The 180th Commencement

THE familiar trappings and activities of Commencement weekend—seniors in cap and gown, trumpeterson Baker tower, the President's garden reception, alumni reunion tents, band concerts on the campus, strolling parents and guests, floodlighted Dartmouth Hall, the Glee Club concert and Players' show, Saturday noon buffet luncheon at the gym, the Commencement baseball game, the crowded Inn porch, the formal and always colorful exercises in the Bema, and finally the lastminute packing and general exodus on Sunday afternoon—these familiar things again took over the Hanover scene as Dartmouth staged its 180 th Commencement during the three-day period of June 10-12.

Notably missing this year, however, were the anxious huddles of College officers studying rain-laden skies and trying to decide whether to go through with the outdoor program or to move the ceremonies to the crowded but safer confines of Webster Hall. The 1949 Commencement drew a perfect June weekend, although it was getting hotter by the minute as the final Sunday morning exercises came to a close in the Bema. All in all, it was a most successful Commencement weekend, and among the happiest of those involved were the 454 seniors who successfully completed the undergraduate course and received the Bachelor of Arts degree.

The graduating class of 454 men was smaller than that of last year by 17 men, but it was still one of the largest groups to receive June degrees. To the regular graduating class were added about fifty men who completed the course in February and returned to participate in the Commencement exercises. Four candidates for the degree of Master of Arts and 22 candidates for the.two-year diploma in medicine made a total of about 530 black-gowned students who marched to the Bema to receive the testimonials of their academic vaccomplishments at Dartmouth. Through the split ranks of the seniors, representing eight consecutive classes from 1943 to 1950 and going back as far as 1935, marched President Dickey, President Emeritus Hopkins and the Dartmouth Trustees, escorting the ten men to whom the College paid tribute by conferring honorary degrees upon them. The faculty, colorful in its academic plumage of many hues, followed the Trustees, and the honored Fifty-Year Class of 1899 also filed through before the seniors closed ranks and resumed their march into the Bema, at the stateliest tempo they probably had ever used in Hanover.

The Commencement weekend formally opened Friday afternoon at 4 when the graduating class, making their first cap- and-gown appearance, gathered at the Senior Fence for the procession that was to go first to Dartmouth Hall and then to the Old Pine. The class marshals were John F. Stockwell '49, Raymond F. Truncellito '49 and Harry B. Lockwood Jr. '48. Settling themselves upon the grass in front of Dartmouth Hall, while parents and friends formed a semi-circular audience behind them, the seniors heard a brief address of welcome by Class President Robert H. Zeiser '49, the Class Poem by David H. Bergamini '49, the Class Day Oration by John P. Stearns '49, and the Address to the College by Marvin B. Durning '49.

In his Class Day Oration, Stearns urged upon his classmates a local beginning as they go out into the world and endeavor to make their values felt. "We live, we associate, we learn, we act, in localities," he said. "We call them 'communities,' and the name proclaims that no man is too young or too insignificant to play his part. You and I, gentlemen, can express our values and see attention paid to them without ten years' delay. We can do it by trying to make the place we live in take notice, not the whole world at once Accept responsibility as you can, gentlemen. Unless you do, nothing is secured The world still needs fewer Don Quixotes to tilt at all its windmills, more men to mend the one in which they live."

Durning, in his Address to the College, spoke of the effect of Dartmouth on the class. Despite many different backgrounds and many different interests, he declared, "if we examine our common experience of the last four years, we will find one central motif, one core of meaning which gives direction and purpose to this period of time and events. The meaning is simply this—we have all sought Truth But the quest has only begun for us; the effect is a living one, it grows with the years To understand the purpose and effect of Dartmouth is to say, 'My college is Dartmouth, but my greater college is the college of Truth.' "

From Dartmouth Hall the men of '49 marched behind the Band to the stump of the Old Pine, where they again settled down, this time with the traditional white clay pipes. Wade T. Elliott '49, the Sachem Orator, appeared in full Indian regalia and astride a big brown horse, from which he transferred to the Old Pine Stump before delivering the humorous class prophecy. The final address of the day, the Address to the Old Pine, was then delivered by John N. Dahle '49, who called on the Class of 1949 not only to guard but to express the Spirit of Dartmouth symbolized in that spot.

