Turning Pro: Undergraduate writers break into print

In one sense, at least, the Environmental Studies Program at Dartmouth must be the most professional in the country. The students in it. keep turning into professional writers. For example, last winter there were ten undergraduates enrolled in Environmental Studies 73- Five of the ten have already published (and gotten paid for) work they did in the course.

Four of the five published their articles in the local weekly magazine Momentum, getting paid either $5O or $75. Tom Cook 'B2 did a report on the different kinds of people who buy windmills and use them to make their own electricity. Ann Elizabeth Dean 'B3 published an article called "Dave and 'The Boys,' " about a young man in Thetford, Vermont, who is doing low-energy vegetable farming with a team of oxen. Marie Furnary 'B2 did a piece called "Retrofitting Dartmouth" about conservation planning as the College builds new buildings and adapts old ones. Sarah Hall 'B2 published an article centering on Professor Charles Kerfoot's attempts to clean up Occom Pond with water fleas (as opposed to heavy doses of chemicals).

But the prize for most professional probably goes to Lang Davison 'B3, who sold a double article on New Hampshire's bottle bill (it almost passed this year) to the local Valley News. What makes him so professional? First, he sold his work while the course was still in progress. Had to. He was going on foreign study in Spain in the spring. Second, he proved a superb bargainer. The Valley News originally offered him $15.

"For each article, you mean," Lang said quickly.

The editor blinked. "I'd meant for both," he said. "But okay, $15 apiece."

"Tell you what," said Lang. "I'd wanted to get $25 apiece. How about compromising on $20?" The editor meekly agreed. And Lang went off to Spain with a nice intracurricular check for $4O.

None of these fees approach the $350 that Nick Lawrence 'B2 got from the SierraClub Bulletin for an article he wrote in the same course last year. But they're still enough to add five more to the growing list of Dartmouth's professional writers.