1922 Still Looks Ahead

THE 50-YEAR ADDRESS

ON behalf of the Class of 1922 I want to congratulate the members of the Class of 1972 upon their graduation and also to extend our best wishes for abundant good health, happiness and success in their various pursuits after graduation.

To the other reuning classes present who have preceded us, we would like to express our sincere gratitude for the magnificent heritage of the Dartmouth Fellowship which you bestowed upon us.

To the College, through President Kemeny, I would say thank you for the honor you pay us here today. We continue to strive to be worthy of such consideration and I know that every member of the Class joins me in this expression of deep appreciation.

The Class of 1922 seems to have been on hand when important things were happening at Dartmouth. We entered college in September 1918 in the midst of considerable confusion as compared to a normal academic freshman year due to World War I. Only 750 undergraduates were present for the fall term, more than half of whom were freshmen, with only 68 seniors. Had it not been for the Student Army Training Corps it has been said there might well have been no college session that year. Following the end of the war and after extensive in and out movement of class members, there were 222 graduates at Commencement in June 1922. This, then, was the last small class at Dartmouth—that is, small numerically. In contrast, due to an unexpected flood of applicants experienced by most colleges, the next class to enter in the fall of 1919 numbered 698, with a total college enrollment of 1678. This latter figure reached 1900 by our senior year, 1921-1922. Since that time, of course, through controlled planning, the enrollment has reached about 3000. Not only did the enrollment grow but Dartmouth was on the march in all departments. This for sure was the continuing trend of a new era in the history of the College which had started a few years earlier and members of 1922 were already doing their best to reinforce this march.

Now, after fifty years of unprecedented growth and change in virtually all phases of life in our country and certainly in the area of higher education, Dartmouth has found it timely to make a decision which would seem to usher in another new era in her history. I refer, of course, to the adoption of the so-called Dartmouth Plan, which changes vitally the structure of the academic year, together with the introduction of coeducation. So we, who in 1918 were matriculating as freshmen when Dartmouth was in the early stages of a new era of growth and change, today find ourselves once more matriculating as freshmen in the fifty-year alumni group at a time when Dartmouth has made perhaps the most fundamental and far-reaching change in her history.

While this is a great opportunity and, I assure you, a frustrating temptation for me to glorify the individual and collective accomplishments of our classmates, and they are many, I will not do very much of that as the record speaks for itself, and there wouldn't be time anyway. Hence I shall attempt only a short historical sketch—just enough to display my pride and I hope my humility at being a member of such a fine class.

Our major concern for the 1922 record lies in the hope that it is one of which Dartmouth can be proud and one that may have truly contributed to the College's progress.

A quick look back indicates, as I said earlier, that 222 of us graduated in June of 1922. Subsequently 35 more degrees were awarded to men who had been with us for part of our undergraduate days. These delayed degrees were undoubtedly caused by the upset state of affairs in the academic world in our early days. Be that as it may, and for whatever cause, we have one member here today who didn't make it with the Class but somehow caught up—none other than John Kemeny.

I suspect our academic record was probably a normal one for those days. The experts might not agree, but in any event we had amongst us 18 Phi Betes; three Rhodes Scholars; 43 honor students; over 100 went to graduate school and there were ten Ph.D.'s.

In other fields we had skiers turning somersaults together off the ski jump. We had top-flight members of most of the athletic teams—some of them outstanding performers and we boasted strong leaders in all undergraduate activities. We were ably represented in the Glee Club, The Players, the College publications, managerial assignments, the Christian Association, the Outing Club, and other student groups. Then there were the spring hums, the football and keg rushes, Delta Alpha and Wet Down exercises, class picture chicanery, intramural and interfraternity activities, bull sessions with contemporaries, faculty members, townspeople and who not, the movies at The Nugget, the Lake Morey picnics, 24-hour notices from the Dean's Office, and so on down the list which was a long one. We had faculty members who were great companions in learning. They gave unstintingly of themselves to the end that their helpfulness has never and will never be forgotten.

Not least of all we were part of a small college in a small town which offered endless opportunity to meet and know people from all sizes and types of communities with vastly different backgrounds. We did not have too many outside influences pressing to divert our interests from the College and Hanover activities.

I suppose all of these things, outmoded as many of them may be today, helped to produce the ingredients which gradually jelled into that certain something for which the College is distinguished—the Dartmouth Spirit.

With this background we left Hanover to pursue our individual choices unaware that we were plunging into a period of the greatest expansion and change our country had so far experienced. The war to end all wars was behind us. The economic picture, according to the prophets, looked good to the point where the bubble would not burst again, so we strove for our goals through the "Roaring Twenties" only to catch up with our deepest and longest economic depression.

However, with the amazing explosion of knowledge which was taking place, other important and fast-moving developments were much in evidence, such as the transformation in most forms of transportation precipitated by the gigantic strides in the mass production of automobiles; the development of the airplane industry with its impact on world transportation and communication; the growth of the radio and television industries practically from scratch; the electronic developments; the unprecedented increase in the amount and type of telephone communications and data transmission; the inauguration of audio and video transmission via satellite throughout the world. For some time now we have been living in the nuclear and space age and coming on rapidly are developments in the field of oceanography. In the midst of this startling procession of events we experienced another world war and a few lesser ones, a population explosion, and our economy has soared to record heights.

