Letters to the Editor

The Bakke Case

Many thanks for John Kemeny’s observations on the Bakke Case in the October issue. The article, urged on me by one of your enthusiastic readers (my wife), appeared as I was leaning towards logic and objectivity in my own thinking. Many alumni like me must wish they had had the wit to think the Bakke Case through and come to the conclusions that Kemeny expressed so well. Happily, Dartmouth has a most articulate president.

Henniker, N.H.

Having been one of the founding members of the Afro-American Society at Dartmouth, a frequent critic of College policy, and by virtue of my recent participation in the drafting and submission of two amicus briefs in the controversial Bakke Case, I feel duty-bound to respond to President Kemeny’s article in the October issue.

Whereas most Americans are familiar with the fact that Allan Bakke, a white, was denied admission to the medical school at the Univer- sity of California at Davis although 16 minority applicants with lower test scores and lower un- dergraduate grades were admitted, few are aware that 36 other white students with lower test scores and lower undergraduate grades than Bakke’s were also admitted. Bakke claims the 16 minority students were “less qualified” than he. Bakke, a 42-year-old engineer, had applied to and was rejected by 12 other medical schools.

The pivotal issue, especially in the much- needed light of President Kemeny’s article, was the “surprising legal maneuver” by the defen- dant the Regents of the University of Califor- nia after an early ruling in the lower court. Judge F. Leslie Manker stated, in effect, that “the school’s admissions program established a racial quota (100 spaces, 16 reserved for minorities) which was unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment. ...” Judge Manker, now retired, went on to rule that “ . . , the University did not have to admit Bakke” if (added the Supreme Court on appeal) “the University could show that Bakke would not have been ad- mitted regardless of the quota. ...” In short, if Bakke had not been discriminated against (36 whites with “lower qualifications” admitted), there would be no justiciable issue for the Supreme Court to decide. The California deci- sion of Judge Manker would stand. The Univer- sity would have to end the discriminatory quota system. Fair enough.

“At this point," according to Reynold Colvin, Bakke’s attorney, “the University did (sic) a surprising legal maneuver. They filed a uni- lateral stipulation saying they were unable to sustain the burden of proving Bakke would not have been admitted were there no special program for minorities.” Dr. George Lowrey, then chairman of admissions at the medical school, resigned. Civil rights attorneys following the case screamed foul while dusting the cobwebs from their old treatises, and the latest sisyphean chapter on “Equal Opportunity in America” opened, once again, before the nation’s highest lawmakers.

Having opened its doors in 1968, the medical school at Davis is a relatively young institution. Up until 1972, the school had admitted three black students out of 400 possible spaces.

During my four years at Dartmouth, we (the AAS) accused the College of many maneuvers, but never was there occasion to accuse her of dishonesty. President Kemeny’s article was more than a beacon in the western smog it was a tribute to the integrity of a great institu- tion.

If Allan Bakke seriously wants to attend medical school, and I sincerely believe he does, he should apply to Dartmouth where honor is more than just a special program, it’s a tradi- tion. Right on, Dartmouth!

San Diego, Calif.

So much has been bandied about in the Bakke Case that I hesitate to write this. But the com- ments of Thomas Braden (“The Freedom to Choose” under Vox in your October issue) re- quire some answer.

Mr. Braden argues that colleges and univer- sities need to have “the freedom to choose” whom they will admit. He is surely aware that if they choose not to have any part of “affirmative action” they become ineligible for federal funds which they may need. In other words, they have a Hobson’s choice, but Mr. Braden chooses not to discuss this aspect of the situation.

More importantly, Mr. Braden reminisces about his admission to Dartmouth College as if it were analogous to admission to medical school. He confuses undergraduate admissions where criteria ought to be flexible and diffuse with admission to a post-graduate professional school where one develops a narrower expertise. As I understand it, Bakke was passed over at Davis with an average of 3.5 while members of minorities were admitted with 2.5 or less; also, a certain number of places in the class were reserved for “disadvantaged” in- dividuals who competed only with themselves. I submit that at this level, for a post-graduate school, the spread is too wide. Either grades don’t matter that much.— were a smokescreen all along (in which case the children of some of my neighbors are breaking their backs in school for nothing) —■ or we are faced with a truly gross instance of reverse discrimination.

