Letters

Chief Crazy Horse: A Legitimate Imprimatur

Your categorization of letters under the headline: "The Symbol (cont.)" is apropos the fact that the subject apparently is not going to go away, even though the administration is now insisting at every opportunity that the matter is a "non-issue" and, by inference, any alumnus who loves Dartmouth but also has any allegiance to a symbol is somehow defective.

It seems patently clear that the preoccupation with the Symbol, especially among the alumni, is shorthand concern for a long list of symptoms indicating a predominantly illiberal attitude toward conservative views among faculty, administration, and Trustees. The attempts at justifications from the 60s just don't wash with the trends in the real world of the 80s.

Apropos Dartmouth's distinguished symbol, the U.S. government apparently has no qualms in honoring Chief Crazy Horse on the current 13-cent postage stamp. If this handsome Indian chief is considered by the U.S. government, civil rights and all, a legitimate imprimatur, why shouldn't it be acceptable for a small college?

Let's dump the Timberwolf, at al., adopt Chief Crazy Horse (with USPS blessing, of course), and take a courageous step toward getting Dartmouth back on track.

North Palm Beach, Fla.

Gays at Dartmouth

Of homosexuals at Dartmouth, and the College providing money for their activities, "For the Record" (June/July) quotes the Administration party line as saying, "I think we've all got to be somewhat tolerant."

If this is right, it follows that we should also be somewhat tolerant of child molesters and torture-rapists, since the several perversions (not "philosophies," perversions) are close psychological kin. Although of the lot, the male homosexuals are the more dangerous and costly, if only because of their more extended field of activity; both in their avid promiscuity (e.g., the unspeakable San Francisco "bathhouses" and the public park men's rooms, with their resultant spread of AIDS), and (particularly important at Dartmouth with our recurring supply of naive freshmen) their compulsive recruiting of new young converts, with the resultant twisted later lives.

This is not a matter of morals or religion or suppression of free ideas calling for "tolerance" it is basically a societal concern of mental health. And the trumpeted national "clamor for "Gay Rights" rises not from intellectual conviction, but from the growing political recognition of a growing and powerful single-issue voting group, with our knee-jerk intellectuals grabbing the rope. (In unconscious tribute to the PR genius who thought up the incorrect but engaging euphemism Gay.)

These are unhappy times for clear thinking and simple decency.

Los Angeles, Calif.

Sharing the Dartmouth Spirit

I have discovered what I believe to be the secret of staying young. I draw my conclusion based not on my wisdom as a 22-year-old, but rather on my friendships with a few rare sons of Dartmouth.

I recently canoed 220 miles on the Connecticut River from Hanover to the Atlantic with 36 Dartmouthites, including Ben Drew '32, Dave Kirby '32, and Walker Weed '40. They never complained of sore muscles, drizzling rain, and allergies like the other 34 "younger" members of the- group. They cheered our spirits when we were tired, helped to hoist our canoes and gear over a dozen portages, and told us stories of Dartmouth 50 years ago.

I once said to Ben, "You're amazing!" Ben, chuckling a bit, exclaimed, "Too many [people] grow old and develop rigor mortis between the shoulder blades."

If you want to stay young you've got to exercise the mind and the spirit that remains within the Dartmouth family. There is a dangerous myth floating in the breeze that the elderly are out of our league and vice-versa. So what if you're 72 and I'm 22? Fifty years needn't stop us from being friends. Together we can learn and grow. . . not old but young. The sharing of the Dartmouth spirit over the years is one tradition that should not fail.

Anchorage, Alaska

The Symbol (cont.)

I think the removal of the Indian symbol, because it is degrading to our native Americans, has to be the biggest bunch of ultraliberal gibberish ever foisted on the Dartmouth fellowship. Eleazar Wheelock founded our College as a school for Indians. We still have the Cleveland Indians, the Washington Redskins, the Atlanta Braves, and William and Mary has seen fit to continue the Indian name.

To move into the more ridiculous, do we change the names of states such as Indiana, Ohio, or Massachusetts (to name only a few); or do we change the names of cities such as Indianapolis, Cheyenne and hundreds of others?

In delving more deeply into this subject two things come sharply into focus. In my Glee Club days, I can recall a verse from our Alma Mater which went: "Tho' round the girdled earth they roam, her spell on them remains . . ." And I recall reading many of John Sloan Dickey's addresses, particularly those to the graduating seniors. You may remember that most of these concluded with words which read something like: "And now, Men of Dartmouth, the word is 'So long,' for in the Dartmouth Fellowship there is no parting."

It would appear to me that we who have roamed the girdled earth, and we who are a large part of the Dartmouth Fellowship which has no parting, should have some influence on what our College's insignia should be.

