Letters to the Editor

"This Something Special"

TO THE EDITOR,

Five years ago while at my 50th reunion, in a discussion with a Dartmouth professor, I voiced my fears that the trend toward ever more graduate study might eventually result in a "short-changing" of Dartmouth undergraduates.

I found out that I was talking to the individual responsible for establishing these additional graduate courses and he assured me that such neglect of the undergraduate would never occur at Dartmouth.

At my 55th reunion this year, I was interested to read the address of Samuel M. Livermore '73 and learn that a man who has just completed four years at Dartmouth agrees with me. He states that at the core of this something special which most of us think of as the "Dartmouth Spirit" is Dartmouth's "commitment to the undergraduate." I am glad to know this commitment is still there and like him I pray it will never be lost.

Houston, Texas

Traditions Are Born To Die

TO THE EDITOR:

Peter J. Holland '61 is quite right when he implies in the June issue of the Alumni Magazine that the emotions and goals of the Dartmouth Alumni Trust are puerile, and characteristic for the most part of a Freshman Week mentality. Traditions, like us, are born to grow, flourish, and die. Let them do so with dignity.

Worse than the Trust, however, are the boorish acts of some male undergraduates described in the letter from John Kugler '72. If the terrorists of women on campus are sick, may they first be controlled, then treated; if they are not sick, only immature and cheap, may they go elsewhere, where they may do less harm, and try to grow up.

For seven years in my youth I attended schools for males only. Later I taught at five schools and colleges, all coeducational. The contrast was strong and clear: the latter provided the healthier, more nearly normal environment.

The late Payson Smith, one time Commissioner of Education in Maine and also in Massachusetts, once said in my presence that there were heterosexual schools, and there were the other ones. Professor Smith was having some fun, but there was a serious undertone in his speech. I warn you, however, don't lose your temper at it. If you do ­ last tag, you're IT!

Winterport, Me.

A Smaller Ohio State?

TO THE EDITOR:

Any alumnus who graduated before the late 1960's and who visits Hanover today on a regular class day — not a football weekend - will quickly and clearly see that the Dartmouth he attended no longer exists.

The composition of the student body, it and the College's aims, purposes and lifestyle are vastly different. Dartmouth today is merely a smaller version of such institutions as Ohio State, Univ. of Calif., etc.

To lament this change is as futile as lamenting the loss of a loved one. The College which developed in most of its graduates that unique, strong, almost fierce lifetime loyalty to Class and College is gone.

Most of us will continue to support the Alumni Fund. The crunch will come in fifteen years or so and unlike the Ohio States there will be no legislature to which to turn.

It is not improbable that at that time the cause for which Daniel Webster so valiantly and successfully fought will finally be lost and the College will be forced to turn to government aid with inevitable regulation and control.

Do not lament that probability either. Since Webster's victory there have graduated thousands and thousands of men, who would if they could arise from their earthly and watery graves along with thousands still alive, to the strains of Men ofDartmouth.

Fort Lee, N.J.

No Military Spirit, Even Then

TO THE EDITOR:

I would like to support the view, expressed by an alumnus in a recent issue of this magazine, that there was little if any interest in military education among Dartmouth undergraduates prior to World War II.

As evidence, I am able to cite an incident at Hanover which occurred in 1923. In that year, the War Department, as it was then called, sent two colonels and a brigadier general to Dartmouth Hall, to speak in behalf of what was then termed Universal Military Training. This event was announced in advance in The Dartmouth. Yet when the officers arrived, the only students present were myself, my roommate, and a brilliant one-legged Chinese by the name of Quentin Pan ­ all members of the Class of 1924.

The three officers made their speeches to the three students. At the end of their presentation, the students addressed numerous questions to the officers, which made it plain how we felt on this subject. The officers were visibly shocked by their reception. Later we learned that Prexy Hopkins had received a rather sharp letter from the War Department, concerning the failure of the College to provide a better audience. Perhaps this explains why Dartmouth, 200 miles up the Connecticut, became a Navy ROTC, during World War II.

White Plains, N. Y.

Sara Klaren

TO THE EDITOR:

As I was reading the Dartmouth AlumniMagazine, I was interested to see a report from the Mexico City Dartmouth Club about the Foreign Study Program. Since I am an alumna of last year's program, I am always pleased to hear more of the program and Mexico City, and particularly of alumni interest in the students. Praise of the fine work of Dr. Barbachano, Dr. Janney, and Dr. Gregory is certainly in order; however, I was surprised to see no mention of the first director of the program - Dr. Sara Klaren. I am sure the three professors would agree with me in crediting Dr. Klaren with the success of the program, in both its planning stages and its first year of operation. The first year of any program is usually the most difficult, and Dr. Klaren deserves great praise for not only surmounting many obstacles, but for making that first year a most valuable and meaningful experience for the Dartmouth students.

I'm sorry that Mr. Cornehlsen and his fellow alumni did not get a chance to meet Dr. Klaren, because for those of us who know her, she is one of the most dynamic professors at Dartmouth College.

Wellesley, Mass.

Tower Room Dreams

TO THE EDITOR:

Apropos your cover of May 1973, I am enclosing a poem written some years ago when I was working as an acting map librarian in George Dalphin's realm on the top floor of Baker Library Whenever I passed through the Tower Room I was struck by the scene you depict on your cover Perhaps some of your readers would care to recall their own dreams as they dozed in the Tower Room and thus enjoy reading the enclosure.

TO THE SLEEPERS IN THE TOWER ROOM

(For Bibi)

I do not know your name but know your face which changes daily as I pass you by:

Black mane, blond strands, a sweater, jacket, shirt with turtleneck or ties. I never saw the color of your eyes.

Unblanketed you sleep amidst the books you meant to read; at times relaxed and stretched, at others foetal, a bit askew.

I wonder at your dreams as I pass you, at the controlled abandon of a leg dangling, odd-angled, from an easy chair.

At times I almost stop along the way, seized by a tenderness for someone who would be your age had he not died in time, before his time, some time ago.

But then I know for better or for worse, sleep ought not be disturbed by mother, friend or nurse.

I glance at your unclenched, surrendered frame. I do not know your first or second name which changes daily, but while you rest there- embalmed in living sleep- I pass and care.

Menlo Park, Calif.

Still At It

TO THE EDITOR:

With reference to your article in the June 1973 issue, "The Toppled Towers of Wilder," you might be interested to know that Robert F. Weinig '25 continues his interest in radio operating as K4FZ in Naples, Florida. I have not had a chance to ask him whether he has been able to maintain contact with other former students who were members of the group in the mid- 1920's, but I am sure he would be interested in having copies of any other letters that you might receive in connection with that article.

By his son (WAIRYY ­ Wellesley).

Boston, Mass.

Ms. Renon, who writes under that name, was thewife of the late Rene Fueloep-Miller, VisitingLecturer in Sociology and Russian Civilizationfrom 1952 to 1954.