Survey of Rules
APPOINTMENT of a special committee to survey and propose revisions in the rules governing the conduct of Dartmouth undergraduates and their relations with the College was announced recently by President Dickey. Prof. John B. Stearns '16 of the Classics Department has been named chairman and other members have been appointed to represent the faculty, the students, and the administration.
Two other faculty members on the committee are Prof. Stearns Morse of the English Department and Prof. Robert A. Mclennan '25 of the Sociology Department. Undergraduate representatives are Whitcomb Wells '44, president of Green Key; Robert D. Brown '43, president of the Interfraternity Council; and Richard Owen '45, acting president of the Interdormitory Council. Dean Neidlinger represents the administration. Appointment of the committee by President Dickey followed a recommendation of the Committee on Administration.
In outlining the work of the committee, President Dickey wrote to Professor Stearns as follows:
"In line with our original discussions and what I understand to be the intention of the Committee on Administration which recommended the establishment of such a joint survey committee, I believe it would be well for your committee to view its assignment in a broad sense. In particular, while the final product of the committee's work should include specific suggestions for the revision and restatement of the rules and regulations of the College pertaining to the conduct of students, I very much hope that the committee will not limit its attention to this specific task.
"It seems probable that experiences of this war, as in other times, will be reflected on the College campus in new attitudes and conditions which will have to be taken into account in the future government of the College. Certainly in so far as these new attitudes and conditions may represent the development of a greater capacity and will on the part of the individual student for responsible self-government both as to his own conduct and the conduct of his fellow students, I should think it was entirely in the interest of the College to give every reasonable response of support and encouragement.
"It is my view that your committee should function, at least for the present, without any specific statements of boundary as to its inquiry; that it should thoroughly examine the objectives underlying our basic conceptions of the relationship of the College and the student in respect to the individual's standard of conduct; that it should state what it conceives to be the principles and policies which should guide and govern the administration of the College in these matters; and finally that it should make specific and comprehensive recommendations as to these procedures, including a revised statement of the formal rules and regulations which in the committee's opinions are likely to be most effective in developing and maintaining a responsible relationship of respect between the College and the student, and in assuring a satisfactory standard of conduct on the part of the individual. It goes, but perhaps not quite without saying, that all that is done in these matters should be done in the light of the fact that the task of the College is education and that ultimately everything, including the conduct of the individual student, must conform to and further that objective, both for the individual and the group."
