Letters

The Dartmouth Alumni Magazine welcomes comment about College affairs and the editorial content of this Magazine. The Editor reserves the right to determine the suitability of letters for publication, using as standards accuracy, relevance, and good taste. Letters must not exceed 400 words and may be edited at the discretion of the Editor. Letters must be signed, with address and telephone included for verification.

Farewell to a Very Gentle Man

A recent letter from Nancy Elliott, director of Alumni Records, telling of the death of Alden Vaughan '17 on April 30, was a tribute to a classmate who came late to 1917's gatherings. But as he recorded one by one the obituaries of passing '17ers, Alden took on the responsibilities that fellow classmates could not or would not accept. At the time of his last illness, Alden was class president, class secretary, head class agent, treasurer, and newsletter editor. His dedication to his column in the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine and "The Sentry" made him the darling of the alumni office and he counted among his closest friends the staff in Blunt.

While Alden's last years were full of pain and serious illness, I never heard him complain or even suggest that any of his duties were too much. I felt honored to be included in many Dartmouth affairs as his companion and loved the contacts brought to me by the annual mailing to widows of 1917.

No one could feel anything but joy that Alden is now with the wife he missed so deeply, and I, for one, am sure there is a great reunion somewhere with 'l7ers welcoming a very gentle man Alden Vaughan, Dartmouth 1917.

From all of us who were privileged to know him and work with him, an affectionate farewell.

Woodstock, Vt

ROTC (cont.)

While I am completely in agreement with Frank J. Specht '35 and Ralph L. Specht '35 (May '84 issue) for their advocacy of ROTC on liberal arts campuses, I disagree with their reason; i.e., that because of their ROTC training they were "fortunate" to enter as officers rather than as enlisted men.

There are far superior reasons, too many to enumerate, to support RQTC.

The Woodlands, Tex.

Reunion: Be There!

Before the memory fades, on behalf of myself and my wife, I'd like to convey a heartfelt vote of thanks to those members of the Class of '44 and their wives who did such a magnificent job for our Fortieth Reunion! It was undoubtedly one of the finest I have attended and those who made this such a special occasion deserve recognition: William B. Hale, the reunion chairman; David T. Eckels, the reunion treasurer; Benjamin F. Jones, class president; and all those members of the Reunion Committee who worked so hard to make this a success.

To those who missed this fine event I can only say that our Fiftieth Reunion will have to surpass this one (if possible) and will have more success if everyone who can get to Hanover does so without mental reservations. Let it be known that you were missed, so next time be there! Incidentally, the weather was perfect.

Culver, Ind.

The Old Traditions

The phrase "Lest the old traditions fail" runs through my thoughts frequently and I wonder if it shouldn't be changed to read "Lest the old traditions remain."

Gone is our beloved Indian symbol despite the fact the College was originally Moor's Indian Charity School, making the symbol really very appropriate. "Wah Hoo Wah" and "Eleazar" have also fallen to the book burners who have never heard about freedom of speech. And, perhaps, gone is the great men's college that my father, my cousin, my brother and myself have loved longer than the aforementioned hatchet men. Darn! I keep using those Indian terms.

Soon the fraternities will be gone. Possibly they can be converted into kennels for the 'Timberwolves." Boy, there's a name that stirs the imagination and brings tears to one's eyes. Unfortunately, in my mind, I picture a scroungy creature skulking along the edge of the woods waiting to sneak out and tear the throat out of an unsuspecting lamb.

I will not even comment on the. use of College funds for the GSA. I can only say that I am embarrassed and ashamed to read about the actions of the GSA and of Dean Shanahan. Before he decided that he would press prosecution of Ms. Polenz, a reporter for the Review, I think the Dean should have asked himself just what he had been appointed dean of the College to do. I think that if he had wisdom, compassion, or respect for the alumni, he might have handled this whole case within the confines of his office.

I think the administration should dwell on the fact that it isn't the faculty or the administration that make the College. It is the thousands of alumni who roam the girdled earth. A college is thousands of people doing their thing with a love of country and respect for their fellow man. And that was why we adopted the Indian and why he was a revered symbol that was part of the mystique that was Dartmouth. Newcomers can't understand that; when they did away with the symbol they knew not what they did. Did they ever ask even the older Indian graduates their feelings?

No, sirree. My youngest son never finished his application to Dartmouth and is going to Georgia. Good! Better a good ole boy than a GSA.

