Letters to the Editor

Speaking Out

A friend of mine made the following comment regarding the general impression he had of Dartmouth women, after his recent one- and-one-half-year residence in the town of Hanover: The Dartmouth women whom he has come across and with whom he has worked are all very self-sufficient, but they are also quite reserved and reticent. I thought this a very keen observation.

I am reminded of a meeting held during the summer of 1975 in Woodward Hall, one of the only women's dormitories on campus, at which a certain issue was accidentally brought to our attention, but the remembrance of which gives me a heartache to this day.

This issue had to do with the Fraternity Hums during the previous spring. A certain fraternity had proudly sung their "Co-Hog Song," which won them first place. (I think this particular song had some lyrics rather offensive to Dartmouth women.) However, not having been present at the Hums that year, I never even realized that the "Co-Hog Song" won first place until this dorm meeting, because no one ever talkedabout it. I felt my heart being stabbed repeatedly, when during this meeting so many women spoke up and related the humiliation and anger they felt at Hums that year. It hurt especially when I heard that the reason that these women had not spoken up earlier was because no one else did, and hence they did not dare express their own views. Instead, they swallowed their pride, though the pain, the hurt, and the offense persisted.

The purpose of this letter, however, is not to bring up past wrongs and to attack anyone for them - it would be wrong to bear grudges. Instead, I wish to make a comparison between these angry but silent women and Paula Sharp '79, whom I knew somewhat at Dartmouth.

Credit must go to Tim Taylor '79 for the article he did on Paula Sharp [June issue], which presents a much better picture of the person she really is than that which so many have been led to believe at Dartmouth during this past year. Though I admire Ms. Sharp's creative talents a great deal, I respect her even more for having the courage to speak out and to stand up for what she truly believes in - at the risk of being labeled "radical" and therefore being ridiculed in a relatively conservative environment. Though I do not necessarily agree with some of the methods Ms. Sharp applied in order to be heard, I must pay my respect to her for accomplishing what many of us pioneer females at Dartmouth did not do and could not do.

I hope this letter makes up (even if just in part) for my not having spoken sooner; is it really better late than never? If I can hereby elicit some thoughts and responses from the silent majority associated with Dartmouth, I shall be grateful, because a purpose will have been served.

Brookline, Mass.

Viewed with Alarm

I am increasingly alarmed at the deteriorating image of Dartmouth College as portrayed by various elements of the media in recent months.

The latest in a series of blows to my pride in the College is the all-too-revealing display of several Big Green coeds in the September issue of Playboy magazine.

These totally unnecessary shots (for which, I am told, the girls were handsomely paid) follow such not-so-lofty episodes as Animal House, the fraternity ban, Indians-on-ice, and a scathing indictment of Dartmouth undergraduate morals in the May issue of Esquire magazine.

We in the Baltimore area were also exposed last May to a less than enthusiastic analysis of her career at Dartmouth by a class of '79 coed in the Baltimore Evening Sun. No reader of that article could detect one iota of gratitude for the writer's Dartmouth education.

If these degrading and demoralizing incidents continue, how is Dartmouth to attract high- minded and idealistic candidates for admission while maintaining a dedicated and loyal faculty? In addition, fund-raising is sure to be adversely affected.

I urge all members of the Dartmouth family to clean up our act!

Baltimore, Md.

[A report on Playboy's "Women of the IvyLeague" appeared in the September issue of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE. Ed.]

So now our liberated administration and trustees have the ultimate distinction - nude Dartmouth students in Playboy.

In view of the failure of the Admission Office to select female students with the character necessary to be associated with Dartmouth and Dartmouth traditions, who knows what depths the student body will reach upon implementation of sex-blind admission policies.

A wah-hoo-wah for the Dartmouth Indians of old! (Braves, no squaws.)

Phoenix, Ariz.

Re: Playboy Magazine, September 1979 issue. As usual, the biggest boobs are at Harvard; but Dartmouth is picked to win the Ivy League!

Greensboro, N.C.

Full Agreement

In the June issue appeared a letter from George Collins '34 criticizing the administration's handling of certain matters this spring followed by the editor's note: "Is the message here that it is perfectly proper for alumni - but not students - to criticize the operation of the College?"

I agree 100 per cent with what George Collins stated, and to your note I reply, yes, it is proper for alumni but not the students to criticize the manner in which the affairs of the College are being administered.

This is true because the alumni's financial support is underwriting one-half of the cost of the student's education. If the student is not satisfied, he or she has the option to leave.

The situation in Hanover today pulls at my heartstrings. I want to give much more liberally (sentimental) but my judgment tells me not "to send good money after bad."

Mt. Dora, Fla.

The Symbol (cont.)

I have spent a good part of my life teaching the history of the American frontier. There was on each raw frontier a period of bitter hostility between white and Indian. As time passed, the legends of that earlier day remained, and grandpop , who had "fought them savages," told his story over and over, and there was usually some leader among those "savages" who was remembered. When the frontier moved from the coastal colonies into the interior, new Indian leaders emerged such as Tecumseh, who with his brother the Prophet, tried to stop white settlement in such areas as Ohio and Indiana. They persuaded the tribes of that area to unite and became legendary figures. Seven years after Tecumseh's death in battle, a boy was born on a farm near Lancaster, Ohio. His name was William Tecumseh Sherman, Civil War general whose phrase "War is hell" will always be remembered.

In going through The Border Wars of NewEngland by Samuel A. Drake, I came upon an Indian leader whose name was Hopehood. The author described him as "one of the most crafty and relentless marauders ever sent out on the war path." To learn more about this "cruel savage," I turned to the Handbook of AmericanIndians North of Mexico, and I learned that Hopehood was "A Norridgewock chief, known among his people as Wahowa, or Wohawa." Furthermore, his "career" was "one of ... bloody exploits." In March of 1690, he participated in a "massacre at Salmon Falls" and a few months later he "attacked Fox Point, N.H., burning several houses, killing 14 persons, and carrying away 6 others."

So there you are: Wahowa or Wohawa or "Wa-hoo-wah" may all be ways of spelling the name of an Indian tribe, now the ending of our Alma Mater song to "dear old Dartmouth." Do I stretch my imagination in believing that the farm boys in New Hampshire and Vermont found a good whoop and holler in "wah-hoo-wah" and brought it with them to Dartmouth?

I am an old guy of 91 years and of the class of 1912, but I assure the reader that if those who are fighting for the symbol win, and I believe they will, I'll join them in a lusty cheer for "dear old Dartmouth."

Wooster, Ohio

My classmate and friend, John Herpel, has written to this column about responses to his FADDIS advertisement about the Indian symbol in the May issue of this magazine.

Your readers should be reminded that polltakers of professional standing have established certain standards including: 1) The sample must be selected to represent all pertinent characteristics of the group; 2) The questioner and the phrasing of the questions must maintain absolute neutrality; 3) All questions must provide for positive, negative, and undecided responses.

In the case of John Herpel's ad, the sample was self-selected, the questioner was patently in favor of the Indian symbol and asking for support, and there was no provision for undecided responses.

For these reasons, all that the responses show is that X number of alumni who favor the use of the Indian symbol saw the ad and answered it. Incidentally, it seems to me that Mr. Herpel's results speak rather well for the power of your advertising, especially since the ad - by Herpel's own admission — was unattractive and handicapped by a dead headline.

Stonington, Conn.

Old Question

All members of the Ivy League, except Dartmouth, are universities.

If Dartmouth is a university, why not change its name to Dartmouth University and divide its undergraduate and graduate elements into colleges?

Sarasota. Fla.

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.