Letters to the Editor

Early Ecology at Dartmouth

TO THE EDITOR:

In a letter concerning plans for the April 22 Environmental Teach-In ("Earth Day"), Doug Wade mentioned that he had written to the ALUMNI MAGAZINE about the fact that at Dartmouth 25 years ago we were talking and taking action along the lines now so suddenly popular in the light of the environmental crisis. It's interesting to see Aldo Leopold, the "patron saint" of the Dartmouth Ecological Society in the late '40's, being quoted on every hand these days. Even Robert Frost, it turns out, was an ecologist at heart.

In spite of whatever other image the College may have, it has produced an impressive array of people who are giving leadership in environmental education today: Dr. Harlan Brumsted '46 at Cornell, Dr. George Woodwell '50 at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Donald Shedd '49 with the Federal government, Jim Schwedland '48 at Dartmouth, Phil Viereck '48 with the public schools in Bennington, Vt., to name a few. Among many factors, the one method which Wade (and Dick Weaver before him) used which "turned us on" was first-hand experience in ecological action. We spent days (even weeks) in the, field - at Moosilauke, the Grant, Cape Hatteras, on duck hawk and woodcock surveys. We taught at the New Hampshire Conservation Camp, attended national conventions, did research. It resulted in changing our way of life — and that's the ultimate goal of any educational process.

Homer, N. Y.

The Reasons Why ?

TO THE EDITOR

Two or three times in the last year you have referred to a polling of the students which brought forth the opinion on their part that social life in Hanover is dreadful. Allow me to suggest that many of the alumni might be interested in hearing why the students feel that way.

New York, N. Y.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Not this month but ina later issue we will try to report the reasons for the student vote.

Inserts Appreciated

TO THE EDITOR:

This is a short note of appreciation for the publication of the lectures given at last year's Alumni College. My wife and I have found them very informative and enjoyable.

I hope you will publish those given this year and make it a yearly endeavor.

Los Angeles, Calif.

Alumni in Decision-Making

TO THE EDITOR

While reading the text of President Kemeny's inaugural address as reported in the March issue of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE I was especially impressed by his emphasis on the making of decisions and the means of providing full information to those who are invited to share in decision-making. I also note that, whereas the faculty, the students, and indeed the entire community are expected to have a part in the making of decisions with regard to Dartmouth's policies, the only reference to the alumni is the expressed expectation that they will continue to give the College their generous financial support.

Unfortunately, the alumni have not had much part in policy-making, and in the past few years they have not been fully informed of impending decisions on far-reaching College policies. Consequently, when they discovered that certain policies had been put into operation, only to be followed by painful and abortive results, some of them have been surprised and shocked to the extent that they have withheld their financial support.

Dartmouth College has a corps of four thousand devoted alumni who represent a cross-section of the alumni body and who, as class agents, are in close contact with their fellow classmates. Their experiences are highly diversified and have been gained all over this country and, in fact, all over the world. It may be assumed that, as educated men, they have acquired a vast store of sound wisdom in the process. The College can have the benefit of this accumulated wisdom simply by asking for it, and the advice and suggestions of these men would be of inestimable value to those on whose shoulders decision-making finally rests.

In conclusion, therefore, I suggest that when momentous decisions are in the mat ing the administration should conduct a poll of the class agents' organization and thereby solicit the advice not only of the Hanover community but also of those who love the College most, the great body of the alumni.

Sun City Center, Fla.

1-1 Odds and We Missed

TO THE EDITOR:

Well, gentlemen, I guess you win the "They-All-Look-Alike-to-Me" award. It's interesting that with two black professors on campus you managed to identify one of them incorrectly in the April '70 issue.

Errol Hill does have a beard, but so does Robert G. McGuire the other black professor (about whom you wrote an article last fall). But he is still Errol Hill and not Robert G. McGuire as you so mistakenly labeled him on page 33 ("The Faculty") of that issue.

They are different people, you know, one of them wears glasses.

Thetford Center, Vt.

A Credit to Dartmouth

TO THE EDITOR:

I have just returned from Europe where we visited our daughter and spent two months in Palma de Mallorca, a delightful spot. Relatively few Americans, outside of short tour groups, go there in the wintertime, so the sight of an American is not commonplace.

One day when I was walking the streets waiting for my car to be serviced, lo and behold two young men wearing Dartmouth warm-up jackets came towards me. Of course I stopped them. Introductions followed and it developed they were spending a semester at the University of Toulouse and had come to Mallorca for a few days' holiday. I do not recall their names but they were Class of '72.

Now why I am telling you this is because their neat, to me, appearance brought credit to the United States and Dartmouth. No blue jeans; shoes, not sandals, or bare feet; no beards; hair only to collar, length. Their appearance contrasted sharply with that of several students I met who were at the University of Nice from other American colleges. My daughter entertained one of these students at dinner and when he appeared with a headband holding his locks in place, her French cook who speaks no English, placed her hand over her mouth and said "Whowah Indian." At least she knew that much English.

Those two Dartmouth boys made an old alumnus feel pretty good.

Gaysville, Vt.

