THE UNDERGRADUATE CHAIR

NOT SO many years ago the literary scene in Hanover was steeped, so it is rumored, in the spirits with which Eleazar helped to found the College. Bawdy New England ballads, songs of Dartmouth, and some nostalgic legends were the result.

As the years progressed, writing (not to belittle beloved Richard Hovey) seems to have increased in importance and certainly in output. Along with this increase, publications have loomed larger on campus.

The vagaries of the publishing world being what they are, however, the quality and permanence of these magazines have always been questionable. Who will not remember (if indeed he ever knew of their existence) TheThird Rail, The Bema, The Steeplejack, The Dart, The Dartmouth Pictorial, and Vox - all of which have strutted around a bit and finally closed shop or graduated with some senior, and are now strewn in the memories of their founders and editors, and gathering dust in the College Archives?

This year, finally, student publications are receiving the kind of study and attention they have long deserved - the question being whether this magazine or that magazine can or should long endure.

A thorough investigation is scarcely being launched too soon. Jack-o-Lantern is heavily in debt to the College. Greensleeves, a magazine of graphic and literary art, wafted in on scarcely a breeze in 1958 and has alighted on what is still shaky ground. And now a new creation, Gangreen, "A Fortnightly Journal Not Averse to the Sensational," has managed to squeeze in.

What adds urgency to this whole problem of student publications is the fact that Hopkins Center makes no provision for student publications, despite the burgeoning of talented writers on campus, despite the increased interest in writing evidenced by the waiting lists for writing courses, despite the death of so many publications which have tried and failed.

That a college almost 200 years old and of eminent quality has no enduring literary publication which fairly represents it, that indeed this College hasn't even an official policy regarding student publications, is a gross shortcoming.

The College has this year taken the first real stride towards improving the situation. When last year a proposed magazine to be published by The Dartmouth threatened to compete with both Jack-o and Greensleeves, a moratorium on new publications was declared by the officials in Parkhurst (which Gangreen somehow avoided). A Committee on Student Publications was formed to study all aspects of the publications with a view towards arriving at certain recommendations which might, someday, become official policy.

Called before the Committee were the editors of the two magazines then on campus (Gangreen had not yet been formed). This writer interviewed both Harry Kreamer '61, editor of Greensleeves, and Ray Welch '61, editor of Jack-o-Lantern.

Greensleeves was begun three years ago in the belief that, as Harry says, "Dartmouth is capable of founding and supporting as good a literary magazine as any other college." Since its arrival on campus, such writers as Jack Hirschman, Dilys Laing, Ramon Guthrie, and Richmond Lattimore have appeared in its pages, with hopes in the future for Irving Layton and Budd Schulberg '36 and others.

According to its editor, Greensleeves has now established its standards of quality. The main task ahead is to increase subscriptions and to consolidate the organization.

In this new effort Greensleeves has encountered some difficulty, not the least of which is the threat of indebtedness which hangs over it like the sword of Damocles. Costs of publishing have risen; yet advertising revenue has remained the same. Hanover is limited in its ability to supply local advertising, and no national advertising can be enlisted until circulation is national (the magazine now distributes 500 locally).

Circulation cannot be increased since the printing cost of extra magazines would be prohibitive considering present returns. The magazine thus stands the chance of going into debt. To extricate a magazine from debt requires an even larger investment, which is at best a gamble and when lost, throws the magazine further into debt. Ultimately, the responsibility for the debt is thrust, as it was with the Jack-o, upon the College.

Organizationally, Greensleeves has had its difficulties. Despite repeated entreaties to the College, they have not been given office space. The magazine is thus forced to publish from the off-campus rooms of the editor. Thus, in appearance at least, Greensleeves is in the unhealthy position of being published by a clique, though Harry assures us it is not.

Jack-o-Lantern has its own offices, but it has the same problems with limited advertising and circulation, and a small staff. In addition, it is saddled with a $3,000 debt incurred over past years by mismanagement, improper use of funds, and a poor magazine.

Ordinarily a magazine would have disappeared under the onus of such a debt, but Jack-o has been allowed by the College to remain in a probationary status.

The main problem with Jack-o is that the day of the traditional college humor magazine, the kind "that used to be sold in Grand Central," is gone. "The humor then, in the twenties, was easy to write," says Ray Welch, "and was of the who-was-it-I-saw-you-with-last-night variety."

Today, however, America's tastes seem to have changed, to the point where a greater sophistication is called for. Besides, magazines like Playboy have preempted the position formerly held by college humor magazines. The sophisticated stuff, as Ray calls it, is hard to write, especially for college students. Yet there are men at Dartmouth who can do it.

With both Jack-o and Greensleeves, then, the major hurdle is financial. The Committee on Student Publications is well aware of this and the many other problems. Debate among the members of the Committee has slowed the process of reaching a solution, but it is hoped that sometime before the actual arrival of Godot that recommendations will be made and that action on the part of the College will be taken.

Stew Sanders '56, Assistant to the Dean and a member of the Committee, outlined the general nature of the problems discussed by the Committee.

(1) Should publications be expanded in size, quality and circulation so that they become "big time" like, say, the reviews of Sewanee, Kenyon, Yale, and Antioch? Or should, on the other hand, the publications remain strictly local as they are now?

(2) Should the College humor magazine and the literary magazine be combined? Students meeting with the Committee have unanimously been opposed to such a merger.

(3) Should some form of financial help outside the magazine be given by the College or enlisted otherwise? Or should the magazine exist entirely on its own?

(4) How can the College refrain from control of the magazines and yet insure against irresponsible groups who publish, fail, and leave the College with its debt, besides cutting into the circulation and advertising income of the established competitor? By restraining one group the College would place itself in the position of supporting another (which in a sense it has already done with the moratorium). Is this good?

(5) How can the quality of the existing literary and humor magazines be assured?

(6) Should writers for, and editors of, these magazines be paid, or should they be expected to write for the love of it?

Actually the whole problem of student publications is immensely complicated, having many ramifications.

This writer would submit the following recommendations for consideration:

(1) That publications in the two fairly distinct areas - humor and literary (which would have to include the graphic arts, and opinion) — be recognized officially by the College with as much encouragement moral and otherwise (by providing office space, for example) as possible, every effort being made to assure quality. These magazines should be encouraged further to go "big time" if it is their desire to do so, and if in the long run (short-run financial losses aside) it would be a sound investment.

(2) That spontaneous or new publications be discouraged, both by the College, and by the strong competition they would have to face from a College-favored magazine of quality and permanence. All spontaneous efforts at publications now are efforts to fill a vacuum which decidedly exists.

(3) That some form of remuneration be devised for both the editors of these magazines and their contributors. Such a policy creates respect for the publication (which is reflected in circulation), elicits articles of higher quality written not in self-indulgence, but in a conscious, responsible effort at art, criticism, humor, or opinion. Remuneration would, however, require that the magazine have sufficient financial resources.

(4) That a graduate manager or a set of faculty advisers, being remunerated for their efforts, be placed with the magazines on a permanent or semipermanent basis to assure consistent quality, responsible management of business affairs, and a feeling of continuity. Students would still make the major editorial decisions.