THE COLLEGE

THE first wave of Dartmouth's notoriously numerous freshman class reached Hanover in mid-September, just as the first touches of autumn color were appearing on the surrounding hillsides. Four days later the rest of the class, non-partakers of the Freshman Trip, hit town along with the black-hatted sophomores responsible for campus orientation; and less than a week later the three upper classes poured in to register and get settled in dorms and fraternity houses. Classes began for all hands on Wednesday, September 26, with an hour set aside that morning for the traditional Convocation exercises that opened the College's 188th academic year.

Several things were new for opening day. A big ditch temporarily yawned across the campus (see Page 24); the freshmen were sporting snappy green Ivy League caps that they might be unwilling to toss into a rally bonfire; the old Freshman Commons in College Hall was being used until the behind-schedule remodeling of Thayer Hall was done; and old South Hall (which Bill McCarter '19 writes about two pages hence) was again in use as a dormitory.

The pressing of South Hall into service was occasioned by a record undergraduate enrollment expected to total over 2800 men. This was some fifty more than the College enrolled last year and was ac- counted for largely by the increased size of the entering class, which joins the student body with high potential on all counts, as described in the article on Page 22. With the exciting anticipation that always marks the start of a new college year, the curtain went up before a full house. The story that unfolds between now and next June ought to be an exceptionally good one.