"To Royal Nemiah"

TO THE EDITOR:

On a sunny afternoon recently, I left my office in Sonora, California and headed for the delightful little Tuolumne County Library, about one mile away. I had in mind looking up a collection of Essays on Sophocles, edited by Thomas Woodward. As my eye ran along the shelf of books related to Ancient Greece, I spied Richmond Lattimore's lovely Translation of the Iliad. Somehow, I had never managed to connect with Lattimore's translation, although I had heard of it. I browsed through it quickly and turned to the Title Page and noticed the thoughtful dedication to his parents. Sitting on the shelf next to the Iliad was Lattimore's translation of the Odyssey, which I also browsed through. On the Title Page was the dedication. Simply: To Royal Nemiah.

A flood of memories welled through me. Lattimore had no doubt been exposed to some of Nemiah's courses in the Greek Language and on the Greek Civilization. I do not recall the exact name of the Course on Greek Civilization, but whatever its name, it must have left an imprint on Lattimore's mind, just as it did on mine, but with far less imposing effects.

Many years later, I find that the impact has never left me, as evidenced, among other things, by a fairly sizable library pertaining to almost everything pertaining to Ancient Greece.

My wife has suffered with me in this matter; graciously, and with a respectable amount of enthusiasm. She has trod under the Lion Gate at Mycenae, walked the giant blocks of Tiryns, examined Pheidias' workshop in Olympia, been awed by the almost sacred beauty of Delphi, and nearly been blown to pieces on the top of the Acropolis by the wind off the Saronic Gulf, all, no doubt, as a result of the deep interest that Professor Nemiah instilled in me.

I still recall Nemiah's discussion on Sophrosyne. A strange looking word in English, but with that most Greek of meanings: Inner Balance and Harmony - that most cherished of Fourth Century Greek attributes.

Will any of us who attended Nemiah's classes ever forget Hybris? We have in our lifetime seen President Lyndon Johnson topple from his world of power as a result of the coming into play of Hybris - insolent arrogance. Sophocles could well write a play about it if he were on the scene currently.

I suspect Professor Nemiah favored me with a C in his course. So be it. The least I can do is salute the man who had the vital spark of the inspired educator. No less than Dick Lattimore, I must say, "To Royal Nemiah."

Jamestown, Calif.

Salute to the Band

TO THE EDITOR:

Before the senior class leaves the campus and before the new football season starts, I'd like to comment on the Band. The game at New Haven had apparently been attended by some unfortunate incidents in '68 and our band didn't march. But there were a batch of boys there who had paid their own way and brought their instruments, and who, unofficially, let us know that Dart mouth was there.

Before some of them leave the College they should be commended for their heartening performance, and they should be recognized by those of us who watched and admired them. It brought back memories of staying up until three A.M. to welcome back a team that had just lost in the national finals and of snake-dances down Main Street on the Wednesday after the Fifth Down Game.

East Hartford, Conn

Dartmouth at Its Best

TO THE EDITOR:

I have just returned from Ford's Theater where I had the privilege of seeing the Dartmouth production of Strindberg's TheGhost Sonata. Rarely in my life have I been as proud of Dartmouth. Imaginatively staged, and sensitively acted, the play renewed my faith that Dartmouth can be known for more than campus brawls, beer busts, and bonfires.

From the notice passed out at the door, I gather that the cast had some doubts whether their presentation might be considered strike-breaking. I can assure them that their production was dissent of the finest sort. The Ghost Sonata in its exposure of greed, ambition, and cruelty brings home the point that what the young people of today oppose is nothing new. Call it sin or pride or corruption, evil must be opposed if even a remnant is to survive. If the son acquiesces to the evils of his parents, he will be destroyed by them. This was the lesson The Ghost Sonata brought home to me. I only wish that the audience, which was made up mostly of high school students, could have included men like the President and the members of Congress.

I write this as one who voted in 1968 for Mr. Nixon as the one whom I thought best equipped to stop the slaughter in southeast Asia, as one who agreed with the College's handling of the situation last spring. I regret the former decision, but I still support the latter. The reason is that I, like many others, feel betrayed by the President. As for the College, I will continue to support it so long as it encourages the free exchange of ideas against all intimidation so long as it lives up to its Biblical motto Vox clamantis in deserto.

I close with one thought: I hope that all Dartmouth alumni will recall the two murals by Orozco at the east end of Baker. One shows a military man being strangled ID his own bunting; the other reveals Christ freed from his cross standing before a world dump of armaments. In these troubled days, America faces such alternatives. If the production of The Ghost Sonata is any indication, I know where the majority of Dartmouth men will stand. If I am wrong, I fear for the survival of Dartmouth and her sister institutions.

Washington, D. C.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Wade letter referredto appears in this issue as an article. Mr.Gustafson, Chairman of the Biology Department at the State University of New Yorkat Cortland, has been on leave to serve onNew York's Temporary Commission onYouth Education in Conservation and asvice-chairman of the Eastern SusquehannaWater Resources Board.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Our regrets about themistake were printed in last month's issue.Mr. A (wood's needle is aptly pointed, butjust the same we prefer to think of ProfessorHill as one of 275 Dartmouth faculty members and not as one of two black professors.