Dorms for Learning and Living

EMBODYING an entirely fresh concept in student living, Dartmouth's four new Choate Road dormitories, Bissell, Little, Cohen, and Brown Halls, began their first year of full operation this fall. At the dedication ceremonies late in September, President Dickey, Vice President Meek, a faculty resident and a student resident spoke on the advantages and innovations of the new system before a gathering of faculty, students, and Hanover residents. This was the official opening of the dorms, although Little Hall, the first one completed, was partially occupied last spring.

The modern, three-story brick and concrete structures each house 75 men, distributed in eight-man suites. The suites are broken down into small single or double bedrooms grouped around a larger living room available to all eight occupants as a lounge or study. Situated between each pair of dormitories, as separate units, are a large central glassed-in social room and a three-bedroom apartment for a faculty family. The social rooms are connected to the student residence units by elevated and enclosed walks. As Vice President Meek said at the dedication ceremonies, the new dorms are designed to "make student living an integral part of the education process."

Private, yet easily accessible to students, the faculty apartments give opportunities for an informal and friendly contact often not possible in the classroom. This years faculty residents are Richard W. Sterling, Assistant Professor of Government, who has three children, and Norman A. Doenges, Assistant Professor of Classics, who has two children, one of them a very recent arrival. The faculty studies where students will be seen most often are reached directly from the social rooms, thus preserving the privacy of the professors' own living quarters.

The function of the new faculty residents is three-fold: to help integrate, through personal relationships, the students' academic and social life; to act as advisers when called upon; and to assist in the programming of the common rooms. In order to plan programs and social functions catering to a wide range of student interests, the dorm committees, supplemented by special six-man joint common room committees, regularly hold informal planning sessions with the faculty residents. Library, magazine and social sub-committees handle problems and details in their special fields. The large student turnouts and the high enthusiasm shown at informal discussions and social gatherings held thus far are encouraging signs that the inclusion of the common rooms in the dorm complex was a wise decision. Professor Sterling asserts that the response ''indicates a definite intention by the students to make use of the wide range of possibilities in the common rooms."

Of the 300 student residents, about 275 are freshmen. A mid-October poll taken by The Dartmouth found that 70% seemed well satisfied with the new setup and planned to remain in the dorms nest year. Nearly all the students were favor able to the eight-man suite arrangement finding it conducive to close friendships and improvement over the semi-isolation of the old long-corridor type dormitories The most common complaints were of noise, caused by the thinness of the walls and the proximity of Fraternity Row, and the color scheme of walls and curtains.

There were also some who felt that the predominantly freshman makeup of the new dorms limited contact with upperclassmen, making it difficult to obtain rides to girls' schools and posing a potential handicap for fraternity rushing. However, others were of the opinion that the "freshman dorm" type of life generated an increased class spirit and made it easier to get to know other members of their own class. All hands agreed that it was really too early to make a valid judgment, particularly with regard to the new plan of faculty residents.

The four alumni for whom the new buildings were named were all highly successful and respected men, supporters and benefactors of a college that had its place in their hearts.

The late Clarence B. Little of Pembroke, N. H., was a member of the Class of 1881. A banker and one of the early developers of Bismarck, N. D., he served as a Dartmouth Trustee from 1921 to 1941 and was president of the Alumni Council from 1915 to 1920. Large endowment and plant funds at Dartmouth bear his name.

The late Albert O. Brown was a member of the Class of 1878. He was Governor of New Hampshire, 1921-23, and served as a Dartmouth Trustee from 1911 to 1931. His 1938 bequest of over a half-million dollars now stands on the College books at five times that amount.

The late George H. Bissell, member of the Class of 1845, was a native of Hanover and a pioneer oil man whose research carried on at the College led eventually to the creation of the American oil industry. The old Bissell Hall which he donated in 1866 as a gymnasium has been renamed the ROTC Building and will be torn down soon to make way for the Hopkins Center.

The late William N. Cohen, of the Class of 1879, was a Justice of the New York State Supreme Court and was a president of the Dartmouth Alumni Council. His unrestricted bequest of more than a million dollars was the largest single bequest ever left to the College. A special William N. Cohen Fund gives all students working in the Thayer Dining Hall one-third of their board. When, years after his graduation, Justice Cohen was asked when he had left Dartmouth, he retorted briefly, "Never!"

The nephew of Justice Cohen, Arthur J. Cohen '03, accompanied by his wife, was seated among the special guests of honor at the dormitory dedication ceremonies.

Five more new dormitories, to be constructed along the same general lines as the Choate Road units, but without the faculty residences and large social rooms, have been planned for the old Wigwam Circle area. Construction on these has been postponed in order to take advantage of the experience to come from a year's occupancy of those already built.

One of the two central lounges available for group social gatherings.

Elevated, glassed-in walks connect the lounges with student dorm units.

Each eight-man suite has a good-sized living room, off which single and double bedroom-studies are located

This is a typical double bedroom and study.

And this is a smaller single bedroom-study.

Students enjoying the common room.

Prof. Richard W. Sterling, faculty resident, in the study of his home.

Prof. Norman A. Doenges, the other resident, confers with a student.