campus from every direction and within fifteen minutes the Band was playing and a parade had started. Students and townspeople marched all over town, down Wheelock Street, along School, back to Main, and then down Webster to President Hopkins' House. Every step of the Way more yelling students, townspeople and V-12's joined in at the end of the line. The gathering stopped at the President's House for a few minutes while Mr. Hopkins talked of Dartmouth's role in the war, but five minutes later it all started in again. The Band led the way back up
Webster, down to the front of Commons to listen to Captain Cummings, head of the V-12 unit. With the words "No bed check tonight, let joy reign supreme," he gave the signal for a celebration that made the beginning seem like peace and quiet. The V-12's hurdled fences in a mad rush for the taxis on the Inn corner and Boston, Claremont and points south. Those who stayed soon had a gay party going on campus. A bonfire appeared at the crossing of the paths in the middle of campus in record time and a street dance stretched all the way from the Inn corner to Fletcher's. It didn't look much like the movies we later saw of Times Square, but for Hanover it was a bang-up celebration, and for the first time returned civilians really felt that "Dartmouth was in Town Again."
V-J marked the end of the dismal feeling around town. The day after, rumors started flying thick and fast about fraternities. The stories got hotter and hotter and soon reports came filtering in that the Deke house had a light on, or that the Phi Gam windows were open. It got to the point where anyone seen crossing the lawn of any house was the signal to start a rumor that that house would open within twenty-four hours. The rumors finally quieted down but the spirit hasn't yet. William Reinman '44 called a meeting of all the fraternity men on campus. Over half of the houses were represented with men from Beta Theta Phi, Chi Phi, Delta Kappa Epsilon, Gamma Delta, Delta Chi, Phi Delta Theta, Phi Kappa Psi, Sigma Nu, Sigma Chi, Theta Chi, Theta Delta Chi, and Zeta Psi appearing. These men drew up a petition to President Hopkins that stated in part: "When the fraternities were closed in 1943 it was understood that they were to be closed for the duration of the war. The war was fought for the purposes of preserving our ways of life. Dartmouth College is one of those ways, and fraternities are a part of Dartmouth. The war is over, and it must be our every determination as well as duty to aid in every way possible the return of Dartmouth College to the college which we once knew better.
.... The reopening of fraternities would aid immensely in solving the recreation problem now facing civilian and navy students as well They would assume the expenses of the houses and relieve the present alumni associations of that financial burden Any unwarranted delay at the present time will cause a much longer delay and a greater confusion in the future."
The alumni formed a Dartmouth Fraternity Alumni Advisory Board soon afterwards, and the administration cooperated by announcing that four college representatives, including a member of Green Key, would meet with the newly formed advisory board. Green Key sent Meryll Frost as the student representative. The meeting was held recently and recommendations were formulated in regard to the reopening. The present prospect is for a general reopening of the houses in March 1946.
September 29 will see the opening of a real, tough football season, and incidentally on the 29th the College will have its first postwar week-end party. After much frantic searching for an orchestra, Mai Hallet was chosen to play for the dance. Right now it appears that the houseparty spirit of the days of yore will be back. On Friday night there will be a Glee Club concert and a rally on campus, followed by an informal dance in the trophy room of the gym. It was good news when we heard that the informal dance was going to be held, for the music is to be supplied by the Barbary Coast. This will be the first time that the Coast has played since the war dissolved the band back in '43.
Certainly the biggest college news to hit the campus this semester was the announcement that President Hopkins would retire on November 1. Naturally all of us discussed this for a long time, and still are discussing it, for that matter. It will seem funny not to see "Hoppy" at the convocations and other college ceremonies, and not to meet him in the Ad Building occasionally. From talking to a lot of the fellows we know that he will really be missed, but Mr. Dickey will find plenty of support too.
THE FIRST GROUP PICTURE OF THE VETERANS CLUB newly formed at Dartmouth by returned veterans of World War 11. Front row from left to right: Richard A. Howe '46, William G. Helmbold '46, Robert W. Rader '44, Meryll Frost '44 (the Club President), John Rockwell '46, Richard B. Menin '47, Ward Weimar '44, Henry Rea '46; second row: Theodore C. Susen '4B, Nichol M. Sandoe Jr. '45, Robert Bogart '49, Alan Rich '49, Alexander Ungar '45, Laurence Weisman '46, William H. Pruden '49, George L. Cohn '47, Joseph A. Kraatz '46; back row: John Halpin Jr. '49, James R. Bodine '44, Richard Y. Mur- ray '45, Wilbur Reinman '44, Theodore E. Fajen Jr. '46, John A. Carey Jr. '49, James D. Kennedy Jr. '46.