In an unannounced part of the ceremonies Dahle presented Dean Neidlinger with the first postwar Senior Cane, carved with the pine tree insignia of Palaeopitus and with the names of the 1948-49 members of the society. Dean Neidlinger was mainly responsible for reviving the Senior Cane tradition this spring and also designed the Indian head which graces the 1949 version of the cane.

After this concluding event the seniors, as of old, smashed their pipes on the stump of the Old Pine and followed the Band back to the campus, where the line disbanded and the Class Day program came to its close.

That evening the Band gave the first of two campus concerts, and at 8:30, in the lovely garden of the President's House, President and Mrs. Dickey were at home to the graduating class, their parents, the faculty, alumni and guests. In the receiving line with President and Mrs. Dickey were Dean and Mrs. Neidlinger and Prof. Martin L. Lindahl, senior class adviser, and Mrs. Lindahl. At the garden reception the alumni were strongly represented by the 50-Year Class, which had gathered there a half-hour early, and by the 25- Year Class of 1924, which, with its dark green caps and matching bow ties, provided a touch of Dartmouth color to the large crowd. After the reception the Glee Club held forth in Webster Hall, in its annual Commencement concert, and at 10 p.m. those young in years or spirit repaired to the gym for the Senior-Alumni Dance.

Saturday was given over largely to alumni events, with the traditional Phi Beta Kappa meeting launching the day's program and with the alumni-senior luncheon at the gym, the Dartmouth-Penn baseball game, fraternity reunions, and class banquets for 1889, 1894, 1899 and 1924 rounding out a busy day. In the evening the seniors, their guests and alumni families were entertained by another Band concert on the campus and by the Player's presentation of You Can't Take It WithYou. The class banquets Saturday night were featured by the 1924 gathering in the Colonial Room of Thayer Hall. There, in the presence of President Emeritus Hopkins and President Dickey, the 25-Year Class turned over to the College a Memorial Fund of $50,000.

At the Senior-Alumni Luncheon on Saturday, a brief speaking program on the upstairs floor of the gym followed the buffet served outdoors on the front lawn. Everett M. Baker 24, president of the General Association of Dartmouth Alumni, presided and speakers included President Dickey, Joseph W. Gannon '99, representing the 50-Year Class, Sidney C. Hayward '26, Secretary of the College, and Robert H. Zeiser '49, president of the senior class. The full text of the traditional Fifty-Year Address, delivered by Mr. Gannon, 1899 class secretary, will be found in this issue.

Mr. Hayward announced that the winners, for that weekend, of the two reunion attendance cups were 1889 and 1924. The 60-Year Class won the Class of 1894 Cup, for the class having the highest percentage of graduates back, with an attendance of seven out of nine or 78%. The 25-Year Class, with an official attendance of 112 by Saturday morning, won the Class of 1930 Cup for the greatest number of men back.

In his remarks at the alumni meeting, President Dickey spoke of the sense of validity which the returning alumni bring to those on the job in Hanover. "The return of men who have been Dartmouth students," he said, "and who bring back with them and within their persons the validity of the work of those who serve this College is one of the greatest aspects of Commencement and the reunion time for me, and I am sure that I speak for every other man who works for Dartmouth."

President Dickey spoke also of the daily business of the College, the business of learning and maturing, not so apparent to the returning alumni as the beauties and substance of campus and buildings that bring back memories of undergraduate days. This daily business is another aspect of Dartmouth's validity and is the important fact to hold on to, he declared. And a third aspect is the College's free spirit. "If ever that is gone, Dartmouth will go too," President Dickey said. The free spirit he defined as the essence, the core, of the work of the liberal arts college. "And that," he added, "is the responsibility that you and I hold, and I only ask that this reunion occasion be used for renewing your understanding of the place of the free spirit in the work of the College and your willingness to see it preserved as others preserved it for us."

