COSO Presents
THE UNITED STATES is a land of organizations with mysterious initials standing for real names that very few people know. In this particular commodity Dartmouth is not lacking. She has the COSO and it is pronounced universally throughout the campus as "kozo." COSO covers a multitude of activities on the Dartmouth campus which when stretched end to end make up the social endeavors of the year for the whole college community. From the activities of the myriad organizations which combine under the heading of COSO stem many of the downright worthwhile things that add up to fine and gracious living in Hanover.
In this opening article each organization under COSO will be noted along with the functions it performs. Succeeding articles will be devoted to more detailed descriptions of these organizations, as their activities warrant.
COSO, more than all the various departments of the College, contains those organizations that hew closer to the line of "town and gown" emphasis. Most of its products are on view for all. In many of them cooperative participation is desired and encouraged. The Handel Society, with its attendant offshoot, the Sunday Afternoon Musical Recitals, are open to all comers both as performers and audience, talent being the only requirement. The Concert Series, which has long been a feature of the Hanover winter season, has brought world-famous artists of the music world to Webster Hall and will continue to do so this year, interrupting the Nugget performances in the process. Along with these the more sober Dartmouth Hall Lecture Series also brings topics of the times in discussion by the best authorities available in a program with dates listed from October through May. Anyone may attend these programs, which are varied and diffuse enough to meet all tastes; yet some parts of the community must be excluded from attendance through lack of seating in any of the present buildings which will not now hold the student body let alone the students and the community combined. It is impossible to ask a worldfamed opera star to give a repeat performance for the benefit of those who were turned away. This disadvantage will, it is hoped, be remedied, in the not-too-distant future by a larger auditorium.
The traditional clubs of every college, such as The Players, Glee Club and Band, are all here at Dartmouth. Student interest in all three organizations this year has attained a high level. Professor Cobleigh has had to divide his Glee Club into two squads to take care of the demand. The Players have revived the Experimental Theatre, which was dormant during the war years, to provide additional opportunity for student interest in drama. The Players also draw heavily on the student wives and thus provide both a talent outlet and entertainment for the distaff side. The Band has attracted some seventy members this year and will go through the usual routine of accompanying the football team at their games both at home and abroad. When this section of its duty is completed the Band will reorganize its elf into a concert band and give regular concerts in Hanover and in the surrounding communities. Be it noted that this year the Band returns to its traditional uniform of green sweater and white flannels after years of enforced Naval "fancy dress" which made it look like the forepart of an American Legion parade.
The Forensic Union is a reflection on the student level of the lecture series. Generally the talk is faster and the debates are hotter and more contested than the question period of a formal lecture. The debate teams, both freshman and varsity, work on an intercollegiate and an intramural basis. The shadow of Daniel Webster hangs heavy over this activity and many incipent lawyers incubate within the organization.
The language clubs fall into the halfway category of being student organizations and yet offering various functions of community-wide interest. Lectures and plays in French, German and Spanish are only a portion of the activities of the several clubs. To augment these, foreign language motion pictures and illustrated lectures are inserted along with the normal activities of the club and generally these are open to all to attend. It is a notable fact that the German Club was able to function throughout the war with the blessing of the College, which emphasized the fact that while Hitler and Goering may have wrecked German culture, at least there were still the treasures of Goethe and Schiller.
Last, but by no means least, is the work of the Christian Union. This organization provides a full catalog of social activity in the grassroots sense of the word. Their work is made up of community help to the outlying sections of the countryside around Hanover. They will provide anything from a student preacher to take over an empty pulpit to lending a hand at digging up potatoes for a farmer who lacks, the necessary extra* hands. It is this organization that eventually must appeal to the socially minded student and provide for him the necessary outlet through well conceived and directed work.
Thus the list of organizations and activities under COSO. If by this timethe reader has not guessed the meaning of those initials a literal translation is as follows: "The Council On Student Organi- zations." Under that master organization proceeds the whole program of the College for Art, Music, Drama and general social well-being. It is gratifying that the response to the efforts of these organizations has generally been quite excellent, for in many cases the organizations work against uphill odds in the way of restricting quarters, inadequate equipment and even pure cussedness. But the accomplishments in each department are rewarding both to the active member and beholder recipient. For these are the things men live by in their mature life and a thorough grounding in these arts in college is the broadest base on which to build a lifetime appreciation and spiritual satisfaction.
