Rhodes Scholar

Though John Whitaker Fanestil may tower, both intellectually and physically, above most of his peers, Dartmouth's newest Rhodes Scholar seems incapable of remaining aloof from campus controversies. The senior, best known on the Hanover Plain for co-founding TheHarbinger ("a bi-weekly progressive magazine"), was in town only a few days before getting involved in yet another argument.

In an interview with TheDartmouth, the La Jolla, Calif., native had expressed some reservations about "carrying the Dartmouth banner" into the Rhodes competition. The statement represented his distaste for such things as The Review's bigotry and an alcohol-oriented fraternity system; instead it led to criticism that Fanestil was ungrateful to his college. He dryly responded on The D's op-ed page by thanking the Dartmouth community and emphasizing that it was his parents who'made his achievements possible and that it was to them he should be most grateful.

Exchanges like the one above are not untypical of the dark-haired scholar who will spend the next two years studying philosophy, politics, and economics at Oxford. One of this year's 32 beneficiaries of the Cecil Rhodes legacy, he joins a select group of 2,300 Americans so honored in the past eighty years. Whether editing a newspaper at Dartmouth, helping research a book in Washington, or crossing continents communicating with native peoples in his nearly fluent French and Spanish, there works a mind constantly in agitation, one driven by an idealist's frustration that things are not as they should be.

"It's part of my upbringing never to be satisfied with the status quo," John told me as he sketched the tale of a laid-back Californian encountering the preppie East Coast. "People at' Dartmouth, in contrast, seem very satisfied with every status quo around." This driving commitment to work for change, one of the most forceful of his qualities, is a product of two things: his family and his international experiences. His father, a professor of medicine with the University of California at San Diego, and his mother created an "intellectually challenging" environment for John, his older brother Brad (a 1982 graduate of Dartmouth), and two younger sisters. The family spent a year in England while John was growing up, and he also remembers numerous family excursions into Mexico. While at Dartmouth, John has also had ample opportunity to travel; he's been to Europe twice in the past two years.

Clearly then, the Rhodes represents a continuation of his international curiosity. A government major at Dartmouth, John plans to use his time at Oxford studying the politics of development. But the trust fund, which pays student fees, transporta- tion, and living expenses, may well be used for purposes slightly different from what the 19th century investor intended. Fanestil himself brings up the criticism not a new one, to be sure that Rhodes "exploited Africans through his mining operations and believed that the Englishspeaking peoples were a superior race." One new challenge, the senior honors student says, "is to use'the Rhodes scholarship to undo some of the political injustice that Mr. Rhodes himself helped to bring about."

But all that is a little while away. John still has one more term at Dartmouth, and his head is still in Hanover, thinking about the College he loves. With excitement, he speaks of a-political philosophy course he took last term. The Harbinger, he says, is going well enough for him to write more and edit less. And, of course, he's gearing up for another intense season of Big Green volleyball.

Coincidentally, the team was founded by older brother Brad, who graduated last June. The sport began at the "club" level four years ago, and since it has advanced to non-funded varsity" status. Last year, the team finished third in the New England Collegiate Volleyball League. In an exceptional individual performance, John was named all-New England, as well as All-Ivy Second team). "Volleyball is funded at all the other Ivy schools," he notes, adding half seriously that "here we have to pay our own Raveling expenses and the College even give us used JV squash team shorts."

John is involved in more far-reaching causes than obtaining used squash shorts, however, Through the newspaper he helped build an activity he considers his most meaningful at Dartmouth he has taken an active role in challenging the outdated status quo that he believes his alma mater to be. "The College," he writes, "is so steeped in tradition that it blinds itself to the potential it possesses." In response, the pages of his fortnightly have contained numerous articles many under the Fanestil byline considering the future of student diversity, financial aid, the fraternity system, and the McLaughlin presidency. When he speaks of his vision of a better Dartmouth, however, he centers on one topic: diversity. "It seems to be a tacit assumption of this administration that the existing diversity is adequate, but there is no doubt that more diversity would be much better," he writes. But as a practical man as well, he knows that the limitations center around money and the lack of fresh ideas. He has, in print and in action, tried to improve the status of both.

"The Dartmouth community doesn't do enough reassessment," he argues. "College should be a dynamic place, one marked by constant change and activity." The Harbinger is dedicated to that reassessment. Fanestil, who has stepped down as editorin-chief to allow another crop of editors to take over, is confident it will continue after the founders (all '83s) graduate this June. Looking back, he notes that the paper "offered a new outlet to a part of the Dartmouth community that before had felt neglected, frustrated, and stifled. People dissatisfied with the status quo here can now try to change things for the better by writing in The Harbingers pages." Over a hundred undergraduates have worked on the paper during its first year and a half, he said, "and for that alone, I'm very proud."

Obviously, John's unabashedly liberal views have clashed from time to time with those of President McLaughlin and the trustees. In the past year, The Harbinger has strongly criticized (as has The D, for that matter) the College's falling back from a need-blind admissions/financial aid policy, what it sees as part of the new administration's uncertain commitment to a diversified student body. The journal has also sided against Parkhurst in the president's confrontations last year with Tucker Foundation Dean Warner Traynham '57 and with Dennis Dinan '61, immediate past editor of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE. Despite his controversial and outspoken nature, John continues to be greatly respected on a campus far more conservative than he is. Professors have awarded him three academic citations for outstanding course work, and he has also earned the respect and admiration of his peers. This respect was demonstrated by his election to the Undergraduate Council, as well as to Casque and Gauntlet senior society.

Even now, as our interview winds to a close, I sense that John's mind is working on some sort of statement to the alumni. He sees this article, like so many things, as a means to one of those just ends he holds so highly. He's intent on using this opportunity to broadcast a political message about his college. So I will conclude my portrait here, leaving the final few sentences to him:

"For ail my agitation, I do love Dartmouth very much. What too many fail to understand is that love is not blind devotion, but rather a fundamental care which by its very nature includes hope for a better future. The next time an alumnus sits down to write an earmarked check to the College, I'd like to think he or she would consider a wide range of alternatives: financial aid, the Tucker Foundation, Dartmouth's performing and creative arts even The Harbinger. These are the things which will enhance the Dartmouth future. Our college is blessed with such potential that it just doesn't make sense for us to find satisfaction in the status quo."

Steve Farnsworth is one of this year's undergraduateinterns at the Magazine and also writes for theRutland Herald in Rutland, Vermont.