The Undergraduate Chair

THE sunlight filtered through the leaves of the old elm, throwing a patchwork pattern of light and dark on the lush grass below. A barefoot brunette, wearing a bright orange print, sat in the shadow intently studying the iron utility cover behind Crosby Hall. Then she turned quickly to her easel and with a few swift, deft strokes, added some red to her painting of the rusty grate and the brick foundation of the building. A sandy-haired boy, in madras bermudas, sunglasses and a faded sweat shirt with the sleeves ripped off at the shoulder, came up behind her, squatted like a catcher while he carefully appraised her canvas, then smiled and said smoothly, "It's real good, honey."

You could tell it was summer in Hanover. If the scene described above, which was observed by two slightly incredulous September-to-June Dartmouth men and which can be corroborated by a bemused Building and Grounds employee, did not prove it conclusively, there were other, more subtle but nonetheless significant indicators of change.

First there was the orbit of summer activities. Fraternity Row, a noisy center of weekday recreation and weekend merriment for the preceding nine months, was quiet and virtually deserted throughout the summer. No stereos blared, no sports cars raced, and there was no parking problem whatsoever. Weeds grew on the volleyball courts, keep-out signs were posted on rarely locked doors, and the wildest party on the block was thrown by a group of enthusiastic Peace Corps trainees who celebrated Liberian Independence Day with an evening of folksinging in Beta Theta Pi.

Baker Library rarely has standing room only in the winter, but during exams and finals attendance is, in spite of the image, quite high. But it looked like Green Key Saturday at the Library all summer. The Public Affairs Laboratory and the Fan Room never did open, and the tables in the 1902 Room were pushed against the wall. Book circulation was very limited and the only congestion all summer was caused by tourists fighting for position in front of the telephones that provide a taped description of the Orozco Murals.

If the fraternities were dark and the library abandoned, where then did summer school students spend their free time and where did they study? It seems that Hopkins Center filled both needs. Classes brought the art, drama and music students to the Hop in the morning; set construction, rehearsals, woodworking and curiosity attracted large afternoon turnouts; the fine concerts, comedies, histories and lectures were responsible for unprecedented congestion on most evenings.

The antiseptic agora, frequented only out of necessity in the cooler seasons, was clogged at all hours during the summer. The crowds and confusion there on show nights made Times Square on New Year's Eve look like the upper grandstand at Milwaukee's County Stadium. One ABC student found his throat quite parched after sitting through the talky first act of The Doctor's Dilemma. He hustled over to the agora at intermission, waited his turn, ordered a strawberry ice cream soda, received it as the second-act curtain was rising, and, after two quick gulps, reluctantly put it on a table and ran dutifully to his seat. As one who witnessed his travail, I can attest to the quality of the drink he left behind.

The Top of the Hop was the prime college study hall, its comfortable orange couches and roomy swivel chairs always well occupied. (A small-scale independent survey revealed that, contrary to general belief, less than 50 per cent of all students who studied in the Hop fell asleep within one hour. However, 85 per cent of those questioned pleaded guilty to walker watching through the big windows of the Hop.) The black Steinway, used only by the boldest or most accomplished virtuoso during the regular school year, was a constant source of entertainment for the Top bookers.

The second major indicator of change could best be evaluated in Thayer Hall. In the big freshman dining room where the slightest glimpse of a girl on a chilly February evening has been known to set off major disturbances, comely coeds from scores of distant colleges paraded daily, attracting about as much attention as the ticket puncher. "I never thought I could eat a normal meal here in Thayer with girls around," confided one undergraduate, "but you know it's funny, you get used to them after a while."

The meals in Thayer provided a unique social and educational opportunity. Regular diners ranged from the nine-month-old daughter of an ABC math teacher to some octogenarian alumni. Actors, musicians, high school juniors and middleaged businessmen exchanged ideas and ideals with female psychology majors from the midwest and California historians across the Thayer dining table.

And the languages through which opinions were communicated were as diversified as the backgrounds of the speakers. Russian Institute students, all high school teachers, chattered in their adopted tongue while summer school students and Peace Corps trainees concentrated on French. German and Hungarian was heard during concert rehearsals in Spaulding Auditorium, and several members of the orchestra often lapsed into their native Japanese. The English itself ranged from Down East to Deep South.

