The Undergraduate Chair
OF interest this month was a slight hassle between members of the undergraduate body and Dean McDonald's office. There has been strong student opposition to the shortening of Thanksgiving vacation and to the scheduling of second-semester registration on the Thursday before Carnival.
In the case of Thanksgiving, the Committee on Administration cut down the recess from five days to one and a half because, it argued, there were already too many interruptions in the fall semester. What with football weekends, vacations, and the like, there really aren't many long stretches of study time until after Christmas. The students felt that Thanksgiving vacation was now so short that it constituted a driving hazard. They argued that many would try to make it home for turkey dinner, and that a fellow would have to be on the road almost continually to do so. On this point the Dean stood firm.
The changed date of registration also came under fire. The proposed Thursday date would fall smack in the middle of the pre-Carnival "thank-god-the-exams-are-over period." Formerly, at that time little groups of Indians had stolen off to get away and forget the books for a while. Having to stay around just to register would put a crimp in these plans. TheDartmouth and most of the students were in favor of the traditional Sunday after Carnival registration date. In this instance the undergrads won a thumping victory. On a one-year trial basis, registration was shifted to Friday and Saturday, January 28 and 29. Since this is at the beginning of the exam period everybody should be happy.
It was after a hard debate that the students won this concession. On two occasions the Dean and other officials have spoken over WDBS trying to eliminate student bitterness toward the administration. The stiff car registration laws, new dormitory experiments, added fraternity drinking laws, and attempts, such as those recounted, to change the schedule have been strongly opposed by the students as measures that curtail their personal freedom. They feel that these measures give Dartmouth a prep-school atmosphere which destroys one valuable aspect of education, namely, experience. A man at Dartmouth, of all places, should be responsible to the community as well as to himself. If he must fall to learn, let him fall.
On the dark night of October 2 a group of '57s calling themselves the "clappernappers" gained entrance into locked Dartmouth Hall by way of a skylight in order to make off with the 70 lb. clapper hanging in the belfry. They explained their actions by mysterious letters to the Dean stating that they were attempting to revive an old custom and would return the clapper when the "late" bell should be abolished and when Dartmouth accepted "creeping co-edism." In the 1890's students often stole the bell-clapper in protest against the bell which signals that a tardy student is officially late to class.
Nothing was heard of the errant clapper for several weeks. The chimes in Baker Library were arranged to ring the
"late" bell as usual and the incident was almost forgotten when officials at last found the clapper in some bushes behind McNutt. The Dean received a final letter from the "clapper-nappers."
"Your clapper has been found. We hope you enjoyed missing it as much as we enjoyed borrowing it.
"No hard feelings?
"Since we failed to institute co-education and also failed to eradicate the late bell we acknowledge your superiority.
"But we tried. The spirit of Dartmouth is not dead."
Peculiarly, Dartmouth spirit manifested itself again in unusual fashion on the Friday evening before the Colgate game. Miss Doris Hoff, the date of John W. Roberts '57, arrived on the 12:05 train in White Town, was serenaded by a brass band, and cheered by nearly a hundred who had driven down from Hanover with John to meet her. It seems that she lives in Princeton and therefore needed to be shown what real college spirit is. Roberts had originally only planned a small reception of about thirty with a little band. Things snowballed, however, so that by the time the train finally arrived, 20 minutes late, a gigantic aggregation was on hand. To the strains of Dartmouth's inTown Again Miss Hoff bounced off the train. Amid cheers she was given a key to the town of Hanover, rushed off in a chauffeured limousine followed by a musical motorcade of thirty cars, and finally arrived, a bit excited and flustered, here in town. Roger S. Young, President of UGC, was on hand to give her an official welcome.
Freshman-sophomore rivalry came to its traditional head on October 13 with the tug-of-war. This is a two-out-of-three affair. It takes two out of three tugs to win, and only two out of three sophomores turned out. The freshmen won again, dousing the sophs in the icy cold spray of a fire hose which played over the center of the taut rope. Everybody was in blue Jeans, sweat shirts, and sneakers and, as usual, the frosh had that "Gee Ma what'a we do now?" look. There really wasn't much question about the outcome. Oh yes, - this was a clean fight, no loops around the elms and no jeeps hooked up by the sly sophs. The freshmen eddied off cheering and throwing their despised beanies in the air.
Remembering the tragic accidents of the recent past, a safe driving display was shown on the middle of the green for several days in the beginning of the month. Officials of the New Hampshire Motor Vehicle Department were on hand to distribute pamphlets and answer questions. Between classes many students observed these exhibits. They were especially interested in a bus supplied by the Massachusetts Bonding Co. which contained testing equipment. Inside were instruments to determine visual acuity, depth perception, physical coordination, and brake reaction time. It was a revealing lesson.
Also in tune with driving safety was the formation of The Dartmouth Motor Sports Club. The club includes all owners of motoring antiques, motorcycles, custom and sports cars. Its purpose is "to promote increased safety on the highways through the use of courtesy and correct driving techniques, tempered with good judgement." Amen.