COMMENCEMENT DAY

Hanoverians, recalling all the other Commencement Sundays of the Dickey administration, had a ready topic of conversation when they awoke this year to a bright, rain-proof morning. First the Class of '79 Trumpeters and then the chimes of Baker Library heralded the approach of the final, formal exercises in the Bema; and as the various components of the academic procession assembled in their appointed places, a flurry of activity took place on the lawn between Parkhurst and McNutt Halls as the press photographers took pic" tures of the honorary-degree recipients with President Dickey. A little before 11 the Band struck up a dignified march and the seniors emerged from Rollins Chapel in double file, the class marshals in the lead and former football stars Dale Armstrong and Joe Sullivan bearing the American and Dartmouth flags. From the campus the academic procession slowly made its way to the Bema, where the large Commencement audience had already filled the seating area and both of the side embankments.

The Baccalaureate-Commencement ceremonies opened with the invocation by Prof. Roy B. Chamberlin and the traditional singing of Milton's Paraphrase of Psalm 136—"Let us with a gladsome mind praise the Lord for He is kind." Raymond J. Rasenberger '49 of Hollis, N. Y., who was president of the Undergraduate Council this past year, delivered the Valedictory to the College, and immediately after the conferring of the Bachelor degrees President Dickey gave the Valedictory to the Seniors. Both of these are printed in full in the following pages. Advanced degrees and the two-year diplomas in medicine were then conferred, after which Dr. Everett Moore Baker '24, dean of students at M.I.T., delivered the Baccalaureate Address, also printed in full in this issue.

The highlight of the Bema program was reached with the conferring of honorary degrees upon ten men whom Dartmouth took pride in honoring for their accomplishments in varied fields. Seven of these ten were Dartmouth graduates. The list included four recipients of the College's highest honor, the Doctorate of Laws. They were Arthur H. Vanderberg, United States Senator from Michigan; Charles E. Wilson, president of the General Electric Company; John L. Sullivan '21, former Secretary of the Navy; and Halsey C. Edgerton 'O6, retiring Treasurer of Dartmouth College. Dartmouth also conferred the honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters upon Frank L. Boyden, headmaster of Deerfield Academy; the Doctorate of Letters upon Edward Chase Kirkland '16, Frank Munsey Professor of History at Bowdoin College; the Doctorate of Science upon Kenneth P. Emory '20, Assistant Curator and Ethnologist of the Bishop Museum, Honolulu, and also Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Hawaii; the Doctorate of Divinity upon Dean Baker, the baccalaureate speaker; and the honorary degree of Master of Arts upon Sherman Adams '20, Governor of New Hampshire, and Warren C. Kendall '99, former Chairman of the Car Service Division of the Association of American Railroads. The citations accompanying the honorary degrees will be found in this issue.

Dean Morrison, who had presented the recipients of the honorary degrees, then drew a murmur of pleasure from the audience with the surprise announcement that Senator Vandenberg had agreed to speak briefly. Senator Vandenberg's remarks (a full abstract follows this report) were warmly received, and after he had spoken, the singing of "Men of Dartmouth" and the pronouncing of the benediction brought the Bema ceremonies to a close.

Dartmouth's alumni ranks had been swelled by some four hundred brand-new members. Congratulations and "so longs" filled the air when the class procession broke up. With their families, many graduates rushed away to turn in their caps and gowns, eat lunch, get an early start on the journey home. Smiles and outward elation covered up many a sinking sensation as the traffic streamed out of Hanover. The exodus, as usual, was swift. By late afternoon Hanover was a quiet, New England village, ready for one more weekend of alumni reunions and then the long summer breathing spell.

CLASS DAY EXERCISES, opening the Commencement weekend on June 10, took place in two parts. The seniors first gathered in front of Dartmouth Hall (left) to hear four traditional addresses and then moved to the Old Pine (right) where they smoked peace pipes and listened to the Sachem Orator, shown above.

Fund Tops Goal The 1949 Alumni Fund has set a record in number of contributors and will exceed not only its $375,000 goal but also the $381,000 received last year. Complete figures were not available when the July issue of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE went to press, but at least 14,400 Dartmouth men responded to the annual appeal in another out- standing demonstration of alumni loy- alty to the College. The previous record number of contributors was 13,629, which was set in 1948. When tabulated, the cash total will be second only to the $416,677 contributed in 1946 when extra gifts for the Hopkins Center were included. By vote of the Alumni Council, the net proceeds of the 1949 Alumni Fund will be turned over to the Trustees as unrestricted funds, the most valuable financial help the College can receive. This year's cairipaign was the first to be directed by John R. Mason '15.