Letters to the Editor

The Admissions Decision

TO THE EDITOR:

I have just received, and read, the statement of the Board of Trustees on admissions policies. I assume I have received a copy of this before its general publication because of my position as a district enrollment director. Having read this statement, I feel compelled to write this letter.

I am writing for two reasons. First of all, I wish to congratulate the Board of Trustees for a superbly conceived and even-handed answer to a most difficult question. I cannot imagine how all groups concerned - students, faculty, alumni, friends - could not be satisfied with this decision. Certainly, the more narrow minded and opinionated among us will cry foul. However, those of us who lead our lives with a respect for the feelings and attitudes of others will certainly be content.

Secondly, I would like.to apologize to the Board in general, and one Trustee in particular. For the past year, I have been most skeptical and prejudiced in my opinions of the Board, and its ultimate decision. I have taken many occasions to bring this to the attention of our local Trustee, Mr. Donald McKinlay. I have done this privately and publicly. Mr. McKinlay has parried my attacks like the gentleman that he is. He and the Board have shown that they have the interests of all of us (the College) foremost in their hearts. We should thank them for their devotion to matters at hand.

Denver, Colo.

TO THE EDITOR:

Thoughts while listening to a broadcast of a Dartmouth hockey game.... The Dartmouth athletic director is interviewed, describes Thompson Arena as the best college facility in the U.S., that it is used for basketball and hockey and cost $4,500,000. He admits basketball team is "lousy" (1-15); hockey is fair (6-8-1).

Reflect on Trustees' decision to admit 25 more women per year, 25 less men. Wonder how this action will affect Dartmouth's obvious need for more talented male athletic scholars. I suggest an affirmative action program is sorely needed for those two disadvantaged minorities - hockey and basketball. Start by reducing female acceptances by 50 per year with an equivalent increase for males until the state of Dartmouth's two major winter sports reaches at least parity with their Ivy peers by winning titles therein. Then hold the ratio at that level.

Thompson Arena was obviously not built to further women's hockey and basketball. They would not fill the seats. The substantial investment made demands that a commensurate effort be made to attract adequate personnel. Ergo, more manpower.

Footnote: Dartmouth loses game in overtime, goes 6-9-1. Athletic director admits Dartmouth was outweighed in a recent game by 22 pounds per man.

Providence, R.I.

Dubious Honor

TO THE EDITOR:

I recently came across a copy of the fall issue of the Lafayette Alumni Quarterly with the lead article a discussion of whether a college degree was worth the cost. It was estimated for the class entering Lafayette this fall tuition, board, and room together with a few basic necessities would amount to $5,600. Allowing for moderate inflation, the expenditure by graduation would total $24,000.

The statistics for Lafayette were supplied by a group called College Scholarship Service whose credentials or location are unknown to me. What did catch my attention were cost estimates for a number of other colleges and I quote:

Dartmouth $8,000 Princeton $7,000 Harvard 7,300 Cornell 6,700 Brown 7,100 Amherst 6,400 Yale 7,100 Williams 6,400 Columbia 7,000 Colgate 6,100 Penn 7,000 Uof Mass 2,800

Like other Dartmouth men, I always like to see our college on top, but if these estimates are correct I would gladly forego the dubious honor of leading the Ivy League. I think the alumni are entitled to a comment from President Kemeny as to why a Dartmouth education exceeds that at Princeton by $4,000.

Melrose, Mass.

(The figure for Dartmouth is inflated. This year,for example, tuition, room and board averages$6,255 at Dartmouth and $6,275 at Princeton,with other costs being roughly equal. Ed.)

Lawless Beasts

TO THE EDITOR:

I could be wrong, but I think "Captain" Gaudreau was the lone duty peace officer on campus when our class was in Hanover. Your January issue describes a force of "eight full-time uniformed men and ten part-time students" for normal requirements today.

Considering that we must have had our share of drunks, vandals and other mutts, I shudder to think what kind of lawless beasts must now be prowling the Hanover plain.

New York, N.Y.

