The Undergraduate Chair

As you read this, Dartmouth undergraduates will be recovering from Carnival and progressing somewhere into the second semester. For those with but a few months of college life left, this period is one of readiness for the climax.

Right now we are in the lame-duck part of the first semester with only a few days to go before we enter into finals. What with the effects of a long vacation still lingering, it is hard to get started for this push, but before long activity will have stepped up and vigor returned.

The first post-vacation action was cleaning up the desk and taking some of the steps typical of a senior preparing for the future. In our case there are the numerous applications to graduate schools (in economics) which match similar forms that others are sending to both academic and professional graduate schools.

As those who have gone through it may remember, it is interesting, difficult and often amusing. The forms question one's academic career and other activities, one's health, and even one's loyalty to the United States. There are pictures to submit and statements to write in duplicate, quadruplicate and even sextuplicate. And there are such delightful circumstances as the school that sends you forms right in the middle of hour exams, and tells you to return them in two weeks (they provide no explanation but the reason, it was learned, is just to discourage a last-minute rush).

Then there are the tests for every field you can imagine - graduate records, prelaw, pre-medicine, pre-business, even preactuary.

Other men are seeking the aid of Placement Director Donald Cameron, Tuck School or their own sources to enter business. Most of the nation's leading companies will hold interviews in Hanover starting about this time of year. In fact, in early January both Mr. Cameron and Tuck were holding meetings at which men were briefed on the techniques of being interviewed. Personnel directors of large firms appeared in order to give insights into what happens when a student is questioned for a job.

Of course, another large segment of the senior class cannot do their planning with confidence. They have military service to face, either through ROTC and other such programs or through the draft. These men do what they can to prepare for the years immediately after service but often must enter government employ without knowing what comes next.

These next months will determine the paths seniors will take in the near future. Some few will seek to delay further the difficult decision of a definite career, but most will be forced at last to take a step towards something.

At the three graduations I have observed, it was always my impression that this one event marked a sharp, sudden, unexpected climax to one's Dartmouth career. As my own graduation approaches, I am now beginning to realize that the event comes staring at you months beforehand and that a good portion of the senior year is spent preparing for it. Not only are there the preparations mentioned, but there is a loosening of the various ties developed over the past three years.

To be specific, throughout the semester seniors are withdrawing from their responsibilities in extracurricular activities and allowing the juniors to take over. This is something that both await with eagerness. The seniors are content to put aside the burdens that have been pressing upon them for a year. By now a point of diminishing returns has been reached where the disutility of the work begins to exceed the utility of the accomplishment. As any good economist can tell you, the result is that less work is done.

As for the juniors, they have not yet had their full opportunities and they are anxious to undertake them. They are convinced that they can do much better than their predecessors and bring a new spirit to their activities. While their confidence will soon be shaken, it will nevertheless bring welcome changes to the campus organizations.

Among the first of these moves will be that involving The Dartmouth, which will change directorates before March comes. We editors realize that it is time for the paper to get new leaders. In the meantime there is the job of keeping the news flowing (which it has not been doing for weeks), using the chance to say a few last words, and helping to select the best possible set of successors.

Let us not ramble more on these matters, but move on to report that the Kappa Kappa Kappa house suffered a flooding after vacation. Apparently a succession of freezing and thawing of the water pipes caused them to crack and cascade water all over the house. Damage, not covered by insurance, is estimated at $2,000. While reports had it that the house was a great mess, its president quickly assured the IFC that press reports were greatly exaggerated and Tri-Kap could handle things itself.

Over vacation, while other students were enjoying themselves, catching up in their studies (more of which is done than you'd think) or working for the post office, the basketball team and Chiefs were not only working but making television debuts. The latter group, presently the most active jazz combo on the campus, appeared on "Tonight" with Steve Allen.

What with the football team and the Glee Club already having appeared on video this year, it is obvious that this form of civilization cannot be avoided even in Hanover isolation. Actually there are growing numbers of sets here and the College, of course, maintains a TV room for students in College Hall. Big antennas are naturally required.

The College itself has a channel reserved for it and may someday enter the educational television field. If so it ought to come up with something more lively than the stuff usually seen on the Boston ETV station. Actually, the field has great promise and imaginative efforts will add to its stature. Right now it remains one of many projects the College can only consider while working on those matters having priority—continued improvement in the faculty, expanded financial aid and development of the plant.

D.O.C. snow sculptors who went to Stowe, Vt., to do a statue of Dr. Salk for the TV program launching the 1956 March of Dimes, met Basil O'Connor '12, president of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. L to r: Dave Glendinning '58, George Robison '56, Ab Meader '57, chief designer, Mr. O'Connor, Don Mackay '56 and Don Collins '56, Carnival chairman, who directed Dartmouth's participation at Stowe.