The Dartmouth community, a name we hear frequently, is in reality made of the paid professionals who are hired to administer and teach the students. The stuff of which the College is made are the students and alumni.

I have a common-sense solution to the Dartmouth insignia, symbol, or whatever term applies.

I suggest, that in one or two of such alumni mailings a simple postal card be included. Such card would ask simply: Do you think the Dartmouth insignia should again be the Indian? Yes or no.

The direct answer on the cards will overwhelm the "Dartmouth community," and I would make a wager that the verdict will not be "Timberwolves."

Mansfield, Ohio

An Update

I was pleased to read your commentary on "the issue of gay rights" ("For the Record," June/July). I would like to update you and your readership on some of the facts regarding this issue.

In practice, all of the Ivies except Princeton prohibit discrimination against their students and employees on the basis of sexual orientation. However, only Columbia and Pennsylvania have written policies that protect their students from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. And only Harvard, Columbia, and Penn have written policies that protect their employees from discrimination on that basis.

In practice, Dartmouth has had this nondiscrimination policy toward its family members for a number of years. Recently, the College has put in writing this policy which protects both its students and its employees from discrimination because of their sexual orientation.

Hanover, N.H.

Dr. Lythcott is the Affirmative Action Officer atthe College. ED.

Author's Query: The NavyV-12 Program at Dartmouth

For a book on the Navy V-12 program, I am seeking human interest stories, humorous incidents, and clear photos showing V-12 trainees on the Dartmouth campus in Photos of V-12s in proximity to a campus landmark are especially important. Please respond to James G. Schneider, 888 Cobb Boulevard, Kankakee, Illinois 60901.

Many thanks for your cooperation.

Kankakee, 111.

The Review:Turning Back the Clock

In 1980, when I was a graduating senior, it was easy to dismiss the Review as right wing pabulum and its publishers as disgruntled John Birchers. Today, however, the situation has changed. By purloining lists from College administrative offices, the Review has moved beyond the campus to spread its divisive dogma to alumni and to freshman parents. It seems that in four years of publication, the Review has amassed the money, organization, and lack of scruples to damage Dartmouth seriously.

The recent publicity surrounding the Review has probably prompted many alumni to ask "Just who are these people, anyway?" They came into existence in 1980 as an outside voice calling for abolishing Affirmative Action, bringing back the long-dropped "Indian" symbol, doing away with the Women's, Afro-American, and Native American Studies programs, and cutting funding for campus minority organizations. In the name of "tradition," it really seemed that they wanted to turn the Baker tower clock back on Dartmouth's values to the all-male, all-white, country club days of yesteryear. "Maybe these guys saw Winter Carnival a few too many times," we mused. The vast majority of us in 1980 felt that under John G. Kemeny's leadership, the College had progressed too far for the Review's whinings to be taken seriously.

Now, however, I'm not so sure. Recently, I received a "Dear Alumnus" direct mail appeal for subscriptions and contributions to the Review. Its appearance and content were slick; its promises of interviews with Henry Kissinger and Tom Selleck would pique anyone's interest. It was clearly designed to make the Review appear as a legitimate College publication.

It is precisely this new image of Dartmouth projected by the Review that troubles me most. The bottom line for determining an institution's excellence is the quality of leadership it produces. Dartmouth can only fulfill that mission to train America's leaders to the extent that it can ensure a student body as rich in socio-economic diversity as America itself. With plenty of competition these days for a shrinking enrollment pool, the Review's extremism could cost Dartmouth that diversity. Unable to train leaders representative of modern society, Dartmouth could slowly become a second-rate institutional anachronism known for corporate executives, football teams, wild parties, and absolutely nothing more. That is a grim scenario, but possible.

That is why I'm asking all alumni who care about Dartmouth to get together. Let's spread the word about Dartmouth's excellence and about the Review's misrepresentations. I know that a majority of you out there agree with me; but too much is at stake for you to remain a silent majority. Talk to your fellow alumni. Voice your opinions to this column and to The Dartmouth.

If you have energy or ideas to offer this effort, or you would like to get together this fall in Hanover, write to me at 34 Rockingham Street, Cambridge, MA 02139.

Cambridge, Mass.

The Dartmouth That Was

Re: Eddie Chamberlain's letter in June/July 1984 sweet, Eddie. Really sweet. And from the hundreds who knew you (and some of whom you may recall), "Let the echoes ring" for Eddie. And should history recall the presidents of our beloved College, the great men he mentioned, let us as undergraduates and alumni remember him as the Dartmouth that was, and is, and ever shall be, for he made it a personal and loving experience. WahHoo-Wah.

Rochester, Minn.