The Undergraduate Chair
AN unfulfilled spring thaw in the middle of February was accompanied by Dartmouth's first (or, at least, first known) drug case and also renewed agitation for changes in the social code. As with all unexpected thaws, winter soon set in again, the potheads went cold with rumors of further action, and the proposed changes were turned down with a flat No.
In the middle of February, when everyone expected it least, the College apparently took action against a student suspected of possessing and selling marijuana. The student was forced to resign from the College and he left Hanover soon afterwards.
While rumors, of course, ran wild, there were no federal, state, or local officials involved in the case. It is true that some people are forever prone to find narco feds (narcotics agents) behind every tree on campus, but there has, in fact, been no evidence to sustain the rumors. The student was apparently a smalltime pusher (seller) and user whose activities had been suspected by the College for some time. Dean Seymour apparently called the student to his office and presented him with the fact that his presence on the campus was not exactly desired. The student got the message and resigned. I use the word "apparently" because the Dean would neither confirm nor deny the reports.
The whole thing was quiet, discreet, and tasteful. But it did scare some people because attached to the reports came apparently well-founded speculation that more such confrontations were on the way. Up to this point, that speculation has not been proven true.
After the surprise concerning the resignation wore off, the campus as a whole reacted favorably to the course Dean Seymour is said to have pursued. It seems better that the College take the initiative in weeding out the key figures involved in bringing drugs onto the campus than that the issue be ignored. The latter course would only serve to invite the type of raid that occurred on New York University's Stony Brook campus some time ago and at Franconia College recently. A raid of that size on a campus where the problem is essentially small only serves to raise more furore and embarrassment than the inevitably small haul of drugs would be worth.
The Dartmouth's best reporter, Chris Kern '69, spent a good deal of time talking with sources both in the administration and outside of it after the student's resignation and his analysis of the situation concluded: "Already ... drugs heretofore on campus are beginning to disappear. In time, it can be expected that they will be all gone, or at least enough of them so that there will no longer be any 'drug problem' here."
He also turned up the fact that the current policy is aimed at "flagrancy" - the open use of drugs and the attraction which comes with such use.
While Kern's analysis may be a little optimistic, independent sources have indicated that several pushers have quietly gone out of business in fear of the administration's knowledge and apparent willingness to use that knowledge.
THE largest issue outside of marijuana has been a controversial proposal for dorm "home rule" that was put forth by Michael Chu '68, with the backing of North Fayerweather Hall.
The basic proposal was that each dormitory should be allowed to set its own social regulations, specifically those involving girls in the dormitory. The North Fayer proposal was somewhat elaborate and involved using registers to sign in the dates of those who requested permission to entertain girls after hours (which would be, in any case, pushed further back into the night).
The "home rule" idea became quite the thing and everyone seemed enticed by it. Arguments flew back and forth about legality, morality, responsibility, and such ideas (which always fly back and forth in student movement arguments). Everyone was enticed, that is, except the Committee on Administration. It answered the demands in a short statement which could be shortened even more (without losing any flavor) to a flat No.
It took everyone by surprise and, after the shock wore off, cries of "you can't do that" sprang up from all sides. The trouble is, the Committee on Administration can do what it did, and it doesn't look as if it will back down.
Then again, in perspective, the parietal regulations have changed a good deal since four years ago. The hours have been lengthened and girls have been allowed upstairs in fraternity houses for the first time. There are some inequalities, but all things come to him who waits.
But just suppose that all social regulations were, in fact, dropped. What would happen to all the campus police whose task it is to patrol the dormitories on Saturday night? Or, more importantly, what would happen to the last-minute escapes down the fire stairs (in the Choates, anyway) as the policeman is coming up the main stairs, or the sudden thrusting of girls into closets, or the immortal legend about the girl who was put into the shower when a policeman came into the wing of the dormitory. As the story goes, just as he was passing the bathroom, the water suddenly ran very hot, she screamed and was caught.
To turn to more minor controversies, a student was canned from ROTC for appearing in the weekly peace vigil on the green in full uniform. A week before, another student appeared on the line in uniform and the ROTC office drew up a statement forbidding others to demonstrate in uniform. When the next vigil rolled along, the first student returned - without the Army green, and another one, in uniform, came along also. He was canned. It was, as I said, a minor controversy and it died pretty quickly. Let it be said, however, that in the latest vigil, uniforms were notably absent.
One of the less gruesome products of this current war has been the large number of ways people have found to protest. You can, as a recent Dartmouth graduate did, leave the country. You can march, you can write "seditious" tracts (which may soon find a wider audience due to a printing press the SDS is said to have bought and installed near Hanover), you can stand still and protest on Wednesday afternoons, or you can even picket Dow Chemical. Or, for the hardier, you can join the Army and agitate within the ranks, as one senior is reported to be planning. While the variety of means creates a vaguely humorous situation, the point is clear - people, not only college students, in the community are concerned and they are voicing their concern in as many ways as they can.
In this light, Senator Eugene McCarthy came to Hanover recently and delivered a forty-minute speech to a fantastically enthusiastic audience in Webster Hall. The place was packed and the people seemed always on the verge of tumultuous applause (two standing ovations were accorded the statesman).
The aspect of the war which is hitting students most is the new ruling on postgraduate deferments. Suddenly 700 seniors found their planned futures might not be as tidy as they had hoped. To be sure, many are in ROTC programs and many are planning on medical school, but the vast bulk of seniors are caught in the middle.
What most people will do remains to be seen, although it looks like a great guessing game involving not only the students but also the graduate schools. The latter will have to accept more persons than usual to insure enough students this coming fall. More undergraduates have joined ROTC programs here since the deferment shift and it is said that medical schools have also experienced a sudden rise in applications. The Peace Corps and VISTA are more attractive alternatives than before for there is always that hope that in two years it will all be over. How it will be over doesn't really matter to many people - just being over is what counts. Realistically, the same people who hope don't believe in their own hopes.
Sprinkle in a little bit of pre-primary campaigning around Hanover and one has the sum total of what life has been around here. One does, of course, have to bear in mind the mud, the sudden thaw, the just-as-sudden refreezing, and the snowstorms which constantly bring small crises into every student's life at this time of year. But who could forget that?
Dartmouth's GE-College Bowl team which appeared on NBC-TV on March 31.L to r, Frederick A. Meier Jr. '70, Salem, Mass.; John A. Tallmadge '69, East Orange, N.J.; Peter Baylor '68, Pelham, N. Yand Gary Horlick '68, Arlington, Va.