Dick's House

TO THE EDITOR:

I am sure I am one of many alumni disturbed by the recent decision of the Trustees to degrade Dick Hall's House from accredited hospital to infirmary status if this must mean drastic limitation of its in-patient services. A reduction of the number of beds - from 30 to 12 - is planned. These are to be used as briefly as possible only by those suspected of needing the facilities of Mary Hitchcock Hospital to which they will be transferred. Nor is any return for recuperation assured or perhaps even contemplated.

This seems a travesty - I might say a betrayal - of the intent of Mr. and Mrs. Hall in giving their splendid memorial for their son They wanted it to be a home for "sick and ailing" students who would feel that "going up to Dick's House is the next best thing to going to their own homes." It is totally insensitive to sup. pose that the atmosphere they wanted to create can be found in a large, impersonal hospital no matter how excellent.

The committee reporting to the Trustees was right in insisting on changes. The losses incurred by Dick's House had become insupportable. It seemed wise to combine its degrading with a different basis for student health insurance. But it seems that the changes were voted with little realization of the results of almost jettisoning a precious heritage enjoyed by Dartmouth students for half a century. Every effort should be made to render the services of Dick's House as compatible as possible with the wishes of its donors.

Cannot more beds be maintained — say 20? Could not some small rooms on the top floor be used by interns or medical students who could supplement a reduced staff? Or could that floor be rented to the hospital and the second floor be maintained as it is? Above all, cannot recuperative care be given in the relaxed, restorative atmosphere that has existed?

Otherwise Dartmouth will suffer an irredeemable loss. I urge that all alumni - and now alumnae - who support this view to write to the Trustees or the administration. I hope that many will, especially from the class of 1927 whose 50th reunion coincides with that of Dartmouth's refuge for its "sick and ailing" students.

Norwich, Vt.

(According to the College treasurer, operating expenses at Dick's House exceeded $1 million last year, and the return to infirmarystatus - Dick's House did not officially becomea hospital until 1968 - is expected to save$200,000 annually. To retain hospital accreditation, substantial sums in building renovation also would have been necessary. Ed.)

The Covers

TO THE EDITOR:

We alumni help to pay your salary. You're not earning it when you waste expensive paper on such a cover as this [January issue]. I like to display your magazine - my magazine, too - on my coffee table, and my children are proud to see it there. Not when it shows a typewriter and the words, "Who cares?" I care. Next time I'll complain to the President or some dean. Or I'll get a joint complaint signed by some of my classmates.

Brookings, S.D.

TO THE EDITOR:

Thank you for allowing yourself to be changed so much that you are no longer a threat to me for my husband's affection. But in all fairness to you, old girl, couldn't you at least go back to wearing your beautiful green cover on your magazine, so you would look a little like your old self? Without my specs on I almost throw you away before you get to my husband's desk from the mailbox, as you look like one of the less attractive mail order or department store brochures.

McLean, Va.

Gratefully Received

TO THE EDITOR:

I was delighted to read the article on Mt. Moosilauke entitled "Magic Mountain" in the December issue. Of particular interest were the many references to the Ravine Lodge and the recent improvements in same under Al Merrill's direction. Having served on the DOC's Moosilauke Advisory Committee, I would like to point out that specific contributions of funds by interested alumni to continue this rehabilitation will, I'm sure, be gratefully received by Al.

Franklin Lakes, N.J.

Teached Pretty Good

TO THE EDITOR:

In "Johnny Can't Write? Who Cares?" [January issue], Professor Peter Bien cited this example:

The army which was best took the lead.

The army, which was best, took the lead. Perhaps only one in ten Dartmouth students can distinguish the difference in meaning between these two sentences because one is grammatically incorrect.

The non-restrictive phrase set off by commas in the second sentence clarifies the non-restrictive meaning of "army." However, in the first sentence, the word "that," not "which," should be used to convey the restrictive meaning.

They teached us pretty good.

SUSAN MARCOTTE JENKINS

Allston, Mass.

TO THE EDITOR:

Cheers for Ms. Grantham and her funny-sad article.

