Letters to the Editor

The Sexes ...

Dr. John Smillie's letter in the January/ February issue concerning "The Sexes" reeks of rampant chauvinism.

His opinion that "teaching fewer men each year ... is not the path to maintaining excellence, let alone increasing pre-eminence," implies that the female students and alumnae of Dartmouth are not up to the "standards" of character attributed to her male students and alumni. He further implies that Dartmouth women will not be able to achieve this stature.

Yet, considering that Dartmouth men and women have received the same education in the same classrooms, have been awarded the same scholarships, internships, honors and degrees, have utilized the same superb facilities, have joined and worked for the same campus organizations, and have competed on the same playing fields (yes, women do compete for Dartmouth), one wonders how this innate inferiority might be possible. Unless, of course, gentlemen such as Dr. Smillie are responsible for all post-graduate hiring.

Or perhaps Dr. Smillie and his supporters actually believe that all-too-frequently stated myth that women were admitted to Dartmouth not for the purposes of education and advancement but rather for the sole purpose of providing bedmates for Dartmouth men. Gentlemen?

New York, N.Y.

Dr. Smillie '38 showed his true colors when he wrote in his letter that the College could not maintain its excellence while teaching fewer men. The College is not teaching fewer people, nor has their quality declined.

I think that most arguments against women at Dartmouth are rooted in this principle: that men are simply superior to women. As long as Dr. Smillie believes this, there is little anyone can say to him.

Northampton, Mass.

I felt my blood boil when reading John W. Smillie's letter in which he said, "Pre-eminence is eventually obtained by the turning out of excellent people year after year. Teaching fewer men each year, in my opinion, is not the path to maintaining excellence, let alone increasing preeminence."

Unfortunately, there are a lot of men like him who pat themselves on the back for voting women in, while making sure those women still keep their place. And his statement is probably true if enough men think as he does, that women are not capable of excellence or pre-eminence. How can women ever surmount such prejudicial obstacles to their professional ambitions? I sincerely hope that in the face of his threats to withdraw financial support, Dartmouth doesn't need (or want) his money.

Iowa City, lowa

Positive Impact Study

As one of many alumni who are concerned with the increasing number of women to be added to incoming classes and thus replacing qualified male applicants, I would like to make the following suggestion. Since the basic policy statement formulated by the Board of Trustees reaffirms the purpose of Dartmouth College as "the education of men and women with a high potential for making a significant positive impact on society," a prospective study should be implemented immediately to evaluate whether this goal is being obtained.

I would suggest a prospective study with some general criteria to evaluate this significant positive impact on society, and applying these criteria to graduates.in the next five to ten years, both male and female, to see if each group is achieving the purpose of the College. Such criteria might include level of graduate or postgraduate education, contributions to community, productivity in their respective jobs or professions, etc. The evidence will then be in to determine whether the replacement of male Dartmouth graduates by females is indeed justified, and achieves the purpose of Dartmouth College.

Topeka, Kans.

No Mere Recital

If only one woman like Daniela Weiser-Varon 'BO [author of "Scions of Rhodes," January/February issue] had come to Dartmouth to stir up thinking about the College, society, life, self, then coeducation has been a success. I enjoy reading the ALUMNI MAGAZINE as important beyond mere recital of Dartmouth affairs.

Berkeley, Calif.

Laura's Tune

The eye-catching cover picture on your November issue of the ecstatic coed atop Memorial Field lacked a caption, but perhaps this dramatic photo spoke for itself.

It could have been titled with a familiar Latin phrase: Veni, Vidi, Vici. Translated: I came, I saw, I conquered. Interpreted: as the reader prefers.

Hanover, N.H.

Human Qualities

First and mainly, my wife Marsh and I are forever thankful for the association with Coach Jack Musick, who died in November, and his family. They gave an extraordinary amount of themselves to people who seemed to need it most at the time, and thank God we were among them.

We, too, have suffered through some recent dark times, and some of the ideals and human qualities that Jack taught, lived, and conveyed to us will make us stronger.

I feel forever in his debt and want his family to know that as one Dartmouth man to another we loved him dearly.

Rutland, Vt.