Sarasota, Fla. P.S. To be fair, my daughter Alysa '79 is antiIndian. Well, at least our family lives within the true definitions of democracy.

Eleazar's Legacy

It was with great interest that I read the article on the Wheelock, Vt., Scholarship (March 1984). For the past year I have been helping some of Eleazar Wheelock s descendants establish a scholarship fund in his name. I think some of your readers may be interested in what we are trying to accomplish.

One of the Dartmouth alumni whom I saw during the Campaign for Dartmouth turned out to be a direct descendant of Wheelock. When he discovered that there was no memorial

to our first president on campus (except a street bearing his name), he decided, with the approval and blessing of the administration, to establish a scholarship in his name. Thus, some day there may be an Eleazar Wheelock Scholar on campus to perpetuate the name of Dartmouth's founder.

Fifty thousand dollars is needed to fund a named scholar and it was hoped that other of Eleazar's descendants and interested people would contribute to the Eleazar Wheelock Memorial Scholarship Fund. To date $6,000 has been given to the Fund and one of Eleazar's descendants has named the Fund as beneficiary of part of his estate.

It has proved much harder than I thought it would to locate descendants of Wheelock in the Dartmouth Family. In spite of help from the Alumni Records Office, the College archivist, and one of Eleazar's descendants, I have only turned up a handful. Yet, there must be many descendants and other people who would like to see an Eleazar Wheelock Scholar at Dartmouth College as a permanent memorial to our first president. We still have quite a way to go to raise the necessary $50,000. If any of your readers are interested in helping with this project, I shall be very pleased to have them contact me.

Brownsville, Vt

Errata

Although I recognize that the editors probably accept no responsibility for what may appear in Class Notes, I would welcome your making note for the permanent record that the 1934 Class Secretary has several facts quite wrong in a paragraph about me on page 55 of the May 1984 issue. Perhaps the errors were in the clipping he says was sent to him.

The Lunts appeared together in more than 20 plays. Twenty plays alone would have been no record. Other great stars have appeared in many more than 20, or 30, or 40.

As for me and Pulitzer Prize plays, that is totally wrong. I have been in only two. Many actors have appeared in two. Three is the magical number.

Only four actors in history have appeared in three prize plays. Just for fun, I'll tell you who they were: Josephine Hull, Lynn Fontanne, Glenn Anders, and Jessica Tandy. Miss Tandy is the only one still living. I hope that she lives long enough to appear in a fourth.

I'll tell Dick Gruen what I think of his euphoria at our 50th reunion.

Neiv York, N.Y.

(We try to verify as much information as we can, even in Class Notes, but this is an impossible task at best. ED.)

"Were You Really Alive in 1926?"

Recently on my way to a class officers' dinner in Hanover, I stopped at a friend's house, where I met his eight-year-old son. Noticing the class numerals on my tie, this young gentleman asked me, "Were you really alive in 1926?" My reply was, "I think so, because that's when I got my Dartmouth diploma." Men's eyes may dim, but as long as we live, our loving of the fairest of colleges will never reach a terminus. Never.

Proctorsville, Vt

Tasteless Exploitation

The New York Times tells me that the Review has again given the College a black eye. It seems-"Teresa Polenz, a freshman on the Review [attended] a Gay Students Association meeting and secretly tape-recorded it. The Revieiv published excerpts that included people describing their sexual experiences and talking about their sexual identities."

Let's have a Wah-Hoo-Wah for Miss Polenz, a young lady clearly lacking in taste, empathy for those with problems, a concern for others' right to privacy (normally a conservative belief), and a sense as to what constitutes real news.

There's nothing wrong with a conservative journal, but the Review's only serious conservative articles are those by or about such adults as Buckley, Hart, or Kilpatrick. The undergraduates who run that peculiar paper seem to spend most of their time making fun of blacks and homosexuals and American Indians and denouncing any attempt the College may make to accommodate them. I received one mailing piece which suggested that students be discouraged from studying in depth the history of America's women or blacks or natives as though true scholarship consists of churning out yet more graduate papers about James Joyce or F. Scott Fitzgerald. One would think sane folk would welcome more explorations of less-known material.

That was the same inspired mailing which suggested the restoration of traditions which had demonstrated their value over the years (as they put it) including that Wah-Hoo-Wah chant. I don't know whether such silly chatter is an attempt to win alumni support or if they consider such issues to be worth fighting over but either way they certainly sound immature.

