1943

You wouldn't believe how thin the news is this month, so read it and weep. CaptainBill Alexander, USN, is on his way back from Coronado, Calif., to take up residence at 1808 Hoban Road, N.W., Washington, D. C. 20007. All we have is an advance change of address card from Bill and will pass on his new assignment when we've talked to him. Stan Calder took off the month of May from Reynolds & Co. in Miami to take a trip to Europe. After what happened here this May, in retrospect it was a very wise move.

On the way up at Eastman Dillon, Union Securities & Co. is Dick Longacre, recently appointed a vice president for sales in the firm's Cleveland office. He joined Eastman Dillon in 1968 as a registered representative, after being associated with Hayden Stone, Inc. in Cleveland. He and his family make their home at 3611 Trail's End Drive, in Medina, Ohio. Active in community affairs, he has served as president of the Medina School Board and Lions Club.

The rest of the column will be devoted to the class officers' weekend held May 1-2 in Hanover. Charlie Donovan, Herb Marx and your secretary attended for the full weekend with Ed Lider in attendance for the Friday afternoon session. The weekend was delightful, as are most spring weekends in Hanover, and the class officer business meetings were well presented and instructive with but one unfortunate exception.

Your secretary has attempted to avoid editorializing or preaching in these columns, but in view of a Friday evening "Presentation by the Trustee Committee Studying the Education of Women at Dartmouth," your indulgence is sought. The "presentation" was led by the Provost of the College, a co-chairman of the Committee Studying Education of Women at Dartmouth. The totality of the Provost's presentation, however, was "how" Dartmouth could be made coeducational, not "why." Despite a direct challenge to address himself to the "whys" of coeducation, the Provost demurred. Rightly or wrongly, assembled alumni were denied any wisdom on the propriety of Dartmouth following the coeducational footsteps of Yale and Princeton, other than that "the students are for it." Needless to say, the "presentation" was the number-one topic of conversation among the class officers for the weekend - Kent State not yet having occurred.

At the closing noon luncheon on Saturday, President Kemeny bemoaned the fact that during his short tenure as president he had learned when things went well nobody told him, but when things went wrong, he was among the first to know - for example, Friday night's "presentation." As a result, President Kemeny set aside his prepared remarks on continuing educational programs and spoke to current problems. His remarks were thoughtful and provided an insight into the current situation on campus - including problems raised by the then-announced Cambodian campaign — as a background to the co-educational problem. Unfortunately, the President had not been advised that the unanswered question of the night before was "why" co-education for Dartmouth, so he did not speak directly to that subject, although he affirmed that a decision had not yet been made.

President Kemeny's closing remarks, however, resulted in a standing ovation. In short, he noted that when he recently took the oath of office as President, he had accepted the responsibility and obligation of making ultimate decisions as chief executive officer of the College. He affirmed that as president he had an obligation to consider the question of co-education at Dartmouth, that a professional survey of the totality of alumni thought had been contracted out and that when all the facts were in, a decision would be made. He declared that as President of the College he had the responsibility to make the decision and that he would make the decision. This was a candor and acceptance of responsibility not often seen in today's college administrators.

Now, to the point of this column. President Kemeny invited the alumni to engage in debate either through correspondence with him or in personal visits. Your class officers were immensely impressed with his sincerity and desire for communication on the merits. We urge you to write or visit with him and also to send your views to Herb Marx for consolidation and publication in the "Clanging Bells." This is the proper way to make your views known and to ensure that facts - not just emotion or pre-disposition — are in the record. In Dr. Kemeny we have a president who will make a reasoned decision on facts and we, for one, will support him to the hilt on a decision so based.

One closing caveat. Withholding an alumni fund contribution at this time is not a "proper" fact or argument. Rather it is tantamount to the campus strike or violence which we as alumni abhor. Should we not practice that reason which we demand of the students? Remember, the 1970 Alumni Fund campaign is not yet over.

As a close out, new addresses are: George Benz, 5 Sheryl Street, R.D. 7, Kingston, N. Y. 12401; Robert G. Clark, Box 182, Ridgefield, Conn. 06877; and Paul Mallory, 1550 Mount Pleasant Road, Villanova, Pa, 19085.

Thus endeth the lesson for today.

Secretary, 1001 Conn. Ave., N.W. Washington, D. C. 20036

Class Agent, 214 Harvard Ave., Boston, Mass. 02134