On Electing Trustees

The Alumni Council has recently passed a recommendation that threatens to more severely limit the heterogeneity of Dartmouth's Board of Trustees. In the wake of the first democratic selection of a Trustee in Dartmouth's history (lest memories fail, we alumni fell just 8,533 votes short of electing Dr. Pauli Murray to the Board last spring), the Alumni Council hopes to restrict those eligible to the Board to graduates of the College (excluding honorary alumni). The decision is left to the General Association of Alumni to decide in June. [See notice on page 16.]

I write to urge the association to reject this recommendation. The major motivation behind the Murray nomination was the feeling of several close to Dartmouth that a Board of 13 white male alumni, one black male alumnus, one white (anti-red) male Meldrim Thomson, and one white male John Kemeny, is a Board inherently hindered in perspective. It is not a Board limited in money or power, and if the Board's mandate was limited to questions of the financial governing of Dartmouth, the present line-up would make perfect sense. The Board's decisions, however, run the gamut of crucial questions from tenure to admissions policy. The viewpoints of a critical educator such as Dr. Murray, who matured in a non-Dartmouth setting, could have added immeasurably fresh perspective to many important College decisions.

The Alumni Council recommendation to disqualify future Pauli Murrays is purported to be based on an interpretation of the Alumni Association Constitution. I must differ with Alumni Council Secretary Michael McGean in his January 3, 1978, Dartmouth statement: " 'All the evidence indicates that it was the intent of the framers of the Constitution' that honorary degree holders would not be eligible for nominations as alumni Trustees."

If I remember correctly, College lawyer Cary Clark labored around the clock for two weeks this past spring to discover the intent of the framers of the Alumni Association Constitu- tion. The passage in question states that any alumnus is eligible to run for (Alumni Council-selected) Trustee openings following nomination by petition of 100 Dartmouth alumni(ae). Clark found nothing to disqualify Dr. Murray, and the election was held.

Clearly you, the Alumni Association, can ignore the precedent and restrict an already too limited field of nominees. I simply warn that when an institution so closes itself off from out- side criticism, the resulting loss of a more objective and certainly healthy critique can lead to serious mistakes in policy. Most universities have gone so far as to accept qualified non-alumnus trustees for this reason.

I also remind the association that by rejecting the proposed change, you do not keep the nomination doors open to just any old riffraff. Honorary alumni(ae) at Dartmouth are quite a distinguished lot. Dartmouth can only gain by letting them remain potential Trustee nominees.

Geneva, Switzerland

Mr. Cavanagh has graciously invited my comments to his letter. Since they include clarification on some points, I should like to present them to alumni of the College through a letter-to-the-editor.

First, Mr. Cavanagh notes that the Alumni Council hopes to restrict the eligibility of Trustee candidates to graduates of the College. Actually, the Council has recommended that eligibility include all those who have matriculated at Dartmouth or its Associated Schools. That creates a pool of close to 40,000 men and women.

His letter could lead readers to believe that the Alumni Council recommendations, if approved by the General Association of Alumni, would preclude non-Dartmouth alumni from serving on the Board of Trustees. That is not the case. The trustees themselves nominate and elect seven members, none of whom needs be an alumnus.

I share Mr. Cavanagh's interest in seeing a Board of diverse talent and expertise. I have also seen the practical side of how the Board must operate. If it attempts to represent groups or various issues, it could be full of able people with very diverse backgrounds but not necessarily with the talent and experience that would best serve Dartmouth. History is helpful here, and I think the record tells us that a small Board consisting mostly of former students of the College has worked exceedingly well for Dartmouth.

There is a simply outstanding pool of qualified people in the Dartmouth alumni body. The Alumni Council has traditionally limited its talent search to this group which it knows best and is charged to represent. I must respectfully disagree that the current Board is "inherently hindered in perspective," a claim that cannot, 1 think, be supported by the kind of decisions it has made in recent years. I do recognize that there are other worthy methods of forming a Board of Trustees.

Hanover, N.H.

Responsible Traditionalism

I've read many letters written by alumni who evaluate the livelihood of Dartmouth traditions by analyzing current College policy. The true spirit of Dartmouth cannot be felt by a spectator reading about current Dartmouth life. The real livelihood of traditions lies among students who have assimilated and responsibly live out the traditions in light of contemporary campus problems.