Why is it that the English Department requires hundreds of students to take a course from which they profit little, but can't find the money or personnel to teach a few sections of the same sort of course for upperclassmen who seem to want it and would presumably profit from it?

Writing well, like giving up smoking, is commended by all, achieved by few. But when the need appears, when the doctor gives his orders, the impossible is accomplished.

First, make students want to write well. Then, provide them with teachers and courses. What could be easier?

A lot of things.

Then, too, the present-day teacher who comes to a college and commits most of his time and brains to the institution will find himself a) denied tenure, and b) unburdened by the bibliography of articles and books that would help him find a job somewhere else. His wicked cousin, who spends as little time with students as possible, having published many books and articles, finds himself besieged with offers from rival institutions, whereupon his employers decide he must be a splendid fellow and offer him tenure.

Tenure having been accepted (ungraciously), does the wicked cousin thereupon change his ways and begin to donate time free to his employers?

Hanover, N.H.

TO THE EDITOR:

Regarding the caption on page 21 of the January issue, quoting Professor Wira as saying "This College cares enough to teach one language, free, to everyone in town. Why is computer BASIC more important than English?"

Actually, it is not the College who "cares" but the computer.

The computer cares about spelling, punctuation, and syntax. When it notes an error, it reacts immediately to point out the mistake to the programmer.

It is consistent in demanding adherence to the same strict standards by each computer user.

Students who have not mastered proper BASIC are frustrated in their attempts to use the computer. These frustrations motivate users to take advantage of the free BASIC courses referred to by Professor Wira.

Precise BASIC is obviously more important to the computer than grammatically correct English is to teachers in our primary and secondary schools and colleges. It is also clear that the computer has been "taught" to recognize precise BASIC while recent generations of teachers are not "programmed" to recognize precise English!

Hanover, N.H.

TO THE EDITOR:

"The real world hasn't got time to read folderol."

How's that again?

Peoria, Ill.

Compressed Kirch?

TO THE EDITOR:

Re P. Kirch '78 and his January sprawl in the "Undergraduate Chair": censorship is bad, but glossy paper is expensive. What to do? Well, couldn't you have compressed Kirch - perhaps to "Student clod sentimentalizes dangerous drinking" - and used the saved space for something else? For instance, a survey of what Dartmouth wives think about their husbands' drinking habits?

Storrs, Conn.

TO THE EDITOR:

Pierre Kirch's article on beer drinking in the January "Undergraduate Chair" is profoundly troublesome if it is representative of the values and attitudes prevalent among Dartmouth undergraduates.

Mr. Kirch suggests that personal debasement, achievable through "chugging," is necessary in order to experience and develop qualities such as loyalty and brotherhood. Believing that "beer is a nectar that makes much of our intercourse in life sweet," he recommends "chugging" as an alcoholic lubricant facilitating the formation of friendships and aiding a person's development into "a personable individual."

Mr. Kirch deceives himself in thinking that chugging" provides anything more than a regressive escape from meaningful interpersonal relationships. He is seriously misguided in idolizing "Crazy Bill" and the latter's prowess in the "Death Chug."

I recommend that Mr. Kirch, in his quest for persons whom he can emulate and his search for the qualities of brotherhood and loyalty, visit the workshops and studios of the Hopkins Center, participate in the constructive activities of the Tucker Foundation, and introduce himself to the people he finds at Aquinas House, Hillel, or Edgerton House.

I deeply hope that Mr. Kirch was joking in observing that "maybe a man has to undergo a little degradation" to experience loyalty or friendship. The daily and seemingly endless degradation being suffered by people in Northern Ireland and South Africa proves the stupidity and absurdity of Mr. Kirch's statement if he meant it seriously.

Washington, D.C.

TO THE EDITOR:

The quality of the January ALUMNI MAGAZINE would have been improved had you deleted page 25, "The Chuggers."

Huntsville, Ala.

The Symbol (cont.)

TO THE EDITOR:

A call for you to preserve the Dartmouth Indian traditions. Dartmouth is a big feather in Indian history and they should appreciate same, not scorn us. The long-haired boys did an awful job on College life, and the Indian picture is part of same.