Outside Thayer Hall things seemed calmer, more relaxed. The warm July sun teamed with those occasional summer cloudbursts to bring out the best on the Dartmouth campus. It was a time to admire and be proud of the old college, and even the most hardened urbanite was compelled to pause on the green and gaze up at Baker Library tower, framed in an azure sky and ringed by fluffy white clouds. The girls were really snowed.

But, in spite of the apparent tranquility, the summer was really a time of intense activity, experimentation and planning for the College community.

Trumbull Nelson and .B & G trucks and personnel swarmed over large segments of campus, demolishing, transplanting, upgrading, overturning, sawing, chopping, pruning, paving, digging, seeding and building. Gardeners worked first to lay hundreds of feet of sod on areas well trod during graduation and reunions, and then fought to restrict a Japanese elm epidemic by felling over seventy trees. Workmen finished clearing ground for the new Kiewit Computer Center and the big derrick rolled up and entertained students in adjacent Gerry Hall by methodically digging the required hole for the million-dollar structure.

There was plenty of action around the athletic plant. No, the long-awaited new hockey rink did not emerge, but venerable old Memorial Stadium underwent some face lifting for the benefit of a regional television date in November against Cornell. New telephone and electrical wires were tunneled under the ivy-covered stands and parking areas near Alumni Gym were repaved.

Then the only three-deck press box in New England rose on top of the cement grandstand. Specially adapted for television, the red brick communications center, dubbed Roberts' Roost in honor of Sports Information Director Ernie Roberts, the project's prime mover, provides ample space for reporters, radio, photographers, coaches and spotters as well as a TV level.

While the outward appearance of the College was being transformed, many of the student organizations were changing their structure and adapting to the summer program.

WDCR, already one of the most progressive college radio stations in the country, stayed on during July and August, beaming music, news and drama to the Upper Valley for twelve hours a day. The station maintained its tradition of non-professional personnel, but slight modifications were instituted which enabled WDCR to fit more comfortably into the mainstream of summer activities. Compelled by the lack of talented men and a strong push for equality, three coeds joined the station's staff, not simply as decorative secretaries but as newswomen and disk jockeys. It was reported that the presence of a soothing female voice on a late evening music show in no way limited the audience.

The student daily newspaper, TheDartmouth, went into hibernation, but a weekly publication, The Dartmouth Summer News, served as an effective official voice for the summer community. News, however, was far from plentiful, and large segments of the green-tinted, eightpage journal were devoted to previews, reviews and features concerning the plays and players quartered in Hopkins Center. A popular picture page was included each week, and the best photos of the summer were those taken at that Liberian Independence Day celebration staged by those Peace Corps trainees.

The Dartmouth Outing Club also adapted itself to a more diversified student body and sponsored a pair of weekends at Mt. Moosilauke's Ravine Lodge in addition to a series of one-day trips to nearby cabins. The excursions reportedly lacked the rustic charm and genuine woodsman spirit usually associated with the DOC, but few complained when some of the refinements associated with coed life, like berry picking, were introduced.

Student government committees were busy during the summer planning for the upcoming school year. Before undertaking a fall campaign to more thoroughly acquaint the student body at large with the workings of campus government, Palaeopitus furnished the Milton Sims Kramer Student Government Center with new furniture and office equipment. A Great Issues evaluation report, ten months in the works, will be released shortly, and this, coupled with a continuing examination and reappraisal of the marking system, promises to spark stimulating discussion and interesting copy in the months ahead.

An oil painting of Tanzi's fruit and beer emporium was presented to Dean of Freshmen Albert I. Dickerson '30 by an admiring freshman class in June. Shown makingthe presentation to Dean Dickerson is class president Robert B. Reich '68.

Occupant of The Undergraduate Chair for the 1965-66 publication year, is Lawrence Jeffrey Geiger '66 of Harrison, N. Y. Sports editor of The Dartmouth, he is goalie on the soccer team and a former reserve catcher on the baseball team. He is a member of Delta Upsilon and Casque and Gauntlet, and this past summer he remained in Hanover to serve as a resident tutor for Project ABC.