Instead of debating College policy, the skeptics of current traditionalism should have traveled to the 1977 graduation. I was fortunate to be among a group of seniors who were crying because we knew we had lived Dartmouth in the way Hopkins, Dickey, et al., had wanted it to be lived. Such an emotion could not be suppressed in our eyes, or in our commitment to Dartmouth 20 years hence.

Lyme, N.H.

Hail WDCR

Because student news media are natural targets of faculty criticism, it is something of an unnatural act for me to tip my hat to WDCR for superbly professional coverage of President Carter's visit to New Hampshire on February 18.

All over the state, people heard the President's Nashua forum only because WDCR made it possible. At 10:30 a.m., driving through Manchester, largest city in the state, I turned on the car radio to hear live coverage courtesy ofWDCR! As the Manchester station faded, I picked up the program on a Concord station, thanks again to WDCR's statewide network. I held this up to the heights overlooking Grantham on 1-89 and then shifted to our own FM station for the rest of the 90-minute program.

No other station in New Hampshire had the combination of interest, technical know-how, and human resources to cover the President of the United States in this manner. When the question period ended, WDCR interviewers went through the audience to solicit comments. They encountered a grotesquely anti-Semitic foreigner who tried to make one ball of wax out of the Panama and Suez canals. The WDCR staff handled this sick man with a dignity and restraint of which those of us of their parents' age would undoubtedly have been incapable.

I'm going to be the first to howl the next time WDCR blows it. But for now, all hail.

Hanover. N.H.

A Minus and a Plus

Only two pages of sports in the ALUMNI MAGAZINE? This is the only place most alumni get to follow "the Dartmouth teams. Come on. lets get better coverage and up-to-date standings of all the teams in every copy.

To your credit, that was a great picture of the College Grant Management Center on the cover [January/February issue].

Springfield, Mass.

[Two pages of sports news have been standardfor several years, besides which there areperiodic features on athletics at Dartmouth. Ourfriends in the DCAC might also suggest a subscriptionto Big Green Sports News. Ed.]

A Cheer and a Sigh

I have a request. You will please tell the author of the Dartmouth Bulletin that his critic in the November ALUMNI MAGAZINE (a letter-to-the-editor entitled "Thin Wine") doesn't know a damn thing about wine — and less about words. The Bulletin is written just right, and that's an awfully hard thing to do; sophistication with sentiment; over and undertones behind the College facts and statistics; a cheer for that well done, a sigh for where we missed — and all in excellent prose. And what if the author is on occasion carried away. If writers aren't carried away about something, what are they doing penin-hand or pounding a typewriter? No. No. Jack Little '40, the letter-writer, may be a nice guy, but about wine and words his ignorance is appalling.

Another suggestion: A joke is a joke - and though I have very little sense of humor myself — I can laugh one, two, three, maybe even six or ten times at the same joke. But, somewhere along the line, it ceases to be funny. And what do I refer to? Why that "delta" object some very funny man welded together and got College per- mission to leave in front of Sanborn House. Clearly a tremendous joke and I congratulate the humorist behind it. But not only has the joke grown old - worse (much worse) — it is now desecrating a much profounder piece of art and creation than what it proposed to be itself. Specifically, it is ruining a piece of beautiful grass which God made. I see no humor in desecration. Don't you agree with me it is time for that joke to go? If you do - and can move others into needed action — I know 50 alumni who will turn their pockets inside out for the cause, including me.

Southampton, England

Not a Mild Reaction

Revolting is a mild description of my reaction to the reference to the homosexual student support group on campus [January/February issue]. Then in later mail came details in our class newsletter '23 Skiddoo. Then I wanted to vomit. I read unbelievingly how homosexuals were represented at registration; how homosexuals were members of the faculty and administration; and how Lewan '79, apparently a spokesman for the homosexuals and one himself, said there were probably 300 homosexuals on the faculty and in the student body!

Probably few have bothered to learn the definition of homosexual. Here it is in its stark reality: "Disregarding sexual restraints: exhibiting sexual desires towards one's own sex; lacking moral or legal restraint." (Underlining mine.)

