Letters to the Editor

The Dartmouth Indian

TO THE EDITOR:

It is interesting that an old Indian cheerleader reports having second thoughts because he "was making the Indian a mascot instead of an equal human being." He can be quite sure, however, that every spectator, if he thought about it at all, only marveled at the hardihood of the boy in his smiling acceptance of the usual bone-chilling stadium breezes.

Along similar lines, The Wall Street Journal carried a recent report critical of the Harlem Globe Trotters, that remarkable black basketball aggregation, for "acting like blacks" and making it pay handsomely.

Good Lord! The next thing you know some group of Friends is going to rise up in righteous wrath about Pennsylvanians being called Quakers. I say bring back the Indian! His feminine counterparts, personable as they are, are inadequate substitutes for the rugged red man, an admirable and traditional figure.

Philadelphia, Pa.

TO THE EDITOR:

If I were to free-associate in connection with the word "Indian," I think I'd come up with such words as "strong," "honorable," "proud-warrior," "fierce," "athletic" and others, which, when I was raised, indicated qualities to strive for. To me, the Dartmouth Indian was a symbol of strength and honor.

It really doesn't make much of a difference whether there is an "Indian" at football games or not. It does make a lot of difference, though, that his removal can be caused by immaturity, hysteria, and spurious reasoning. It seems that many colleges are nurturing attitudes they were once dedicated to overcoming.

Maybe we'll earn the Indian back. I have reservations as to whether we deserve him now.

Metuchen, N. J.

TO THE EDITOR

'Where is the Dartmouth Indian?"

This past fall, some non-Dartmouth colleagues and I attended a football game. They were awaiting with great expectations the appearance of the Dartmouth Indian cheerleader. Unfortunately we noted that the Indian had been replaced by four chubby coeds in mini-skirts. Throughout the entire game I thought that the Indian would eventually make an appearance but this did not come to fruition and I discovered that the Dartmouth Indian had been banished from the football field. In my opinion, sir, four chubby coeds cannot replace the Indian.

Since the founding of the school the Dartmouth Indian has been an integral part of the College. He maintains a place of honor and prestige in the hearts of all Dartmouth alumni. I sincerely hope that this great American and long-standing Dartmouth tradition will be reestablished at the College.

Holyoke, Mass.

In Favor of Tomatoes

TO THE EDITOR:

While I appreciate the fairness with which the Trustees' Standing Committee on Coeducation has put forth the case, I find the metaphors of commerce and industry with which they seek to help us in our thinking, the merchandising of milk and ice cream, the retailing of a Macy's or Brooks Brothers image, the production of Edsels and Mustangs, a bit biased. Most of us are inadvertently betrayed by our figures of speech!

As long as we're going to treat women as commodities I'd like to suggest a more apt analogy: If we were Victorian green grocers in the vegetable business and we saw all our competitors going into tomatoes even though we still felt them to be poisonous, we would be imprudent not to see what there was in tomatoes for us.

Incidentally, while in favor of tomatoes I'm equally in favor of potatoes, onions, and turnips. The hope here is that coeducation will be a down-to-earth experience!

Professor of Anthropology

Hanover, N. H.

And Not in Favor

TO THE EDITOR

Some interesting pieces in a local publication have attempted to analyze and determine the nature of the educational process. Typically, some effort is made to learn why higher education (sic) is completely lost upon some students - succeeds (apparently) with others.

One finite conclusion is that a thing called "attitude," which embraces all sorts of stimuli and responses, is a very essential element in successful education, per se. Environment is apparently significant, and this seems to include the public and private conduct of members of a student body.

The current antics and capers of the "women in Yale" would seem to represent a pretty complete support for those who wish to see none of the "coed" configuration at Dartmouth. Let's not compound undergraduate problems with the illogic of female activists.

Doylestown, Pa.

A More Urgent Issue

TO THE EDITOR:

Your recent article on coeducation was most interesting. When I graduated in 1960 I believed it was a most critical issue and that Dartmouth would never survive if it were coeducational. As recently as two years ago I felt that the threat of coeducation was an extremely serious problem.

However, in reading the comments by the learned administration and faculty, I realized that the coeducation issue, like remembering the names of old movie stars, was nothing but trivia. Stripped of all the emotions which the issue generates, all that remained was the question of competition with other schools for so-called gifted and well-to-do students and other similar economic considerations.

To follow the competition argument a bit further the College should quit being naive or obtuse or both and get to the core of the issue. Men like women. Why incur the cost of educating women which is enormously expensive? Why not merely bring women to Hanover for coeducational room and board and let them wander around and mingle. This should clearly shift the competitive advantage to Dartmouth because its women will not be burdened with courses and studying and can more fully devote themselves to being women.