West Medford, Mass.

TO THE EDITOR:

Reverend Carlos Sanchez '23 has succeeded, however unwittingly, in pulling the leg of the editor and the Dartmouth hierarchy [January issue]. You seized the opportunity to respond to him in your columns where all alumni might read your pat on the back for the Establishment.

I subscribe to the fine sentiment expressed by Reverend Sanchez. The lily needs no gilding.

Wells River, Vt.

TO THE EDITOR:

I think the enclosed A.P. wirephoto (I saw it in the Los Angeles Times sports section of January 30, 1977) needs little comment from me re: the Dartmouth/Indian situation.

I'm glad to see some of the Native Americans, at least, are willing to sit down at powwow and pass the peace pipe once again to their white and black brothers.

Los Angeles, Calif.

{The photograph is of Chief Miami, who, thecaption says, has been rehired as the "mascot"of Miami University. Ed.)

TO THE EDITOR:

I never thought I'd come down on the "conservative" side of any issue in the great alumni dispute over practically everything. But the idea of covering the Hovey Grill murals because they "offend" someone is too much. In the 17th century, some of the stained glass windows of Canterbury Cathedral "offended" the Puritans — who smashed them — and art historians have been lamenting ever since. Obviously, the Hovey Grill murals aren't aesthetically valuable, and if someone were to commission new murals, better murals, more timely murals — great. But to destroy them because of the offended sensibilities of a small minority makes a mockery of the idea of artistic freedom.

The question asked rather too furiously and too often by certain reactionary alumni does deserve serious consideration: Where will all this "purifying" end? The novels of Cooper and Twain? The paintings of Catlin and Remington? The statue on the dome of the capital in Washington, D.C.? Certainly, this seems far-fetched; but when Allan Ramsay in 1724 substituted S for C and came up with "Sunt Lairds and Cuckalds altogether" he could scarcely have anticipated that 100 years later Noah Webster would go through the Bible exorcising the words "belly" and "stink." Noel Perrin's Dr. Bowdler's Legacy (New York, 1969) should be made required reading for all Dartmouth freshmen. It is a legacy which, unfortunately, lives.

A related subject. Why do we waste so much time experimenting with Woodsmen, Pioneers, Animals, etc., when Dartmouth already has a perfectly good name and symbol - far more original than "Indians" ever was. I know this has been suggested before, but what about "Big Green?" I have never heard anyone at a football game yell "Go Indians"; but when things get heavy you invariably hear "Go Big Green!" or (muttered pleadingly) "Come on Green." It is the natural (and preferred) name for the team. And certainly more distinctive than "Indians" - which they have, for pay, in Cleveland.

The symbol we have is the Dartmouth Pine. It has several advantages, being: 1) big 2) green 3) sexually neuter (a gymnosperm) 4) without race or religion 5) part of the Dartmouth mythology - already emblazoned on the College seal, the College flag, the Baker bookplates, etc. Admittedly, we can't have someone dressed up like a pine tree doing handsprings down the sidelines - but who cares? Why doesn't the College officially adopt these two things and leave us alumni free to find some new superfluities to argue about?

Seattle, Wash.

TO THE EDITOR:

Reading about the possible substitute of the Dartmouth Indian by a Woodsman in the December issue brought to mind a refreshing refrain that could serve to replace "Men of Dartmouth" as the College song. May I suggest "The Lumberjack Song" a la Monty Python:

1. I'm a lumberjack and I'm O.K. I sleep all night and I work all day. Chorus He's a lumberjack and he's O.K. He sleeps all night and he works all day.

2. I cut down trees I eat my lunch I go to the lavatory On Wednesday I go shopping and have buttered scopes for tea Chorus

3. I cut down trees I skip and jump I like to press wild flowers I put on women's clothing and hang around in bars. Chorus

4. I cut down trees I wear high heels Suspenders and a bra I wish I'd been a girlie Just like my dear Pappa. Chorus: That's shocking Tuttut....

Enough said?

Bloomington, Ill.

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 exceeding 400 words in length will be condensed by the editors.