The Undergraduate Chair

The San Diego rain drizzed on my shoulders, rolled down the sleeves of my mackinaw, dripped over my palms, and ran laughing down my sign reading BOSTON. A beautiful evening to hitchhike back to Dartmouth.

In the warm March darkness, I thought of the winter term I had just spent as an exchange student at the University of California at San Diego (USCD). The new, poured-concrete buildings and eucalyptus trees on scrubbush terrain could not match the red brick of Dartmouth in pine-forested mountains. UCSD is twice as big as Dartmouth and at times it seemed immense. However, I thought it lacked some of Dartmouth's facilities—except for the Pacific Ocean.

But why would the College offer a winter haven in California to begin with? What educational benefits exist in such an exchange, aside from the beaches and the sun?

Specifically, this program offers a priceless opportunity both to appreciate and to re-evaluate Dartmouth College with an outside perspective and an inside concern.

The exchange began in the fall of 1970 through the efforts of Provost John L. Stewart of John Muir College at UCSD and Provost Leonard Rieser of Dartmouth. Stewart was a Dartmouth English Professor before going to UCSD four years ago.

The program has grown slowly but steadily. Thirty undergraduates have spent a term in San Diego while 39 students have visited Hanover since 1970. Next fall Dartmouth will not accept any UCSD students in order to lessen the workload of instituting coeducation and the Dartmouth Plan, according to Dean Katherine Ragone, coordinator of the exchange. However, she expects the program to resume once again later in the year.

The courses and admission standards of UCSD stand on the same level with the Ivy League, although classroom work lacks the personal concern of Dartmouth. I found the faculty far less accessible in San Diego where an interesting animal called the "tee-ay" often stands between the student and the professor. Having never encountered a specimen in Hanover, I asked my California friends about his daily habits, and they expressed surprise at my ignorance.

It turns out that "tee-ay" stands for "T.A." which stands for "teaching assistant" which is a graduate student who runs the course when the professor is too busy. The Vice-Chancellor of Academic Affairs attributes this system to the legislated cuts in the California education budget. He has seen his student/faculty ratio swell to more than 17:1. Dartmouth works to keep its ratio at 12:1, and the effort is worth it.

The budget question introduces more fundamental differences between the philosophies of the two schools for a small, private. Ivy League institution obviously contrasts markedly with an amorphous, public, mega-university. My first impressions tipped the scales largely in favor of Dartmouth's approach.

UCSD lacks a feeling of community and identification that the College treasures so deeply. The size of the relatively large student body tends to dilute the number of friends and acquaintances one meets during the day. Beyond that, the immensity of the University of California in toto destroys any sense of community. San Diego does not consider itself a separate school but only an island among the nine UC campuses. Because of this situation, only 15 per cent of UCSD's entering freshmen actually graduate at UCSD. Most of the rest transfer to other UC locations and receive diplomas there.

Since the San Diego campus only opened in 1964 with Revelle College, it has few traditions that bind the student body together. The marked deemphasis on athletics and lack of established alumni to support the school further erode any "school spirit."

What results from these conditions?

I noticed more careless and wanton destruction of university property than at Dartmouth. More importantly, several San Diego students spoke openly and flagrantly of violating the academic honor code in exams and term papers. I have never heard of this in my three years at Dartmouth. Also, it felt rather strange to pass through a locked turnstile and be visually frisked when leaving a university library. I would hate to see Baker Library ever feel the need for similar measures.

Naturally, this is neither an indictment of West Coast morality nor a plug tor Ivy League elitism. I only suggest that any school which cannot cultivate an appreciation and identity for itself within its students will ultimately suffer from a lack of concern and dedication for its ideals. Only after visiting UCSD have I begun to appreciate the true significance of the Dartmouth community as an embodiment of the values it wishes to teach.

After this first impression, the College-on-the-Hill stands rather tall, and yet further thought and experience reveals the hidden strength of the UCSD philosophy. The lack of overt empathy with the school promotes a more rational atmosphere for objective debate regarding institution policy. Without the burden of 203 years of tradition, UCSD did not need ten years of soul-searching to institute coeducation with men and women living on the same floors in dormitories. Women are fellow students, not Smithies, Colbies, or 'Cliffies. I might add that the sexual mores of a coed dormitory are far stricter than an all-male living unit.

Furthermore, I encountered much surprise over Dartmouth's reluctance to replace the Indian mascot with a new one.

"You know your symbol grossly misrepresents the true Indian character and you know it actually contradicts true Indian philosophy. Also, it offends an entire race of people just to satisfy your emotional attachment for an old tradition ... so why do you keep it?" asked one UCSD student.

I felt rather sheepish in replying, "Well, there was this guy named Eleazar Wheelock you see, and . .

Although some of the ideas above may sound invalid to the reader, the value of the California Exchange or the Twelve (Northeast) College Exchange still rests in their statement. Only a new environment obviates the hidden qualities of accustomed habits. Without such a contrast, one often takes for granted the things he should appreciate most and revels in the ideas that are farthest from his ideals.

The Dartmouth and UCSD exchange students feel they have gained a valuable experience through the program. But each school as an institution has also gained from their presence. Michael Hoffman '73 opened a student coffeehouse over the winter and Fred Breuning '72 started a folk dancing program in the fall. Both innovations are still going strong on the campus.

After six days I worked my way back across the United States—contrasting western ideas with Dartmouth's eastern outlook. The exchange programs expand the opportunities and horizons of the student; however, one still needs the Dartmouth community as a tangible base from which to evaluate these experiences. A term in San Diego is valuable and the winter sun is warm, but I was eager to return to the College for the spring—even when it snowed four inches on April 9.