'59 Arrives

IT wasn't Ione, it was Diane that cut down the number of '59ers who arrived in town September 9 for the fourday Freshman Trip to the Outing Club's mountain domain. Because of the New England floods in mid-August, mail to freshmen rested in Springfield for eight days and reached men in the West too late to enable them to make plans. But 125 of the expected 160 freshmen set off for northern trails and Moosilauke on the morning of September 10. They were the outdoorsy vanguard of the Class of 1959, which numbered 757 men on the opening day of college. The class is larger than entering 1958 by four men, enough to make it the second largest freshman class Dartmouth has ever had. The record, at 760 men, still belongs to 1955.

The size of entering classes, with less shrinkage as they progress through college, is resulting in larger upperclass enrollment also. Dartmouth this fall is fully packed with firm and rounded men. Including some 200 graduate students, total enrollment will be close to 3,000, compared with 2700 undergraduates and total enrollment of 2,932 last year. An official figure is not available at this writing, nor is the statistical story on the freshman class. But on paper, and by all predictive criteria, 1959 in every respect looks like one of the strongest classes ever to matriculate. During the orientation week, before the sophomores arrived to take them in hand, the '59ers demonstrated that they have plenty of spirit too, and incessantly clanging bells let Hanover know that the summer quiet was over.