Pass the Bread, Please

RECESSION. Ask any economics major and he'll tell you that the textbook definition of a recession is "a period of reduced economic activity." But the definition is something he may just have memorized for a midterm or a final; he can recite it without even thinking. Members of the Class of 1975 — economics majors and others — are going to have to do some long, hard thinking on the recession because like it or not, they are about to be graduated into an economy that is in its worst shape since the end of World War II.

Already, many seniors are taking stock of the situation and are making plans - or not making plans - accordingly. Some lay strategies to capture one of the shrinking number of jobs available, others hope for favorable responses from the graduate schools to which they've"applied, while still others make no definite plans at all, saying they'll take some "time off' before pursuing careers or further studies.

There's a certain tension in the air these days in College Hall, which houses offices of the various pre-professional and job placement advisers. Through its modly painted halls passes virtually every senior hoping to work or go to graduate school next year. In College Hall, talk of skiing and Winter Carnival, normal fare for this season, takes a back seat to talk of the future. Recession. Depression. Jobs. Careers, Law School. Med School. GREs. One '75 who works there says she's getting tired of it all. "People keep asking me what I'm going to do next year," she complains. "I'm sick and tired of saying 'I don't know.' "

One barometer of the economy's health is the amount of campus recruiting by large employers. Here, the statistics tell a sad story. Just 39 recruiters will call on Dartmouth this year, down a whopping 29 per cent from last year's 55. And those who do show up, according to Harold L. Moorman, director of employment oppor- tunities, will have fewer jobs to offer. Moorman paints a bleak picture of the job market for members of the Class of 1975.

"This is the first time we have had difficulty providing interview opportunities for all the undergraduates who want them," he says. Appointments for interviews with recruiters from such employers as Heinz U.S.A., First National Bank of Boston, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and Bethlehem Steel are snapped up as sign-up sheets for appointments are filled within hours of their posting. It used to take days. Moorman figures that the recession has made seniors more conscious of the difficulties involved in obtaining jobs and as a result job-seekers are signing up for more interviews than they ordinarily would. He also suspects but does not have the figures to verify that more students are talking to recruiters this year than last out of fear of being left unemployed come June.

A measure of the fallout from the recession can be seen in the success of recruiter Burt Quist '68. That's Captain Burt Quist, U.S.M.C. "We're being deluged," he said during a visit last month. "Today, we talked to eight seniors who were seriously considering the Marine Corps." Ordinarily he talks to only two or three. The military, of course, is recession-proof, and jobhungry Dartmouth seniors apparently know it.

Some '75s throw in the towel without even putting up a fight. "I was thinking of going out and working, but I don't think I can get a good job," says Lee Graham 75. He intends instead to go to business school. Already admitted to Columbia, Graham has applications pending at Harvard and Wharton.

Jon White '75 has signed up for several appointments with recruiters but, in his words, "I'm not tremendously optimistic." "I'm going to go through the old interview circuit just to see what happens," he says, "but I'll probably go to school since there is a recession." White hopes to attend the Woodrow Wilson School of Government at Princeton.

White and Graham are not the only ones opting for more schooling in response to the fall in economic activity. When the Graduate Record Examination was administered last month, ten students who had not registered in advance signed up. The Graduate Record Exam, or GRE, is a prerequisite for all graduate study except law, business, and medicine, disciplines which have their own particularized tests. For the first time since the "walk-in" policy was established, three students had to be turned away. There just weren't enough forms to go around. One senior taking the GRE conceded that he had decided to go to graduate school in early January after checking out the job situation during Christmas vacation. Another walk-in took the GRE because the company he worked for last summer instituted a hiring freeze, effectively canceling a job offer he had received.

On the other hand Evalyn Hornig, preprofessional adviser, says that she has not noticed a large shift in the numbers of students planning on graduate school. But she anticipates a crunch. "Maybe we haven't seen the desperation yet. Maybe it hasn't hit yet." But, she adds, "Wait until June."

Indeed, by the time June comes around, it is likely that many seniors will have resigned themselves to the idea of taking some "time off' until economic conditions improve. Though some dread the idea of graduating and finding themselves with nothing to do, others relish the possibility.

Take Bill Meili '75. What Meili, an English major, lacks in concrete plans for the future, he makes up for with dreams. Or are they dreams? "I'd like to go out to Tahiti," he says. "I'd like to go on a freighter and work my way over. After I explore Tahiti, I'll move on to New Guinea." If Tahiti doesn't work out, he says he wants to work on an oil rig on Alaska's North Slope.

"It's one of those 'reach for all the gusto you can' situations," he says. "I know I'll probably end up selling shirts for some department store," he quickly adds. In the face of what all the other seniors will be doing next year, who can blame Meili for dreaming?

'I'd like to go out toTahiti, but I'll probablyend up selling shirts.'