1948

It is with profound, overwhelming sadness that I report to his classmates the death in Denver on Saturday morning, January 28, of my old roommate and close friend, lan Macartney. Not many the likes of Mac have come down the path of life, and I know that the huge turnout by his many friends and professional associates at his memorial service in St. John's Cathedral reflected the deep ties of affection that so many of his '48 classmates and friends from other classes felt for this strong, sensitive individual. Mac was a man's man, a lover of the outdoors who spent a large proportion of his time there throughout his life, one who stood solidly on his own two feet and, as his friend Kansas Elliott '49 put it, had not an ounce of the chameleon in him. He was totally without complaint in spite of physical handicaps that were serious; possessed of tremendous intelligence (he marveled at Shakespeare, and who can forget the A-plus or his professor's comment on a term paper written the night before he turned it in); showed unwavering loyalty to his convictions and friends; and had a marvelous sense of humor marked by a control over the spoken language such that throughout his life his pungent, succinct descriptions and stories held his listeners alternately spellbound or consumed with laughter.

Mac was a doer, both when at Dartmouth and afterward throughout the all-too-short 36 years he was allotted following his finals in February of 1948, the period which began with his arrival in the jungles of Colombia, where he joined lifetime friends Dick Howe '46 and Jim Vanderbeek '47 and ended with triumph over his physical infirmities in Denver, with the same two buddies still alongside. (Mac became an accomplished geologist and a recognized leader in the search for hydrocarbons over the face of this earth. In the international oil industry, he is generally given the credit for finding the first and still largest gas fields in the North Sea.) The many friends who had the good fortune to know him well will agree that all of us lost the best there is when Mac went to the Big Sky a week ago. We won't see another like him.

It may be presumptuous of me to list only a few of Ian's friends, but at the risk of offending those whom I unintentionally omit, I'm sure he would want to mention, in addition to Elliott, Howe, and Vanderbeek, TedThornton, Dirk Kuzmier, Don Dresher, WaltCairns, Tom Davis, Jim Browning '44, Merrill McLane '45, Deke Jackson '49, Jim Krentler '49, Bill Mackey '49, and Jay Urstadt '49.

On an entirely different subject, a few '48s have asked for comments on the current fraternity situation at Dartmouth, this particularly as I have had the opportunity for some exposure to the matter due to being in Hanover perhaps more often than most. I don't pretend to know all the facts or have all the answers, but perhaps the following will be of interest.

In my opinion the College has had to take corrective action. Anyone who in recent years has seen the skid-row appearance of so many of the fraternities in Hanover, including those on the Row, or who is aware of some of the conscienceless and irresponsible behavioral problems that put Dartmouth and Hanover into the national news a few years ago and led to the faculty resolution to abolish the system, knows that something was wrong. Thus, during the current 1983-84 academic year an extensive audit is being made by the McLaughlin administration of the physical condition of each of the houses on campus, nationals as well as locals. Also required by the coming autumn term is the adherence by each to professionally-set minimum standards of safety, condition, and aesthetics failing Which a house faces the possibility of loss of recognition by and probable sale to the College. (The alumnus will recognize the difficult financial consequences of this program on all the houses. The alumnus may also imagine the initial hard feelings produced by the onset of the program. He may also be surprised that the close working relationships of the administration and the houses since have developed into an emerging spirit of cooperation that bodes well for the future.)

In addition, an ongoing audit of life and conduct within the houses is being carried out by the College with the members "for restoring the health of the fraternity/sorority system and for relating that system's purposes more closely to the basic educational mission of the College" (per the trustees' Minary Statement of August 1983). I do not know at this time what further changes in the system itself the administration will take or recommend to the trustees, but there can be little compromise with the trustees' clear instructions "to eliminate the behavioral problems that occur among houses and to create a climate within individual houses and the system that supports the educational mission of the College." In my opinion the College does not actually wish to detroy the system in spite of the challenge set by the trustees, and probably will not do so, but will in the future considerably more than in the past ensure that minimum standards of physical condition and constructive conduct are met, consistent with the new residential life concepts of the College.

Interested '48 alumni can of course greatly assist in the continued existence and health of their houses by providing financial aid and, even more importantly, some direct oversight to those houses. These points are perhaps the real objective sought by the trustees in their Minary report, where it was stated that "the trustees believe that ultimately the ownership of all house facilities should reside with the College." A good dose of consistent alumni financial and personal participation could overcome some of the problems caused by the increased use of fraternities at Dartmouth stemming from coeducation and yearround use and those caused by transient undergraduate leadership in each house. Awakening alumni, in short, can by personal and financial participation in the lives of their houses do much to ensure that aroused trustees and administration will not see a need to destroy the fraternity system in Hanover. The burden of this message was also delivered vocally by former Alumni Councilor DickLeggat to '48 reunioners in Hanover last June.

Finally, let me pass on the news that HughScherer of Honolulu recently ran into Leigh and Roy Abbot '52 of New York' in France on one of the Great French Balloon Adventures organized every summer by Buddy Bombard '50 of McLean, Va. There was a photo of the ballooners taken near Beaune in the Burgundy country, with a chateau below, but unfortunately it can't be reproduced here because it's in color. Hugh is senior partner of a major Hawaiian law firm, while Roy is with Drexel Burnham.

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