Letters to the Editor

Science vs. Humanism

TO THE EDITOR:

May I make a belated comment on Professor Bien's article about science in the October ALUMNI MAGAZINE, in the interests of giving non-scientists another point of view?

Oversimplifying for brevity, I understand him to think that scientific knowledge is static, that scientists operate in a vacuum which prevents feedback to them, that they think there is some single, ultimate, immutable truth, that science in efforts to make a cosmos of life tries to force it into a preconceived mold, that science has the capacity for evil, that there is some kind of deficiency in science due to a lack of something called reflexiveness, and that (when science and technology are lumped together) both are to blame for many of the ills of the world.

However, the rationality of science which Professor Bien decries is not the static rationality of the philosopher, but rather is (to paraphrase a good dictionary) an appeal to reason and experience as the fundamental criteria in the solution of problems. Experience to a scientist, of course, usually means experiment and result. Use of the word "static" is inappropriate for science, because scientists view science as a process, not a structure; they view "truth" as being relative and impermanent; and every phenomenon science studies is dynamic and is treated as such. A primary assumption of science is that the universe already is a cosmos (orderly and harmonious, as opposed to chaos), and its efforts are to discover the order and harmony — or to disprove it. The objectivity of scientists no longer implies an impersonal stance, because scientists are known to become very humanly involved in their work. However, the kind of involvement which would lead to a false view of truth is not appropriate to scientific effort.

Except in one sentence of his article, Professor Bien makes the mistake of confusing three things as being one: scientific discovery, technological adaptation of scientific knowledge, and social application of technology. Although the three flow into each other in succession, all that he deplores about technological damage to our world is entirely due to non-scientific social applications of technology, which are demanded or tolerated by society generally. The scientific knowledge, or even the technology itself, cause no harm unless the wrong social decisions are made by the nonscientific power structure.

Millenarianism is not a part of the philosophy or process of science. Some scientists, other intellectuals including mathematicians, and "the man in the street," all may be excessively optimistic about the potential science has for social good, but science cannot be blamed for these subjective judgments.

Professor Bien's own definition of "action" as necessarily implying a "reflexive" component would be interesting to debate. However, he can't apply his own definition to show that science is somehow remote and disconnected from humanity without some argument from me. Science is more reflexive to a practicing scientist than a non-scientist might understand And as for the superior ability of humanism to understand man, I would cite the "Liebniz logic loop" mentioned by a prominent physicist in a recent issue of American Scientist. According to this view, analysis in sufficient depth of the physical world will lead to man's conscious mind, tied by the acts of observation and participation, to partnership in the foundations of the universe. This scientist surely is describing the same thing as Professor Bien's reflexiveness when he composed the sentence, "We have to cross out that old word 'observer' and replace it by the new word 'participator.' " Modern science has long been into this view of how science works.

Science is not a sufficient scapegoat for whatever moral, ethical and value deficiencies one finds in Western society. Science and humanism, as human pursuits of understanding, might be mutually exclusive in method and even in goal, but they are not necessarily contradictory or antagonistic. More likely, they are complementary. But it behooves humanists and others to learn more about science as it really is, not necessarily as philosophers choose to describe it, before criticizing it. Advancement of knowledge isn't likely to result from this kind of exercise.

Minneapolis, Minn.

(Edwin Robinson is Professor of Biology atMacalester College. Ed.)

ROTC

TO THE EDITOR:

I was impressed with William De Stefano's concrete letter-to-the-editor on ROTC [January issue]. I agree wholeheartedly with his comments. He went straight to the point in giving good reason why Dartmouth should re-enter this program. As he points out, we "may not have the luxury of catch-up time in the future" — in part provided for us by the British in World War II. If letting your guard down creates a more favorable atmosphere for attack, then the U.S. is ready right now (and again, by the way) for a good right cross. Like before, we are falling asleep again.

Redondo Beach, Calif.

Educating Future Generations

TO THE EDITOR:

It is suggested that a record of the wartime experiences of alumni of Dartmouth College are a valuable historical heritage and should be collected and preserved while they are still available.

Some branch of Dartmouth College - the Baker Library or the Department of American History - should collect the experiences of Dartmouth alumni in World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam as a contribution to the education of future generations of Dartmouth students.

Springfield, Ill.

Warning

TO THE EDITOR:

I write to warn the "conservative alumni" appealed to in the American Forum advertisement in the January ALUMNI MAGAZINE.