1 believe the latter was the case. Further, Mr. Braden seems to set Mr. Bakke up as a symbol: good-grades-from-white-middle class vs. dia- mond-in-the-rough from “varied back- grounds.” Mr. Bakke in fact is an ex-Marine with service in Vietnam who wanted to be a doc- tor so strongly that in addition to doing well in school he worked as a paramedic; he is also an apparently able engineer. He is one man, of flesh and blood, who seems to have been cheated in the name of a larger justice. Mr. Braden, whom I respect, must know the implications of such a policy; it is above all futile, since cheating the Bakkes of this world will not revive the in- numerable talents which slavery buried.

But an intense talent search plus tutorials may redress the balance, and I think Dr. Kemeny in his article in your same issue points to this. Bakke was the victim of a quota system, gross, intolerable, and above all unnecessary since the aims of affirmative action can be at- tained without it.

Bakersfield, Calif.

The prominence and space you give to Thomas Braden’s intellectually sleazy and frivolous article on the Bakke Case leaves me with the feeling that the editors of the Alumni Magazine were not pleased with President Kemeny’s balanced and thoughtful presentation and conclusions on the same subject.

Braden asserts that a decision favoring Bakke will 1) impair the “usefulness of colleges and universities as a means of opening doors and let- ting in air”; 2) “bar colleges and universities from their long-established responsibility to ex- ercise judgment as to the character, background, motivation and capacity for growth” of their applicants; 3) “turn our college and university admissions officers into clerks whose sole function is to add up scores on en- trance examinations.”

All this is utter nonsense. The “horrors” fore- seen by Braden will not ensue regardless of the outcome in Bakke.

The Bakke Case presents the legal issue of whether the State of California, through its agency the University of California, violates the United States Constitution when it denies a state benefit to an applicant because he is a Caucasian rather than a Negro.

Braden advocates that institutions of higher learning, such as Dartmouth, adopt a quota system favoring blacks. I oppose this for the following reasons:

A quota system favoring blacks would in- stitutionalize black “inferiority.” By granting blacks educational status on the basis of race, rather than ability, it would devalue black educational achievement; by making blacks dependent upon the political patronage of white demogogues, it would lower black self-esteem.

A quota system faceting one group, ,of necessity, discriminates against others. Discrimination for blacks will result in dis- crimination against Jews and Italians.

A quota system favoring blacks could not be administered without establishing criteria, Nuremberg-like, for determining membership in the favored black race. Such a procedure would have genocidal implications.

Braden writes that when he was admitted to Dartmouth lacking a high school diploma, the only thing he had in common with the majority of his classmates was his whiteness. Not so. He and they had a common religion and a common ethnic background as well. But when Braden entered Dartmouth, other qualified applicants were denied admission because they were Jews,

The discriminatory quota should not be brought back to Dartmouth.

Kenilworth, N.J.

Sex-blind Admissions

So that I will never be placed in the position of having to identify myself as a member of an out-voted silent majority, I wish to state, bluntly, that I believe Dartmouth should adopt, immediately, a sex-blind admissions policy. I see no logical or moral alternative, and I welcome the prospect.

Houston, Texas

Class Action

For some years now I have been envious of those of my brother alumni who have been upset by coeducation, the informal elimination of the poor Indian and his symbolic representations, etc.

1 thought I had my own thing when, after 44 years out, I ended up far behind the goal posts at the Harvard Stadium on October 15, 1977, and never once was exhorted to cheer our lads on by some 20 cheerleaders more pre-occupied with gymnastics than with our success or failure.

But now I really have it: Now that I have viewed the scandalous and libelous cover of the October Alumni Magazine, I am about to undertake a “class” action on behalf of my maligned 1933 classmates against all those responsible for that slander. Needless to say, I have at last found my excuse for not contributing to Dartmouth’s fund appeals.

We just aren’t selling enough pencils or apples!

Boston, Mass.

Space to the Students

My favorite column in the Alumni Magazine is the “Undergraduate Chair.” In my opinion, I think the magazine should give more space to student writers rather than to alumni and administrative help. I would like to hear from students who have part-time jobs dur- ing their academic year, I would like also to hear how the young value their Dartmouth ex- perience. I wonder sometimes whether Dart- mouth is worthy of my support.

Brookline, Mass.

