1932

The hit of the show over Class Officers Weekend in May was a speech given by Dr. Hilda W. Sokol, an associate professor in the Department of Physiology at Dartmouth Medical School. Her talk included statistics, hot off the griddle, on the feelings of students about he College since coeducation was introduced.

During ten years of coeducation at Dartmouth the number of women students has gone from a ratio of one to three to 43 per cent women in current freshman class. And whatever alums may think, the arrival of women on campus has been all to the good from the standpoint of the student body.

Dr Sokol was one of several speakers at the Saturday morning class officers' breakfast, which was a predominantly male gathering. When she suggested that women graduates of Dartmouth were proving to be just as faithful to their college as Big Greeners have always been, one of the male speakers had the temerity to say he hoped they would become as loyal financially as the men are. Dr. Sokol responded that they undoubtedly would be if and when women are compensated on a par with their male counterparts.

"What has coeducation done for Dartmouth?" Dr. Sokol asked, after a decade of experience with it. "On the plus side it smells better!" she said, noting that men sweat more than women and that when women are around they take more showers, as proved by the increased College fuel bill for hot water.

On a more serious note, Dr. Sokol touched on highlights of surveys of student attitudes, one taken in 1972, pre-women, and another in 1982,.with the results derived from 20 to 25 per cent random samples of the total undergraduate population. The data was provided by Robert Sokol of the Sociology Department, Dr. Sokol's husband.

For example, multiple choice answers offered to the question "How do you feel about Dartmouth?" ranged from "I loathe it" to "I have a deep attachment to it." In 1972, 93 per cent said they "liked" it to some degree, compared with 95 per cent of the men and 93 per cent of the women who said they "liked" it in 1982.

As for the academic performance of students since the advent of the "distraction" of women, in 1972, 41 per cent of the males had a B or better average, while in 1982, 60 per cent of the men were in that bracket. Among the women 68 per cent averaged A or B.

Another question bearing on the intellectual or academic atmosphere at the College concerned the amount of discussion of course work in "bull" or "rap" sessions. In a survey conducted in 1961, 59 per cent admitted to that kind of discussion, while in 1982, 68 per cent of the men and 75 per cent of the women said they discussed course work out of class.

As for sex, discussion on that subject declined from 80 per cent in 1961 to 7 1 per cent among males in 1982, while for women it was 56 per cent.

Dr. Sokol noted that the evidence is that women at Dartmouth have not distracted men from academic pursuits but instead seem to have helped improve their performance. Perhaps the competition has been helpful.

"Will women graduates have the same career opportunities as the men?" she asked. Addressing an almost exclusively male audience, she put the burden on them to see that women are "given every opportunity to fulfill their potential. To do less would not only be wasting a most valuable and much needed resource of talent, but committing an enormous injustice toward half our population."

Class officer meetings began Saturday at 7:30 a.m. and continued until 3:00 p.m. During the various meetings and speeches that day, I heard the names of President Hopkins, President Dickey, and President Tucker fondly invoked more than once, but not that of John Kemeny, the man who was president during the period when the stressful change of coeducation occurred and the apparent improvement in the academic atmosphere was made.

No one could fail to be impressed with the turnout of class officers in Hanover that weekend, a representation which included two envoys in their nineties.

The 1932 table at the luncheon in Thompson Arena was full by the time Ginny and I got there, so we sat with the 1982 delegation, which included the president of that class, Philippa Guthrie. Class officers and wives of '32 present included Prez Jim and Amy Corbett, Treasurer Howdy and Dottie Pierpont, Head Agent Harry and Charlotte Rowe, and Mini-reunion Chairman Dick and Emily Olmstead. Bequest Chairman Art Allen was straining at the leash to attend after a heart attack but let Dobbie do the honors. Ye Newsletter Editor Bob and Gerry Ackerberg had sent advance word that they couldn't make it. Ben and Sally Drew were present for the 1932 class officers' dinner Saturday night. A fine time was enjoyed by all.

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