Letters

Avoid Inbreeding

I note from comments of fellow alumni that the new president of Dartmouth should unquestionably have a Dartmouth background. I strongly disagree.

Dartmouth seems to me to be rather inbred as it is. What major corporation does not often seek "outsiders," with fresh viewpoints, on its board? We need on the Board and in the administration a leavening of able people who do not look only through the rose-colored glasses of "Dartmouth Undying" (a wonderful song!).

I have written to the Search Committee recommending that the next president definitely not be a Dartmouth graduate. And I am certain that the Board, too, would benefit from a strong infusion of non-Dartmouth alumni. Dartmouth is great. But surely there is much experience outside of the Hanover family from which Dartmouth could benefit.

As partial substantiation of my contention, I quote from President Hopkins' inaugural address, as cited last year by Alumni Council President Mark Harty: "Many a man draws all the inspiration for his enthusiasm for his college from his memories when an undergraduate...Knowledge of conditions in the time of a man's own undergraduate course will not be sufficient."

Blue Bell, Pennsylvania

Required Course

The Alumni Magazine seems to be flooded with letters yearning for the good old days and decrying the fact that the College is not the same as it was decades ago.

I have just returned from attending the Horizons Program at Dartmouth, in which visitors are given a "crash course" in today's College. I might suggest, before the magazine prints a letter lamenting the passing of the good old days, that the writer be required to attend the program. At least at that point he will have had the opportunity to make an intelligent judgment.

Morristown, New Jersey

Required Reading

My most enjoyable and satisfying reading this winter has been Charlie Widmayer's book Hopkins of Dartmouth. Every alumnus should read it.

I call attention to Hoppy's quotation on page 140: . . the emotional alumnus, harking back only to undergraduate days, is an incomplete alumnus of minimum value at best and a positive detriment at his worst."

It is my privilege to be a member of the St. Bernard Fish and Game Club in the Province of Quebec where Hoppie and his great friend Ned French spent many hours relaxing and reflecting on the problems of heading a growing College in a changing world. His charm was never greater than when he was with friends and guests such as Red Blaik, Harry Ellinger, Paul Sample and Sid Hayward telling how he missed the "big one."

Glens Falls, New York

The Song

As an undergraduate, I voted in favor of the introduction of coeducation at Dartmouth. I am not disturbed by the removal of the Indian as a symbol for the College. I am no reactionary but I am not afraid to be called one.

I do not know which is more ill-advisedthe attempt to change the alma mater, or the timing. Indeed, the timing is so utterly inappropriate as to lead one to question whether those advocating that change at this critical juncture do have the College's best interests at heart, or just their own. Dartmouth desperately needs unification; why raise a side issue that will inevitably inflame? Let us not flatter ourselves: Dartmouth has far more pressing problems. Why divide and distract the community?

How ironic that we who helped usher in a future we would not ourselves enjoy are now to be deprived of this cherished symbol of our past. Take away that song, and what will you leave? Prudence demands tabling the issue. But if the powers that be cannot be prudent, why then should they be trusted to be wise?

Chicago, Illinois

Why are a small group straining to change Dartmouth's traditions the Indian symbol, Hovey murals, the alma mater? Let's get on with education and stop suggesting our traditions need fixing. Apparently the student body doesn't feel the need for changes as evidenced by increasing number of applicants for admission and I've not seen an alumni poll suggesting such changes.

Vero Beach, Florida

I read with fascination the recent proposal to form a committee to solemnly ponder changing the college song.

Now that nothing is sacred, allow me to suggest a committee to solemnly ponder changing the College's name. After all, Dartmouth's origins are ignominious at best. It was founded in part as an Indian (God forbid!) school rather than a Native American school. Moreover, the very name is the English aristocracy. You know, those are the fellows who fell into disfavor at Lexington in 1775, and who, for generations, have been picking on the minority group to which I belong. Of course, English bashing is a contemporary delight, what with their tacit support of the bad guys in South Africa. So let's get rid of the name.

