Youth and Politics
YOUNG People and Politics" was the subject of a conference which brought delegates from more than thirty Eastern colleges to the campus over the weekend of February 19 and 20. Sponsored by the National Student Association and directed by the seven-man NSA committee of the Dartmouth Undergraduate Council, the conference was highlighted by two main addresses, with the major part of the program being devoted to panel discussions.
The Honorable Peter Frelinghuysen, Republican Representative from New Jersey, spoke on Friday night, urging young college graduates to participate actively in politics, - taking up the task that came to hand, without delaying until the ideal opportunity for service presented itself.
On Saturday afternoon, James Murphy, chairman of the Citizens for Eisenhower Congressional Committee, was the speaker at a meeting which included a question period. A film entitled "You Can Do It" preceded his talk and dealt with politics at local and community levels.
Three panel discussions, directed by Dartmouth undergraduates, took up Saturday morning. Robert Wool '55, Newton Center, Mass., was chairman for "The 18-Year-Old Vote"; L. Dixon Bain Jr. '54, Ridgewood, N. Y., for "Campus Political Organizations"; and Lawrence S. Martz Jr. '54, Pontiac, Mich., for "Reluctance, of Young People to Enter Government Service." Robert P. Curtis '54, Silver Spring, Md., head of the Dartmouth NSA committee, was general chairman of the conference.
At a plenary session held after dinner in the Hovey Grill on Saturday night, delegates summed up discussions and decisions of the conference. Each panel roup presented resolutions. Those adopted were: that a well-defined and acceptable type of campus political activity be given no interference by college administrations, unless it went counter to federal, state or local laws; that causes for student apathy concerning governmental work be investigated by the NSA and methods found to counteract it; that the vote for 18-year-olds be opposed.
One of the Saturday morning panel discussions was this one on Campus Political Organizations, held in the new Dartmouth Christian Union headquarters in College Hall. Students from 23 Eastern colleges took part in the discussion.
Feminine interest in politics was demonstrated by the large number of delegates from women's colleges. An intermission finds some of them comparing notes—and looking pretty too.
Representative Peter Frelinghuysen Jr., New Jersey Republican, chatting in Dartmouth House with student delegates from Smith, Bryn Mawr and M.I.T.
James L. Murphy, a principal conference speaker, chats in 105 Dartmouth Hail with NSA Committee members, headed by Robert P. Curtis 54, rear left, who directed the conference.
