Clashing symbols

The latest on the College symbol controversy:

An anonymous alumnus has provided funding for the Gallup polling organization to survey both the alumni and the student body on the symbol issue. A questionnaire listing some ten different symbols is being distributed to selected members of both groups. The College has had no involvement in the design of the questionnaire or in the polling process. President McLaughlin answered a question about the poll during the Alumni Council meeting in early June by saying the issue "was a policy matter taken up by the Trustees" and is not necessarily a matter for "institutional determination by a poll," although "anybody is certainly free to take a poll."

President McLaughlin had earlier made a public statement on the symbol issue in The Dartmouth of May 23. "The 'lndian symbol' appears to have become for Dartmouth College," he said, "an issue ... for which no common denominator seems to exist, and thus there seems to be no realistic opportunity for finding or creating consensus." He stated, however, that he has "come to believe firmly that it is indefensibly wrong to employ as a sym- bol (as a mascot if you will) a representation of a segment of our society that is eminently deserving of our respect.

"I suggest no criticism of past motivations in the matter of the Indian

symbol," he went on, "for I do not believe that disrespect has ever been intended." But, he said, "in a world ever more pluralistic and more compressed, it will require sustained dedication, as well as extraordinary sensitivity, tolerance, and understanding if we are to fulfill" the mission of the College.

"Others may disagree with my position. That is their privilege," he concluded. "On one thing we should not disagree, however. . . . Over the long pull, it is a common commitment to the preservation of this opportunity [to nurture individual growth within the educational process] for future Dartmouth students that must be our unifying bond, rather than any allegiance to a symbol."

Making his class's 40th reunion a uniquely felicitous occasion was the announcement of a $5-million gift to the DC AC Development Project from John Berry '44,second from right. The largest gift ever to DCAC, it sets the pace for the rest of the$11.5 million of construction and renovation to Alumni Gym and Davis VarsityHouse, which will be known as the John W. Berry Sports Center. Giving a rousewith Berry are, left to right, Jack Harned '50, vice president of alumni and publicaffairs; Athletic Director Ted Leland; President David McLaughlin '54; and, on thefar right, Addison Winship '42, vice president of alumni affairs and developmentemeritus. The gift was announced, just at presstime, during 1944's June 11-14reunion.