1956

The publicity attending incidents at Dartmouth as this is written (early February) is not welcome. Regardless of our views on the personalities involved, however, and it is recognized that they may be strong, the institution itself needs our support. Participating in the debate over college governance is important. Participation in the Alumni Fund is also important. Withholding financial support to the College which has given so much to us in the past is not an effective lever, in this writer's judgment. Think about it.

This year's Fun City Fantastic took place during the weekend of January 31 through February 2. As usual the weekend was kicked off by an extended executive committee meeting chaired by Ayatollah Keare. It was variously attended by Conroy, Spaulding, Oman,Tamagni, McKenna, Weinstein, Minely,Faulkner (R.R.), Taylor (R.S.), Schattman, Sodokoff, Shore, Rosenwald(T.H.), Zissu, Clark (L.J.), Mullen, and Malin. After a discussion of the importance of improving class participation in the Alumni Fund and a review of the forward social plans by Cube Conroy, we turned to the major subject for discussion, governance of the College.

The College has been much in the news of late: coaching contracts, shanties on the Green, and the faculty committee on governance. It is inevitable and healthy that an institution such as Dartmouth, in the pursuit of educational excellence, engender diversity. It is to be hoped, however, that such constructive diversity does not lead to divisive confrontation. If it does, the institution will be judged by how well it resolves the conflict. It is this latter concern that is currently troublesome.

The class of '56 is not new to injecting itself in the ongoing affairs of the College. Our objective, however, has been one of constructive contribution, recognizing that ours, an alumni viewpoint, is a constituency of the College which has a rightful role in the decision-making process of the institution. We have chosen to work within the system in our efforts. The discussion in late January in New York concluded with an expression of concern over the present governance of the College and a determination to proceed with efforts to make our views heard in appropriate fora.

Following the meeting the debate continued during the social hour and dinner where we were joined by wives and other classmates until we numbered about 50. Seen in the throng were Kirby Fowler,Mike Grunebaum, Harold Gordon, WallyPugh, Joel Ash, and Al Friedman. Lu Martin, Dartmouth's acting director of development, bravely and ably handled the onslaught of questions concerning happenings at the College. As acknowledged by all, she also "listened" to our concerns. The evening ended with our signing a 150-foot get-well card to AbnerOakes, delivered to him a couple of days later by Line and Robin Spaulding. Ab is in the long process of recovering from an operation he had in mid-December.

News from other classmates is somewhat sparse. Don Davidoff is reported to have represented Dartmouth at the inauguration of the 15th president of RPI during the fall. Don lives in Albany, N.Y., and was last reported to be working on nuclear emergency planning for the State Health Department. As luck would have it, following my announcement that PeteBernard was an executive vice president, he has been promoted to the position of vice chairman of PruCapital, a unit of Prudential Insurance providing financial services to public utilities and middle market industrial companies. Anyone else wishing a promotion, feel free to write me.

Endicott Johnson has announced the appointment of Charles Murray as president and CEO effective January 1. He will be responsible for all the shoe-related companies of the North American operations of Hanson Trust, which owns Endicott. Prior employers read like the "Who's Who" of American Footwear, including Bass, Oomphies, and Trimfoot. After those, Endicott Johnson sounds so conservative. Congratulations!

A recent issue of Properties Magazine from Cleveland announces the inaugural column of "a well-known authority on tax and real estate law"-none other than Wilton S. Sogg. Wilt adds this to a long string of other achievements, including professor of law at Cleveland State University, membership on the President's Commission on the Holocaust, member of the National Executive Council of the American Jewish Committee, and host of a weekly radio show, "Business and the Law." He is also reported to "ride to the hounds." In his spare time he is with the law firm of Hahn, Loeser, Freedheim, Dean, and Wellman in Cleveland.

Remember that notwithstanding the fact we left Dartmouth 30 years ago we will not celebrate the event until June 1987. It does take some of us a while to get our act together, but this is ridiculous. Peace.

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