But there is no need to belabor the obvious absurdity of emphasis on the competitive advantage of coeducation. The fact is that on any scale of values coeducation is not a very critical issue. A far more relevant inquiry regarding the College's admission standards is whether the theory that "deserving" students should be admitted in preference to those students who need Dartmouth is valid. For many students Dartmouth is a great awakening, a major departure point in their way of life. For others Dartmouth is no more than a stepping-stone on the path of a well-ordered life. Should those latter students have preference over students to whom Dartmouth has far more to offer?

Equally relevant is whether Dartmouth should expend great sums of money to build bigger and more expensive dormitories and departmental buildings when those funds could be used to support a far greater proportion of financially needy students who really don't care about the elegance of a building or dormitory as long as it serves its purpose.

As Professor Kemeny indicated in his presentation, the present student is next year's alumnus. The College needs to be responsive to that student. Whatever the "issue" poll may have shown, students today are more concerned with war, poverty and the value standards of our society than with coeducation. Now that the College has removed itself from the field of writing social mores, the presence of cohabitation should greatly reduce the pressure for coeducation. Hopefully the College will now turn away from these trivial inquiries and spend its energies on the far more useful examination of the underlying assumptions upon which the College acts - assumptions which make college board scores and high school performances critical parts of the admission policy and which create multi-million-dollar capital fund campaigns rather than multi-million-dollar scholarship and faculty fund campaigns. The reassessment of these and other basic values is worthy of careful study. Nothing in this letter is intended to downgrade the College work on the ABC program or with the black-student recruitment, both of which appear commendable. Nevertheless, far more can and should be done in these and other worthwhile directions.

Washington, D. C

Minerals and Conservation

TO THE EDITOR

William B. Heroy Jr. '37, who was featured in the Alumni Album in February's issue, was credited with saying in regard to the exploitation of mineral resources: "On the one hand we have the conservationists, and on the other, we have to be realistic." I wish Mr. Heroy, as an alumnus (and as president of the American Geological Institute), would clarify his position on this point. The statement would not have bothered this geologist if it had gone something like this: "On the one hand we have the conservationists, and on the other we have the mineral industries. Each has something important to tell the other."

More to the point, the only "realistic" solution I hope for is one that reverses the current trend of erosion of the quality of life. If the mineral industries can help us do that, fine. But what is their record? We seem to understand responsibility as it applies to nuclear physicists and their "product," but what about geologists? Does their responsibility stop at the oil well and the mine entrance?

Columbus, Ohio

In Praise of Five Students

TO THE EDITOR

I felt I had to write this complimentary letter about five charming house guests who visited with us last week.

When my husband got a phone call from five Dartmouth students who were looking for a place to stay in New Orleans during Mardi Gras, I admit I was dubious when he invited them to stay with us.

Whether I expected a list of non-negotiable demands before they occupied the dining room or a rampage of heavy-footed beer drinkers scarring the upholstery ... I can't remember. But whatever I expected at the time, I admit I was completely overwhelmed by the boys themselves.

Neal Betancourt, Steve Brown, Bob Calhoun, Jim Knox, Class of '71, and Bill Pollock, Class of '72, were without a doubt the best house guests I have ever had. Not only were they neat (washing dishes, making beds) and well behaved (we were mam-ed and sir-ed nearly to death), but they were excellent company, interesting conversationalists, and altogether a joy to know.

If Dartmouth is still turning out such well-rounded individuals who are dedicated enough to devote three months to teaching in a small Black school in Clarksdale, Mississippi, conscientious enough to seriously discuss it with interested old alums and wives, and impressive enough to make me wish I had done the same thing when I was in school - plus doing Dartmouth honors in their partying capacity - well, I think Dartmouth can survive another 200 years.

(Mrs. Kenneth G. Kolb '61)

New Orleans, La.

"Heap Crazy"

TO THE EDITOR

I believe the alumni would welcome a different viewpoint. As Dartmouth started as an Indian school, I believe the following would be welcome reading:

Not long ago the editors of the Farmer-Stockman printed a picture of a deserted farmhouse in a desolate, sandswept field, then offered a prize for the best 100-word essay on the disastrous effects of land erosion. A bright Indian lad from Oklahoma bagged the trophy with this graphic description:

"Picture show white man crazy. Cut down trees. Make too big teepee. Plow hill. Water wash. Wind blow soil. Grass gone. Door gone. Squaw gone. Whole place gone to hell. No pig. No corn. No pony.

"Indian no plow land. Keep grass. Buffalo eat grass. Indian eat buffalo. Hide make plenty big teepee. Make moccasin. All time Indian eat. No work. No hitch-hike. No ask relief. No build dam. No give dam. White man heap crazy."

Cranford, N. J.