Eastern New York
Secretary, 487 Haskell Place, Delmar, N. Y. 12054
It was, indeed, a special occasion. And it went off without a hitch, except, er ah, for a recalcitrant tape recorder that made the Dartmouth College Glee Club sound like its never been heard before as it led the assemblage in the closing "Men of Dartmouth. Even the embarrassed sound engineer agreed, however, that the Eastern New York Club has never had a more successful event. Exactly 158 alumni, wives, Parents, and other friends of the College L together to be joined by another half-dozen or so late comers who were treated to a fine speech by President John Kemeny. The event was the Annual Club Dinner, April 8, at the Thruway Hyatt House in Albany.
And now it can be reported. So magnificent was President John Kemeny's after dinner talk that not a single question came forth from the floor. From the club that has been tagged as the "hot bed of anti-coeducationalism" no less. Ah, but, it didn't last. A smaller late, late group was privileged to engage in a good give-and-take session with the President on the subject of coeducation at Dartmouth. Would you believe that the staunchest opposition came from the wives in the group?
So auspicious was the event that at the head table there was not one, not even two, but three college presidents. Plus one emissary of a governor. All Dartmouth men.
The other college presidents were LouisT. Benezet '36 of the State University of New York at Albany and Joseph C.Palamountain '42, President of Skidmore College. Governor Nelson A. Rockefel-ler's '30 greetings were brought to the group by Robert R. Douglass '53, secretary to the Governor (who received a fine write-up in the April ALUMNI MAGAZINE, page 59).
Pretty much the frosting on the cake for the annual meeting was the dinner menu and program printed by Argus-Greenwood, Inc., courtesy of Brooks R. Barvoets '50. It was such a fine job that word has come back from the College that it will be offered as a model to other clubs where President Kemeny is scheduled to speak.
The final event on the Club Calendar for the 1970-71 year is the picnic in the back pasture at Dr. Lyon M. Greenberg's '54, Club president. This year the picnic is being scheduled earlier, June 27, in an attempt to catch people before they take off for vacation lands, or maybe a June graduate and/or undergraduate or two before they get too enmeshed in summer diversions.
The 1971-72 season will get underway when Luncheon Chairman John Brandow '57 officially orders the first round of aperitifs on Thursday, September 16, at 12:15 p.m. Maybe even football will displace coeducation as the principal topic of conversation.