Homosexuals are dangerous to young people. Those like myself who have served on school boards were given the cold stark facts that homosexuals are as dangerous as repetitive rapists when their unnatural appetites are aroused. The overwhelming medical opinion concludes that homosexuals are sexual perverts; that they are dangerous not only to young children but also to teen-agers, who are frequent targets for their unnatural and dangerous sexual activities.

Homosexuality is a disease. We can be sympathetic with those who are so afflicted just as we are sympathetic with any one who is the victim of a loathsome disease. But the College does not have to embrace them!

The open affront to Dartmouth by homosexuals on the faculty and in the student body should be denounced and all should be dismissed.

Camarillo, Calif.

[There is a difference between "embraced" and"recognized See also "The College' in thisissue. Ed.]

Chicago Lingo

I may not be the only one to respond to the recent letter-writer who was astonished that the College uses the phrase "This Our Purpose." The Dartmouth Club of Chicago includes an active corps of linguists who meet every second Tuesday over linguini, and we, too, took note of the College's grammar. We decided, however, not to register our chagrin. As an editorial footnote pointed out, the phrase seems to surface only every tenth president or so.

It seems more important to us at this moment that we determine how to properly refer to our collective graduate body now that Dartmouth is coeducational.

Some authorities suggest that "alumni" is acceptable even for coeducational institutions. But anyone with a smattering of Latin in his background cannot fail to recall that gender is not so easily disregarded in that language.

Some symbiosisites offer "alumniae," with the final three letters pronounced as two distinct syllables. But you'll find many people who complain that would remind them too much of "Old McDonald Had a Farm."

So you can see we already have our hands full of grammatical problems, and it'll be some time before we can agree to tackle "This Our Purpose." Perhaps we'll be ready the next time it's dragged out of the closet.

Chicago, Ill.

Speaking of Quality

Having attended Dartmouth's Ever Green Night in N.Y. City, and, subsequently, while spading the back garden for gold-stuffed tin cans, I happened on "The Campaign for Dartmouth" [November issue]. It's trenchant reading, along with the one-column box: "The Top Ten Campaigns." Compared to the top nine, we're positive pikers: Yale — $370 million, NYU — $300 million, Cornell in sixth place at $230 million... all the way down to tenth (us) at a comparatively paltry $160 million. Compared to them urban schools, we ain't in it, hardly.

... Then Jimmy Carter comes along with that N.Y. Times head asking $12.9 billion for 1979, With Focus on Basics ... the three R's to or above the seventh grade level.

... Then today's headline in our weekly New Canaan Advertiser proclaiming that our education cost, per student, ranks third in the state public school system ... behind West Hartford's $2,225 and Westport's $2,059 per head. Our town spends a whole $10 less per head than Westport — complete with our recently publicized student smoking lounge, allegedly a flophouse.

With so much money from all sources being channeled into the college/any college is, may I ask, an "educated" student at $30,000-40,000 per B.A. more valuable to community/self than just a plain "intelligent" cull minus the Dartmouth experience? If Abe Lincoln did his sums on the back of a shovel under something less than fluorescent lighting, might we all wonder how much worthier a president he would have been, given the .vastly more sophisticated surroundings afforded today's undergraduate?

John Kemeny's final words the other night: "If you start to compromise on quality at Dartmouth ... there is no Dartmouth," has, almost, a Dan'l Webster-ish ring. Nevertheless, those three words, "compromise on quality," might be applied to a pair of Rossignol skis, an Orvis fly rod, or a new Stradivarius. Who wants an old one? And speaking of quality, was Herb West — bless his argumentative Comp. Lit. soul — completely off base when he contended that a vibrant teacher needs but a long log to operate a successful classroom?

New Canaan, Conn.

Chiseled in Granite

You have my permission to make the following a permanent part of your letters-to-the-editor masthead:

Why can't alumni With a beef Write fewer letters, Keep 'em brief?

San Diego, Calif.

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.

[Judith Nelson is the wife of Paul Nelson '56and a member of the faculty at the University oflowa. Ed.]

[Laurence Radway is professor of governmentat the College. Ed.]