Letters to the Editor

Dartmouth in Focus

TO THE EDITOR:

Today has been an emotional one in our family, with the acceptance of our son to the Class of 1977. This has brought back a host of memories, created a lot of hopes for the future and has caused me to reflect on some of the "crises" of the past few years, such as elimination of "Wah Hoo Wah," the cancellation of the Indian as a symbol of the College. Perhaps this letter will soothe some of those who mourn the passing of such "traditions."

My son's enthusiasm for the next four years has put into focus for me how trivial and unreasoned were some of the sentimental arguments for the Indian symbol and the victory cheer. I don't think he cares a whit for Wah Hoo Wah or the Indian symbol and one wonders if even half the incoming class ever heard of either problem or cares about them. They, as he, are probably more interested in the reputation of the school, the caliber of the faculty, the physical facilities, the loyalty of the alumni body, and the opportunities for personal growth. These are what will enable him and other future alumni to help Dartmouth continue to grow. New traditions will develop and die for each generation but the spirit of the College will not be altered.

Incidentally, of the several acceptances 'he received, that from Dartmouth was the most effective in form and substance. Particularly impressive was the letter of welcome to the "Men and Women of the Class of 1977" from President Kemeny. I would hope the Alumni Magazine would reprint it so all alumni can enjoy its sincerity, enthusiasm, and forward-looking approach. No wonder the younger generation continues to want to go to Dartmouth.

Garden City, N. Y.

"Non-Existent"

TO THE EDITOR:

With rare exceptions, such as Alan Hewat's beautiful letter in the April issue, reading "letters to the editor" is an unsettling experience - unsettling because most writers seem to be talking about a place which doesn't exist, if it ever did. Granted, I have lived near Hanover most years since I graduated, a better vantage point perhaps than one football weekend a year or a meeting of the Dartmouth Club of Sarasota, but I am happy about the College, not because of its "traditional spirit," whatever in heaven's name that is, but because it appears to be a good place for most of its people to be and to learn.

Really appalling is the Dartmouth Alumni Trust. It is astonishing that these people admit openly that their four years at the College were largely misspent. To advertise that one's mind never got beyond Freshman Week is hardly to contribute to Dartmouth's "traditional" reputation.

Montreal, Canada

A Pledge from '72

TO THE EDITOR:

The February issue of the Alumni Magazine contained an advertisement for an organization known as the Dartmouth Alumni Trust. This organization seeks to prevent the College from making changes by urging alumni to make contributions to their "trust" rather than to the Alumni Fund.

I find such a concept faulty in its logic and dangerous in its potential consequences.

Change is critical if any educational institution is to survive, for the world for which it is preparing its students is continually changing. I suspect that the alumni behind the "trust" are not particularly upset that the formerly compulsory morning chapel and compulsory Latin requirements were changed before they matriculated.

I did not agree with the Trustees' decision in all the changes discussed in the advertisement. But I have respect for the Trustees because of their willingness to confront difficult questions with courage and foresight. A college which can make changes is one that can correct mistakes and adapt itself to a rapidly changing age. I am not concerned that Dartmouth has made, in my mind, some wrong decisions because Dartmouth has shown me that it is flexible enough to be able to correct those decisions if time should prove them wrong.

The thought of Dartmouth alumni ceasing their contributions to the College smacks of a child taking his marbles elsewhere because the other kids wouldn't shoot them his way.

But this "trust" business is even worse. The Alumni Fund is the lifeblood of the College's finances. The Fund not reaching its goal last year, now the Dartmouth Alumni Trust siphoning off money ...

I can only say this. I am confident that the Class of '72 will show its admiration for the courage and leadership of the College Administration (rather than for or against any particular decision which we may or may not like) in this year's Alumni Fund.

We invite other alumni to join with us in support of the College.

CLASS HEAD AGENT

Indianapolis, Ind.

A More Pressing Problem

TO THE EDITOR:

Between innings of the Indian symbol and ROTC debates, I would like to interject a word about what I believe to be a more pressing and infinitely more gruesome problem deserving the attention of the entire alumni body. I refer to the situation of women at Dartmouth.

I graduated last spring with the hope and belief that Dartmouth had finally turned a moral corner. The initial academic and social cold shoulder which once greeted women transfers was wearing off, Dartmouth was becoming comfortable with the idea of women graduates, and the laughter over the pranks of the "Dartmouth animal" was growing thin and strained and dying out. I left therefore, with a pleasant sense of regret and envy, the last of a (thankfully) dying breed of graduating classes.

But while working this year in the Hanover community, it became increasingly apparent that the spirit of the anachronistic Dartmouth animal had just been sleeping, this year to return as a terrorizing monster. The incidents abound, some rumored, many confirmed - enough, anyway, to lay the groundwork for a hazy feeling of fear and dread over the female community. Men, drunk, turning over beds in the women's dorms while they slept. A woman being dragged down a flight of steps in a "panty raid." Men running through the women's dorms late at night banging with hockey sticks on freshmen women's locked doors. An infantile and infantalizing obscene letter shoved under the door of a dorm of women students. Shower curtains and toilet paper stolen from the dorms. And on. And on. So what has been done?