I was at Princeton when a similar movement — the Undergraduates for a Stable America - was getting underway. Though the "U.S.A." did bring a few interesting conservative speakers to New Jersey, it served mainly as a vehicle for lucrative positions for the founding and subsequent members of the organization. The original director still manages "U.S.A." (and its very successful fund drive), has an income generally acknowledged to be in five figures, and has an ever growing professional staff. So far, a few "conservative" young alumni, rather than legitimate conservative causes, have benefited most from the untied contributions of concerned but naive alumni.

Though it would be imprudent to suggest that Dartmouth will have an identical experience, it should be pointed out that conservative alumni are a tempting target for such fund raising, and their frustration at College policy makes the appeals of "dissident" groups such as the American Forum extremely attractive. Nothing could worse serve our College than to repeat Princeton's mistakes.

Cambridge, Mass.

Affirmative Action

TO THE EDITOR:

The fact that the alumni drive is about to begin again prompts me to ask the College if they would clarify their stand on the following situations:

1. At one time there was, I believe, a policy to accept 13 per cent of the incoming class from the black sector with some lowering of standards to achieve this quota. Does the College Still have this as a quota or a goal? Is there a lowering of standards or a different standard applied to blacks against whites and even though there is not a very firm fixed percentage, in effect, is this what is happening?

2. At one time, I think I remember the College announcing that they would hire, for the next ten years, blacks and women to a total of 50 per cent of the new members of the administration. Is the College adhering to this standard? Do they have a preferential treatment for women and blacks in hiring the staff?

3. Does the College exercise preferential treatment in the hiring of blacks and women for the faculty?

This was brought to a head by a recent memorandum from the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare which declared, "Affirmative action requirements for college faculty hiring must not operate to restrict consideration to minorities and women only." Rather, the memo continued, "the Affirmative Action program was intended to forbid (emphasis in the original) differential standards based on race, color, sex, religion or national origin."

The New York Times article from which this quotation was taken goes on to say, "Obviously such a clarification was needed, not only as a response to critics, but as a warning to universities and colleges that might have been guilty, in the zeal to meet the presumed federal requirements, of setting up quotas or of passing by better qualified white males in order to hire more women and blacks."

It is very possible, of course, that these quotas are just rumors, but I have heard them. At any rate, I think a full statement of the Dartmouth position on minority hiring and administration is due to the alumni and would clear the air to the benefit of the College in the long run.

Kansas City, Mo.

(Shortly before receiving Mr. Uhlmann's letter,the ALUMNI MAGAZINE prepared a report forthe February issue ["Executive Order," pp. 10-11] on the HEW memorandum he discusses. Inresponse to his specific inquiries:

I. In accordance with the 1969 McLaneReport to the Trustees, Dartmouth has a continuing objective, or "goal," to have representedin its student body in proportions similar tothose existing in the country's general population those racial and ethnic minority groups(principally blacks and American Indians)determined by HEW to have been traditionallydiscriminated against in education. To achievethese goals, the College (1) has carried out amajor effort to encourage members of theseminorities to apply for admission to Dartmouthand (2) has continually reevaluated its admissions policies to assure that reliance on anyparticular factor or factors (such as test scores)does not defeat the College's interest in admitting persons with high intellectual promise andpersonal integrity. As to the latter point, theCollege is convinced that its current detailed examination of an applicant's educational andfamily background, while not making the admissions process easier, has made it better.Although admissions decisions are not made onthe basis of race or national origin, the College'sadherence to its long-standing objective of having its enrollment made up of students of diversesocio-economic backgrounds has resulted in astudent body with a racial and ethnic mix. UsingHEW's classifications, Dartmouth's currentfreshman class of . 1,057 students includes 82blacks (7.89%) and II American Indians (1.0%).2 & 3. The College's ten-year Affirmative Action employment goals for women andminorities are set out in detail in the Februaryarticle. As in the case of admissions, Dartmouth's principal efforts have been (1) to increase the number of women and minorityapplicants through advertising and otherrecruiting efforts, and (2) to examine carefullythe stated qualifications for a position to assurethat such qualifications are in fact needed forthe tasks to be performed. The College may notand does not apply different standards based onrace, color, sex, religion or national origin inmaking its hiring decisions. Ed.)

What Kind of Perspective?