Short Story

When Vernon McHugh, Tuck ’3B, moved back to U.S.A., he left me a chore that became a legacy. He asked me to handle his mail until address changes came through. It was easy enough to sort out the personal mail as well as the junk mail, but I was stymied on two magazines Gourmet and your alumni magazine. As a good chef, I knew Vern would be lost without Gourmet. I rather savored the Alumni Magazine myself (Colorado Mines ’24), but I yielded to temptation and the cost of postage and forwarded it to him in Texas.

Anyway, perhaps this yarn, with a Dartmouth twist, may be of interest to some old timers and perhaps some prideful “D” men of a later generation.

What brought it on was the Wallace best- seller, The People’s Almanac. On page 1173 there begins a two-page article on “Sports Im- mortals.” Now don’t get the idea that the hero is a Dartmouth man the Dartmouth man was even more heroic but was not publicized at the time (about 1921-1922).

The article extols Bill Veeck (as in wreck), then owner of the St. Louis Browns. For two pages the Wallace family makes you think that Veeck was the greatest and most original sportsman of all time because he hit upon the idea of inserting a midget, Edward Gaedel, as a pinch hitter in the second game of a double header, gaining for Eddie undying fame.

Now, let’s go back some years. When I enrolled in Mines in 1920, our football, baseball, and basketball coach was Ralph Glaze, a real hustler if there was one. All I knew at the time was that he was an all-America end at Dart- mouth in 1905 (Walter Camp selection) and had pitched in major league baseball. He was per- sonable, quick and smart as a fox. Now, we had a sophomore midget at Mines named, of all things, Shorty Fairbairn. It didn’t take long for the agile Glaze mind to make Shorty, not a pinch hitter, but the leadoff man in the first in- ning of every game. He always drew a walk, always got on base, always retired for a pinch runner (the regular player), and, incidentally, won his “M,” thanks to Ralph Glaze.

So, whenever I read that Veeck-Eddie Gaedel-Midget story, I want to tell the world that Ralph Glaze of Dartmouth was 50 years ahead of his time. And, on top of it all, he was a good guy and a good coach.

Morelia, Mexico

Coast Fan

Having attended the College during ’4O-41, ’4l-42 sessions and having had some contact with the Barbary Coast Orchestra (I roomed with Norm Simpson, first trombone and player with the Green Collegians, Dave Niven roomed downstairs, and Relly Raffman was in a second- floor room in North Payer nearby), I think that the coverage of the “Coast” reunion of’77 in the September Class Notes suffered from spotty reportage and some error. The example that I will cite is the picture on page 62.1 am quite cer- tain that that wide grin in front of the group of happy reed players belongs to Relly Raffman ’43, the redoubtable pianist-arranger. Niven would normally have been in the back row at- tacking drumheads with style and grace.

It has always been a sadness to me that the reunion scheme forever put ’44 with ’45 and ’46 and not with the ’42 and ’43 group who, due to my time between early 1942 and late 1945 in the service, I knew not as well as the earlier classes. Else I would have been in Hanover this June to

listen again to those expertly “lifted” arrangements played with such a compelling beat.

New Canaan, Conn.

Kick in the Seat

A goal-line-stand is great for the team, but for alumni who graduated 35-40 years ago?

We have been filled with Dartmouth spirit for a long time and feel that someone can devise a better seating allotment that will show some deference to seniority.

The older classes are increasingly called upon to give their time and financial support to the College. Is it too much to ask that their seats get better each year? (Our preferred seats for the Harvard-Dartmouth game.this year were on the goal line!)

If other alumni agree that with passing years should follow “better seats,” won’t you make your feelings known to the DCAC, and through this magazine?

Wellesley Hills, Mass.

[The director of athletics says: “When we ex-amined the tickets Harvard sent to us, we ex-pressed grave concern to them and suggested weshould receive better quality tickets or Dart-mouth would take a serious look at our long-range scheduling commitment with Harvard. Bythe latter, we mean our decision to play at Har-vard three of every four years with Dartmouththe visiting team each of those three years.

“Please don’t vent your emotions to theDC AC, rather direct them to our friends andconquerors in Cambridge.’’ Ed.]

The Alumni Magazine welcomes comment from its readers. For publication, letters should be signed and addressed specifically to the Magazine (not copies of communications to other organizations or individuals). Letters ex- ceeding 400 words in length will be condensed by the editors.