The executive committee of the faculty met and "censured" the actions of the letter-writer. That's all. What else, may I ask, would they have done? Condone it? It seems obvious that the women's situation deserves a bit more action than the executive committee deemed proper to give it. Separately, these incidents might be called the antics of college men. Together, they spell terror. There is not one woman who goes to bed at night assured that she won't be woken up and possibly threatened by some stranger. That is not, as one administrator puts it, "the spring with the sap running high." That is psychological and physical - sexual - oppression. If these stunts were ever pulled at the Afro-American Society, Dartmouth College would be in the center of a political and emotional maelstrom. But because it is women, it is just "the sap running high." These men, this attitude, this "spirit" - what a lame excuse, a pathological substitute, for virility!

Is it that I don't have a sense of humor? Or must we ask who is laughing? It is not the women of Dartmouth, including many daughters of Dartmouth alumni. A sad irony, that the perpetuation of the Dartmouth animal spirit has in the end levied its psychological fines on the progeny of us the perpetuators. The administration must have a standard, and hard, policy concerning such acts, be sensitive to the needs of women during this period of transition, and be aware that by accepting women as degree candidates, Dartmouth can no longer get away with treating its female community as second-rate students.

Women seniors being advised to go to secretarial school, "chauvinistic" attitudes in classes - these situations can and will be negotiated as both men and women of the Dartmouth community think through the implications of their socialization and motives. But where we can begin to read terror for teasing, where "antics" border on criminal behavior, here we must draw the line. If in fact the moral blood of the Dartmouth Man includes this type of malevolence, the men of Dartmouth are in sore need of a transfusion.

Hanover, N.H.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Concerning the Woodward Hall letter, the following exchange took place during President Kemeny's press interview over Station WDCR on the evening of April 17: Jeff Herman: Most of us now are - and I presume you are too - familiar with the letter that was slid under doors of the Woodward Hall Residence. It was a rather crude letter and there has been a lot of reaction to it both from the female residents of Woodward Hall and the female residents outside of Woodward Hall, and the male students at Dartmouth too. I wonder whether you could comment on whether you know who did this, what disciplinary action will be taken if you find out who did it, and exactly your personal feelings on the matter. President Kemeny: I should be happy to do that. Let me make one preliminary remark. I think those listeners who happen to know me well know that in general I am probably one of the most tolerant people with college pranks - if they are pranks - and I don't get up tight about them at all. After that preliminary remark let me say that this particular incident does not fit that category. sufficiently upset that I shared it with the Chairman of the Board of Trustees who was most upset by the matter. The more I have thought about that particular incident, which may have been someone's idea of a joke, the more concerned I am about it. Because, as I have reread the letter, it has a very strong "sick" quality about it and, therefore, one of my major concerns is that the author of that particular letter, whoever it may be, may be seriously in need of psychiatric help. I have asked the College Proctor to do everything possible to find out who the author is. He has not succeeded in this and, therefore, I doubt that we will be able now to find the culprit. If he were caught he would certainly be brought before the CCSC, and the Dean has assured me that a most serious punishment would be handed out.

Viewed from Afar

TO THE EDITOR:

As a graduate living outside the U.S., my comments perhaps are not typical of my Class (1933).

The Dartmouth Indian symbol and the cheer, WAH HOO WAH, were not, in my day, considered derogatory to the original Native American. In fact, we were proud of Dartmouth's Indian tradition.

However, in view of the treatment of the American Indian by the whites, including the battle at Wounded Knee (still going on it seems after more than 70 years), I certainly sympathize with those who resent the use of their symbols.

So call the former Indians whatever you want, as long as they beat Yale and Princeton, I could not give a damn less.

Why not spend some time worrying about the Puertoriquenos and Chicanos, a considerable group still treated as second class citizens?

Cuernavaca, Mexico

Choral Communication

TO THE EDITOR:

Early in December 1972, twenty eminent Americans and twenty prominent Russians gathered in the Hopkins Center to discuss issues of the human concerns which fundamentally unite mankind despite cultural differences. The Charles F. Kettering Foundation organized the meeting. A leading American banker, David Rockefeller, presided over the four days of discussions. The Faculty Editor, R. B. Graham '40, a gifted observer and writer, reviewed the meetings in the February 1973 Alumni Magazine.

The excellent Director of the Dartmouth Glee Club (sometimes called the "Singing Ambassadors"), Paul R. Zeller, skillfully prepared a special concert for the visitors, and included three Russian songs, arranged by Mr. Leonid Kalbouss. When the seventy Glee Club members sang the rythmic Galinka, Graham reported, "the Russian visitors smiled. And when the Singing Ambassadors sang the harmonious Moscow Nights, a mellow mood settled in."

Glee Club members sang the Russian songs again for the joint meeting of the Trustees and Alumni Council in January, and Moscow Nights was part of each concert this spring on the Glee Club's tour to alumni centers.

I am eager to learn how choral music, developed by Paul Zeller, can be endowed, enriched, and enhanced in the years ahead. Choral music, I feel, is the superior form of music for starting communication with other human beings. I wonder if it will be given the chance to play its role in the life of the co-ed, co-ethnic Dartmouth College of the future.

Hanover, N.H.