The Dartmouth
The Oldest College Newspaper in America
LIKE young men with their own cloud seeding devices and wind machines, many past editors o£ The Dartmouth had a record of creating their own weather, despite the climate of the College. They seemed to enjoy their jobs most when readers were leaning into the wind, holding their hats.
The present man at the controls, Brock H. Brower '53, made his weather forecast in an editorial last April when he took over as editor-in-chief. An interpretation of his local forecast might be: fair and pleasantly cool with occasional gusts. He said:
We are not going to overlook our back- yard. The one with the whitewash fence. It is our point of tangency with the great backyard. So, at our beginning, we conceive of ourselves as a local newspaper with a sense of world being. We also conceive ourselves as having a loud voice.
The Dartmouth's power in decibels has never been doubted, but is it covering its own backyard? Brock says that, so far, the paper has done a better than average job on local news.
The Dartmouth has announced its endorsement of Governor Stevenson. It came out October 1, with a front-page editorial headed "We're for Stevenson." Its stand turned out to be that of many other student papers, including Harvard, Yale and Columbia. The difference was established on October 2, however, when "The Dissenting Opinion" for General Eisenhower was printed, also on page one. The presentation of both sides in such a manner was, Brock says, both "unprecedented" and "unprofessional." Brock had written the editorial endorsing Stevenson.
The editor makes it his business to see that there is little other unprofessionalism in The Dartmouth. He has a soft voice and friendly, enthusiastic manner, but, like any editor who makes his own decisions and enforces his own standards, he can lower a boom. He and managing editor, Dick Cahn '53 of Freeport, N. Y., slash into each issue of The Dartmouth with red grease pencils. The well-colored sheets are then put on display for all the staff to see.
Brock bases his criticism on experience that started with West field Hi'sEye, of which he was editor. Summers he has worked on small papers gaining experience as a reporter. He brought to Dartmouth a writing style that had won him an award from the NewarkNews as the best high school writer in the State.
After he had spent only a few months in Hanover it was clear to his friends and instructors that Brock would make a name for himself at Dartmouth. Along the way he served on Green Key, became managing editor of Jacko and was named a Rufus Choate Scholar. Last year, as a member of the Judiciary
Committee of the Undergraduate Council, he played a major role in work on the elimination of discriminatory fraternity clauses. This year as chairman of Palaeopitus, he has been largely responsible for the operation of the new freshman orientation program. Brock is in English Honors and has been elected to Phi Beta Kappa. His fraternity is Sigma Nu and he lives at the C. and G. house.
The editor of The Dartmouth has a difficult job. He directs a staff of about 70 men in an enterprise that is usually misunderstood. Editors must explain again and again that The Dartmouth is not the official voice of the College that it doesn't try (or wish) to express the views of the student body. It expresses the views of those who run it and most particularly its editor.
His purpose, as Brock sees it, is to take a "constructively critical view of undergraduate life." Politically he thinks "as a disturbed individual faced with Korea and the Atomic Bomb" and considers it "the prerogative of TheDartmouth to comment on issues affecting the youth of the nation."
The weather has been fine this year. At times you could hear your coat tail snap in the breeze splendid weather for a liberal arts college. And we've seen a lot of people meet the editor of The Dartmouth on the street and say, "Nice day."
BROCK H. BROWER '53 of Westfield, N. J., heads both "The Dartmouth" and Palaeopitus.
