Wolf-winds at the Doorways
ENERGY....
If Richard Hovey took a romantic view of the wolf-winds in his "Winter Song," Dartmouth, facing severe fuel oil shortages in the winter of 1973-74, isn't - as symbolized by the diminishing plume rising out of the stack at the College heating plant.
Before Christmas vacation, President Kemeny announced that the start of the winter term would be delayed to January 9, six days later than originally scheduled, arid that from December 21 to January 2 the temperature in virtually all college buildings would be held at a chilly 45 degrees. This move, coupled with earlier conservation measures, was expected to save upwards of 15 per cent on normal annual fuel consumption.
Sister institutions in the oil-starved Northeast were forced to take even more drastic measures: Bowdoin and the University of New Hampshire, for example, both lopped a full month off their first semesters. Dartmouth students will make up their lost class-time in special sessions spread through the winter term.
Other fuel-saving measures at the College: Freshman Parents Weekend was postponed from January 25-27 to May 3-5, based on the assumption that gasoline for automobile travel would more available in the spring; the Dartmouth Skiway was shut down on Mondays, and a bus shuttle to and from Hanover instituted for other days; a Decofest was organized to decorate the center-of-campus Christmas tree with homemade ornaments in lieu of electric lights; several athletic contests were postponed, the most conspicuous being the home basketball game against Boston College, now scheduled for February 20; and, after ten weeks of research, one of he teams of sophomores taking Engineering. Science 21 developed a gadget "to minimize wasted by counting the number of people in a room and extinguishing the lights when that count reaches zero.
For the moment fuel is available but at a stiff price. Projections show en inerease in costs of $500.000 for his year and over $1 million for next year.
