"As Active As They Are Bright"

DEAN OF THE COLLEGE

CHANGE is always met with apprehension, and among Dartmouth alumni I sense a growing concern about changes at the College. As they come back to Hanover, they are apprehensive about the physical changes produced by the broad and ambitious construction programs. There are the new dormitories on Choate Road and Wigwam Circle, the new Math-Psychology Building, the Medical Sciences Building, and the recently-announced plans for the field house designed by Pier Luigi Nervi. Opposition to the plans for the Hopkins Center was focused on the effect of its design on the appearance of the campus.

Alumni are also apprehensive about changes in the faculty, particularly as they see more unfamiliar faces every time they visit the campus. Since I came to Dartmouth as an English instructor in 1954 almost two-thirds of the faculty has been replaced by new teachers. But alumni seem to worry most about the change of academic pace and its effect on Dartmouth as they remember it. More and more we hear about "the new Dartmouth." College Board scores show that each year our students are getting brighter while a new, young faculty has set higher academic, standards and a quickened pace. Students are more serious about their work and compete vigorously for grades and for graduate school admission.

However, it is a too easy generalization for apprehensive alumni to conclude that the improving academic program has been developed at the expense of that total education which Dartmouth has always offered. We must all remember that the College continues to be uniquely dedicated to the education of the whole man. Any alumni who have been involved with enrollment committees and who are in touch with Eddie Chamberlain and the Admissions Office know that Dartmouth continues to seek promising applicants whose personal qualifications and accomplishments match their intellectual potential. This year has been a fine one for our student activities, and I am persuaded that extracurricular life is keeping pace with rising academic standards.

As an exercise to prepare myself for this report, I have done some close reading of past copies of the Aegis. The experience was enlightening, and I urge any of you who are apprehensive about this side of the College to compare the Aegis of, say, 1940 with that of 1960. They will show not only that more students today are engaged in more activities but also that there are many more activities to engage in.

New organizations have burgeoned at Dartmouth since the war. The Undergraduate Council, established in 1947, engages the time, interest, and energy of hundreds of students through such agencies as the Interdormitory Council, the Interfraternity Council, and the many UGC standing committees. A group of deans from sister institutions was astonished when I recently told them that we have nearly 500 students engaged in student government of one sort or another, and if you count up all the fraternity officers, dorm committee men, standing committee members, Freshman Councilors, class officers, and so on, you find that this figure is no exaggeration.

The student radio station, WDCR, was started after the war, and today its staff of 130 runs the only student-operated commercial AM station in the country. With an ambitious schedule of music, news, interviews, discussion, and "production shows," WDCR has a breadth and variety of programs which are seldom found on an independent radio station in these days of disc jockeys and television.

One of the most impressive phenomena since the war has been the growth of "informal" sports. In recent years the Dartmouth Rowing Club has had ten crews engaged in intercollegiate competition during the spring, and many other students share the responsibility of managerial duties for the Club. The Dartmouth Rugby-Football Club now has three large squads in regular competition, and the sport has proved to be one of the most popular on the campus. Likewise, the Dartmouth Wrestling Club has a full schedule of intercollegiate competition, and intramural wrestling has grown vigorously in just the past few years. Skiing has become tremendously popular, and this year some thirty Dartmouth Outing Club instructors gave lessons to over 500 undergraduates while many other students were engaged in ski competition, Ski Patrol, and general recreational skiing.

Each year new groups present themselves for recognition, and it is no surprise that we have a Motor Sports Car Club and a "way out" publication called Gangreen, or that last year a group of students was anxious to start the Dartmouth Parachute Jumping Club.

These organizations and the ones to come are evidence of the need for participation in the life of the College by students whose personal interests and energies match their intellectual capacity. Our students are as active as they are bright.

There is a second aspect of campus activities which should be examined: the sort of individual engaged in them. If academic quality and competition have increased every year, we should assume that the Class of 1961 would have suffered the most from rising academic pressure and thus would have the thinnest record of outside activity and accomplishment.

It would be easy to assume that we have two classes of students, the scholars at the top of the class who have no time for outside activities and the student leaders at the bottom of the class who have no time for studies. I reviewed the records of the 146 men who stood in the top quarter of the class and found that this group includes six of the eleven members of Palaeopitus, the heads of the three senior societies, six fraternity presidents, six vice-presidents, and twenty-four officers; there are thirty varsity lettermen. The nine men on the varsity crew had an over-all average of better than B for the winter term of this year. The top quarter of the class includes the president of The Dartmouth, the president of the Glee Club, the president of The Players, the president of the Aegis, and the executive manager of DCAC. In this group are also the presidents of the Rowing Club, the Rugby Club, and the Boxing Club.

When we examine the top half of the class, we find the heads of most other organizations: the Undergraduate Council, the Dartmouth Outing Club, WDCR, the Dartmouth Christian Union, the Forensic Union, the Yacht Club, and so on.

But do not conclude from these figures that life at Dartmouth is simply a matter of high grades and the organization man, for I can assure you that our students still manage to have fun along the way. From my office every afternoon I can hear the cheers of softball games on the Green, and in the evening the sounds of Hum practice drift up from Webster Avenue. The plans for this year's Green Key Weekend assure me that worry about finals and graduate school will be far removed from the picnics, parties, and rock-and-roll bands.

Changes are taking place at Dartmouth, and these figures give evidence that student extracurricular life is keeping pace with the rising academic standards of the institution. The student who meets the challenge of his education while actively participating in total life of the College will derive in full measure, despite the changes, the pride, the satisfaction, and the unique fellowship of Dartmouth.

Dean Seymour chatting with an undergraduate in front of the Administration Building.

DEAN SEYMOUR'S ARTICLE is adapted from the talk he gave to the Dartmouth class officers at their joint meeting in Hanover on Saturday morning, May 6.