TO THE EDITOR:

I have just finished reading the letter from Aaron B. Stevens '50 in the December issue. It brought to mind a similar experience during the Princeton game in 1973, which up to this time I had preferred to believe was an aberration rather than a normal performance by members of the undergraduate body.

My wife and I were showing our two daughters, ages ten and eleven, their first Dartmouth football game. It was our misfortune to be seated adjacent to a body of students, male and female, who had come to the game with a full repertoire of filth, which they poured out in unison from the opening kickoff. Whatever these "intellectuals" may have lacked in cleverness they more than made up for in decibel rating. Our embarrassment and discomfort were intense.

Midway through the second quareter I expressed my displeasure publicly. Surprisingly enough, this was all that was necessary, and their behavior for the remainder of the game was quite inoffensive.

If this type of public obscenity has indeed become commonplace, what kind of perspective have these students gained from their Dartmouth experience? Does the College have a standard of behavior for its students as it did for generations of Dartmouth men, or has it become intimidated by the rhetoric of the sixties and abdicated all responsibility in this area?

As alumni, we have been asked to surrender our cherished Indian in deference to the sensitivities of this oppressed minority. That's fine, but are we also expected to surrender our own sensitivities as Wah Hoo Wah is replaced by obscenities?

York, Pa.

No Place to Go

TO THE EDITOR:

The Wall Street Journal of January 10, 1975, stated that the rapid expansion of graduate studies in the U.S. which began in the 1960s resulted in the production of some 33,000 Ph.D.s in 1974 as compared with about 10,000 in 1960.

This development comes at a time when college enrollment, nation-wide, is almost at a standstill if not actually declining and research money is drying up. The Journal commented: "These numbers

don't in themselves adequately show the very human problems of an increasingly bitter, frustrated and expanded group of job seekers struggling for academic and economic survival . . . But still the Ph.D.s come with nowhere to go."

Let us phase out the Ph.D. program at Dartmouth. This would tend - in a small way, it is true — to slow down the proliferation of disap pointed Ph.D.s "with no place to go."

Moreover, if it is correct that the per capita cost to the College of Ph.D. candidates is considerably higher than that of B.A. candidates, the College might make substantial savings in operating expenses.

The Ph.D. program at Dartmouth is in its infancy. I suggest infanticide.

Cornish, N.H.

From Eleazar

TO THE EDITOR:

Bravo to James L. Farley '42 on his lucid, pragmatic letter from Eleazar Wheelock to John Kemeny ["A Memorandum..." issue of January 1975].

Mount Dora, Fla.

Stylish

TO THE EDITOR:

The December [Pierce Arrow] cover is the most elegant and stylish cover I have seen on any issue over the past 14 years. Congratulations!

San Francisco, Calif.

Dissipating Anxiety

TO THE EDITOR:

I have just read with interest Kenneth A. Johnson's article "A Place in the Country" in the January issue of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE, which reminded me of my own experiences in building a "fine log home" purchased from the same firm, Vermont Log Buildings of Hartland. Vermont. Since I am a teacher (English, Holyoke Community College), I wondered if perhaps it was not myself to whom the salesman referred as building one of these cabins.

Mine was begun ten years ago in 1965 when I was in my mid-thirties. It was wonderful therapy at a time when my first marriage was breaking up: lifting 14-foot logs dissipates a lot of anxiety and aggression! All told, the cabin took almost four years to complete as the product of summer vacation time and weekends. Now it stands just off a dirt road in Pittsford, Vermont, 40 minutes from Killington, wall-to-wall carpeted, electrically heated, and plumbed indoors.

Holyoke, Mass.

The Symbol (cont.)

TO THE EDITOR:

The Rose Bowl Parade should help to put to rest the clamor on the part of some people to rid Dartmouth of our beloved, and respected, Indian symbol.

Several floats in the Rose Parade were prepared by native American Indians and were highlighted by Indian "heads," headdresses, and regalia.

I have always respected the American Indian and his culture. When Indian symbols, along with occasional caricatures, were displayed at Dartmouth functions, I was proud, and knew that it was because we respected those native Americans who have influenced, so much, our nation's culture and Dartmouth College ... not to mention Black Hawk, Sitting Bull, Pontiac, and Geronimo ... whose struggles left a blazing mark on our country's history, present company not excluded.

Tenafly, N.J.