Most of these and many other innovations either had their inception or the major part of their growth in our fifty-year period with varying impacts upon all phases of our existence, so there is small wonder that life at Dartmouth is different from that to which we were accustomed.

Over the same years members of this Class have been helping to absorb and adjust the effects of this myriad of innovations upon their own particular spheres of activity. These cover such a wide range we cannot mention them all here, nor can we recount the many outstanding individual records of achievement and contribution. In broad summary and mentioning only a few of the categories which attracted the greater numbers, we find roughly 100 of our classmates in the legal, medical, educational and engineering professions; a few clergymen, scientists, authors, journalists, etc., and then a large group of top-flight business and community leaders. Thirty-seven of our class were listed in Who's Who inAmerica. In addition to several honorary degrees received from other colleges, six classmates received honorary degrees from Dartmouth. Interspersed with these activities, several classmates have been members of the Alumni and Athletic Councils, many have worked devotedly on the Alumni Fund, and others have been leaders in establishing and administering the affairs of alumni clubs and other alumni activities throughout the country.

Let me hasten to say that included in these activities just mentioned are the members of our Class who are no longer with us but whose cherished memories live on. They, contributed an important share of this prideful class record.

So much for the thumbnail sketch of the Class of 1922. We have tried to do the job well and despite the pressure of other things we have always been mindful of the needs of Dartmouth.

Now maybe we should take a quick look at a few general statistics which might serve to remind us of the overall picture of the growth and change in the College since 1918.

The enrollment now in the order of 3200 is contrasted with about 1600 then; faculty members have increased from 94 to 300 full-time and some 60 part-time; academic programs have greatly increased and been updated, made possible in part by improved facilities like the Baker Library, the Hopkins Center, the Kiewit Computation Center, the Murdough Center, science facilities, etc.; the value of the physical plant, now in the order of $53,500,000 was $1,865,000; the number of library books is up from 145,000 to over 1,000,000; the endowment was about $4,580,000 and is now about $154,300,000; the operating expense budget was in the order of $560,000 and has now risen to more than $38,000,000, and the last of these reminders I will mention but not the least in importance—the Alumni Fund has grown from $34,600 in the campaign of 1918-19 to $2,464,000 last year.

This brings us to the point where we might turn our attention to the present and the future, using past achievements not as ends in themselves but as reservoirs of experience and wisdom in dealing with the many tough problems and changes which lie ahead. It is quite clear that Hanover and Dartmouth are no longer isolated places where things arrived by train or not at all. They have been touched by the impact of these developments we have referred to and clearly Dartmouth is different from the college it was in 1918 or 1922, although it is still a small college in a small town, for which we are grateful. Furthermore, we are proud of the strides she has made while keeping abreast of the ever-changing and increasing demands placed upon her.

We are all aware of the vast increase in total knowledge available to our society over the past fifty years and it is suggested that the speed of increase will accelerate during the immediate future. If this is substantially correct, we have a lot of change still ahead. This sort of trend cannot go on without further affecting Dartmouth, as it will all institutions, and it will be necessary to move forward under constantly changing and difficult circumstances, both inside and outside the College.

Now the historic decision has been made to adopt the new Dartmouth Plan along with the introduction of coeducation. I believe these changes will bring with them many collateral and fundamental problems which will affect most phases of the College's operations, financial and otherwise. Therefore, the situation would appear to call for the prompt and successful implementation of these plans so that our house will be in order to deal successfully and prudently with the future as it unfolds. This implementation will require the unselfish cooperation and give-and-take of every group in the College's organizational structure. One of these, of course, is the alumni group whose field of usefulness to this private institution is immeasurable and expanding rapidly. One needs but to review the discussions of various subjects reported in the minutes of the Alumni Council's recent meetings to be impressed with this fact.

Rapid change has been a way of life for the Class of 1922. It is my observation that our classmates still possess a lot of what it takes and, President Kemeny, I believe you will find them interested in working just as hard for the Dartmouth of the future as they have in the past. As a possible indication of the kind of interest I'm talking about, and I know we need no proof of it, you may have learned by now that 1922 has already pledged over $85,000 to the 1972 Alumni Fund, which is in the order of three times our normal contribution to the Fund heretofore, and we have until June 30 to improve this figure.

Mr. President, it is my feeling that Dartmouth folks want Dartmouth to pursue its goal of excellence and to continue as one of the leading private liberal arts colleges, dedicated to undergraduate teaching.

Furthermore, as these newly adopted changes are being put into effect, we of 1922 hope, there will be constant awareness and effort devoted to the task of preserving an environment which will embrace similar characteristics to those unique, but difficult to define, elements which have formed the essence of the Dartmouth Fellowship. These will certainly differ in detail from those of our time, but hopefully under the new circumstances will still continue to generate the deep affection and respect between all members of the Dartmouth family and the loyalty and devotion that has been singularly typical of the Dartmouth alumnus for his college. To the extent that this can be accomplished, Dartmouth Undying will continue to live and foster the same lofty ideals and relationships which are so important to graduate and undergraduate alike.

On behalf of the members of our Class I would like to extend best wishes for total success in meeting these objectives to those charged with the immediate leadership and operation of this great college.

To all of you who have helped us celebrate this important milestone we are deeply grateful. For us it will be a happy and lasting memory.

John D. Dodd '22 delivering the 50-year address. At left, President Kemenyand David F. Squire '47, president ofthe General Association of the Alumni.