The Undergraduate Chair
PERHAPS the most memorable part of the fall in Hanover is the football weekend. The College seems to take on a completely different atmosphere at the approach of one of the home games. The balloons bobbing up and down on the Inn Corner, the sudden appearance of fresh young maidens from every section of the East and the traditional Friday night rally all are a part of a different Hanover world.
Students suddenly wear jackets, maybe even ties; sharpen up on dating courtesies and relegate the worn dungarees to the laundry. Husky football players become "Casper Milquetoasts" as the crowd on the steps of College Hall urges them to say "a few words about tomorrow's game." Books are forgotten and the average undergraduate just settles back into the dreamy existence that blesses the College too few times a year. Fraternity and dormitory parties, concerts and plays all add to the illusion.
It is impossible for the undergraduate to remember a dreary football day in Hanover. Since the fall of 1948 rainy, uncomfortable weather has resigned itself to plaguing only the away contests. And in this four-year span the Big Green has dropped only two home games. Memorial Stadium has had its share of thrills: the unsuccessful last-quarter drive of an underrated Columbia squad led by Gene Rossides and Lou Kusserow, the indescribable 1949 victory over Cornell (Dorset, Chollet & Co.), and even this October's upset over a powerful Syracuse team have marked the highlights of a very short, too short, four years.
And yet to some the football weeks away from school were more vivid, if not enjoyable. The fervor of the true Dartmouth fan was tested at the Yale Bowl early in November where it alternately rained and snowed for three days. Sloshing through the mud of the parking field was great sport for the visitor who had only a good suit and a pair of loafers. It was a toss-up as to which team had the majority of rooters. Students who had come all the way from New Hampshire couldn't quite bring themselves to missing the game, but the warm fire in a Yale dormitory was paradise after the snow-swept confusion on the field. Looking around at the huddled figures on the muddy, soaked benches, it was rather fascinating to see what school spirit could do to an educated and sensible human being.
Nevertheless, repercussions to the charge that, the "old college spirit" was dying out appeared on the campus. Complaints against general freshman apathy had slowly broadened to include the complete hazing and indoctrination system of the freshmen at the College. No doubt the injuries which occurred following the snapping of the center log in the freshmansophomore tug-of-war increased the pressure against hazing as it is practiced today. It is ironic but in no way humorous that the tug-of-war tradition, which was established in 1949 to replace the confusion and danger of the football rush, should result in disaster. Whether or not the tug-of-war is abolished or modified, this year's accident was a sign that the problem of hazing would receive serious consideration.
A series of articles in The Dartmouth described the history of hazing before and after the last war. These stories emphasized the disorganization and ineffectiveness of past indoctrination policies and made the important point that hazing rules were not as steeped in tradition as the average student believed. The Dartmouth suggested that freshman indoctrination be placed on a more positive level, with letters, movies and rallies to urge or even shame the students into a closer, more intimate association with the College. Such a plan would eliminate all the negative, forceful aspects of hazing—and might even mean the end of the Vigilantes.
Hazing, however, was not the only controversy which arose during the fall. On October 29 a student letter was printed in The Dartmouth criticizing the present cut system and asking for a clarification of the College's policy. The writer wondered "if the student-instructor arrangement is still in effect, or if it can be ruled invalid whenever the College wished to do so." He was referring to the notice from the Dean stating that "absences before or after this holiday (Harvard weekend) are subject to penalty." As the cut system now stands, the ultimate decision and responsibility of policy is left up to the individual professor.
Earlier in the year The Dartmouth conducted a student and faculty poll to determine opinion of the present system. Over go percent of the students polled (1041) voted for the free cut, or unlimited cut system, leaving the ultimate responsibility to the individual. Whether or not this result alone was an accurate measuring stick on which to base proposals for a new system was rather questionable since few students were expected to vote for a limitation of their own freedom. Nevertheless, the faculty poll also showed a dislike for the present system which makes "little deans" out of the professors, as well as for past policy which left the responsibility up to the administration. Although the faculty opinion was in no way clear cut, it was evident that a majority of both groups were not satisfied with the cut regulations as they now stand.
The Dartmouth recommended that an unlimited cut system be established with two modifications. "Freshmen would have a specified number of cuts, the administration of these to be handled by the Freshman Office" and "specialized courses, i.e., laboratory and Speech courses, would be placed under separate restrictions." The history of cut regulations has been long and unstable, and it is apparent that the perfect solution is not yet at hand. But the ideal answer to the problem can never be attained until the student recognizes his own responsibilities.
Hanover, as a whole, now seemed much quieter. The early season scurrying of the freshmen slowed down to a plodding walk, new faces were now familiar and the undergraduate settled down to pacing himself for the desolate stretch before the Christmas holidays.
MONDAY AFTERNOON DRILL FOR THE AIR FORCE ROTC MEN ON MEMORIAL FIELD