As for the poor old Indian, a lot of us, including (I suspect) some administration figures, think the dropping of that symbol was probably an over-reaction, though one brought about by the school's previous, often tasteless exploitation of an Indian tie which Dartmouth had not earned in any meaningful way. But, so what?

Is that an important issue to these "conservatives"? Are their concerns so frivolous? And why this nastiness towards homosexuals? Were I a conservative I would object to the Review for being a paper which makes the real conservative movement sound adolescent, tacky, and mean.

Weston, Conn

"Stand as Sister Stands by Brother. .

As a recent graduate of Dartmouth reading my first Alumni Magazine, I am responding to a letter in the May issue by Les Huntley '33.

First off, I am impressed with his knowledge of the latest lingo concerning words such as "knucklehead" and "stoned." Yet these words have no bearing on the meaning of the last line in our Alma Mater, "Men of Dartmouth." True, the meaning of many words in the English language changes, but these changes are merely fads.

Richard Hovey '85 wrote those words nearly a century ago; his love for Dartmouth and the natural environment of New Hampshire abounds. Should we change the words to the song simply to guard ourselves against how other non-Dartmouth affiliated people may interpret them, or should we keep these words and continue one of Dartmouth's valuable traditions that offends none in her family, and allows us to sing for Dartmouth and the surroundings to which we are attracted?

Instead of changing the song, let's add a verse....

Men and women sing as one For the College we all love. Stand as sister stands by brother Give a hand to one another. Build a dream in the north to endure For our family of old Dartmouth Our family of old Dartmouth. When all the leaves of red have fallen To winter fires draw near Then feel the magic of the spring 'Til summer warms the year. And the friendships made at Dartmouth

We'll all treasure and hold dear.

FRAN O'DONOGHUE '84

Kingston, Mass.

Heady Company

In a recent TV special, Lillian Gish's threequarters of a century in the theatre was featured. Several scenes from the movie Way Down East, filmed in March 1920 on the Connecticut opposite Hanover, were shown.

The ice had begun to break up in the river and one scene shows Lillian prone on an ice floe, seriously hurt, with hand dangling in the icy water. Her co-star, Richard Barthelmess, became a real hero when he rescued Lillian, who was in imminent danger of going over Wilder Dam. No doubles in those days.

Dad and I were in Hanover, having lunch at the Inn that day with Harry Hillman, the track coach, and holder of several gold medals from previous Olympics in the sprints and quarter-mile, and Jeff Tesreau, the baseball coach, and old Giants star with numerous records to his credit including an ERA of 1.96. Heady company for a Vermont schoolboy.

It may prove disconcerting to our policymaking faculty who feel that ROTC endangers the academic standing of the College to know that my decision to attend Dartmouth rather than Amherst or Holy Cross hinged on the huge Alumni Gymnasium. Within that building was a standard-sized baseball infield, with a cage for batting practice on zero days in February. For the track addict there were high and broad jumping pits, pole vault standards, and a cinder track with a 100-yard straightaway.

That afternoon, as we crossed the covered bridge to the railroad station in Norwich, the river had become a raging torrent. When we reached Brattleboro, the bridge spanning the Connecticut to the New Hampshire shore had been washed away.

Thank you, Lillian, for recalling for me a memorable day.

Melrose, Mass.

Proud of Dartmouth

A Dartmouth alumnus here in Clinton, James Ramsey, is a good friend of mine. He is the attorney general in our county. He is very instrumental in promoting the visits of the Dartmouth rowing team to Clinton and Oak Ridge. Being a rowing man himself, Mr. Ramsey can pick a good location with calm water and very little marine traffic.

The purpose of this letter is to let you know how we at the theater and the town of Clinton love the visits from Dartmouth by your fine rowing team. Dartmouth College can really be proud of the students for their conduct while they visited Tennessee. They were all very well-mannered; cultured, clean-cut, friendly, polite, and the most pleasant young adults I have ever had the pleasure of knowing or performing for.

I know that Dartmouth has turned out fine movie and TV stars, great statesmen and fine businessmen. This has to be attributed to the fine leadership and guidance of the great teachers and instructors at your institution. I only wish that I were fortunate enough to have attended Dartmouth.

I cannot emphasize enough the great pleasure we received from the visits of your students to our theater and town. They made a great impression on us. Please say hello to the student body for us. Tell them we are pulling for them because they are the leaders of the future.

Clinton, Tenn