For what it is worth, I propose Dumbo College D.C. for short. Our mascot can be the elephant and we can all go to the football games caricatured by big ears and long noses. We'd be a smash with the eastern press.

Sylvania, Ohio

Decent Stand

I would like to congratulate Debbie Stone, the Dartmouth student who appeared on the "Today Show" in February. Her stand for decency and good taste against the sexual animalism that seems to have overwhelmed our society was most refreshing.

Shrewsbury, Massachusetts

Alienation Fight

As a former member of the Interracial Concerns Committee, I was disturbed by Jane Blansfield's reference in the JanuaryFebruary Letters as "the DCD's predecessor." The two organizations existed concurrently and, though there was some overlap in membership, the ICC and DCD differed both in their goals and in their methods.

The DCD, as its name suggests, was a lobbying organization dedicated to the single issue of College divestment from firms doing business in South Africa. As this group's purpose was based upon a single concrete goal, its operations were confrontational, and confrontation inevitably leads to alienation.

The ICC, by contrast, based its existence not on a policy decision but on a concept. Its members shared the conviction that Dartmouth's various ethnic communities, drawing strength from their unique heritages, could contribute positively to the Dartmouth experience and to the Dartmouth family.

Under the leadership of John Hueston '86, we sought to educate the campus, working not only with the ethnic organizations but also with fraternities and athletic teams. As attitudes toward apartheid and divestment threatened to isolate Dartmouth's black community, we strived to heighten awareness on these issues. Apartheid and divestment, however, represented only a portion of our agenda, and we never took a public stand on College divestment.

As we were working against culturally ingrained attitudes, we often felt frustration, but never alienation. A fundamental belief of ours, moreover, was that minority students did not need to feel alienated. Whereas a student would join the DCD prepared for alienation, one would join the ICC to fight alienation.

Harriman, New York

Racist Wheelock?

On behalf of Eleazar Wheelock and American blacks, I would like to react to Professor Raymond Hall's essay "A Reaffirmation of Mission" in the November issue. Dr. Hall evidently believes that the historic Christian position includes a proposition that . . ministers [such as Wheelock] . . . accepted that blacks occupied the bottom of the Chain of Being and slavery therefore did not violate the will of the Divine Creator."

As evidence, Dr. Hall has determined that Wheelock was a slave owner who excluded blacks from and only tokenly included native Americans in the Dartmouth experience. He implies in his essay as well that Christianity, during Wheelock's era, excluded blacks as well as supported slavery. Was Wheelock a racist? Was his religious mission to Hanover really hypocrisy?

In opposition to Dr. Hall's proposition is the fact that the Reverend Wheelock was a missionary sponsored by Church groups and individuals who supported Biblical Christianity which neither excludes blacks nor advocates slavery. The Earl of Dartmouth in England was a benefactor as well to the Reverend John Newton. Newton was a former slave trader who became a Christian, wrote the hymn "Amazing Grace, and eventually became a minister to William Wilberforce in London. Mr. Wilberforce was a Christian in the British Parliament who led the political battle which ended slave trade to the Americas in the 18th century. Wheelock, the Earl of Dartmouth, Newton, and Wilberforce were contemporaries who had interlocking personal elationships and shared a commitment to the doctrines of Biblical Christianity.

Also in opposition to Dr. Hall's proposition is the well-known fact that American blacks have had a rich and admirable history of being a conduit to the pluralistic American society of the "Good News" of Biblical Christianity—both before and after the Civil War, as both slaves and freedmen, in both preaching and in Gospel music. A recent example is the Reverend Martin Luther King, named in honor of Martin Luther, the 16th century monk and beacon of Biblical Christianity during the Reformation.

Addendum: Christian slave owners were bound to be brothers in love to the slave and thus the cruel realities of slavery were abolished in Christianity on a primary person-to-person basis, rather than on an impersonal socio-political basis. The Bible has a chapter on this entitled "Philemon." Philemon was a wealthy Christian slave owner and Onesimus was a runaway slave who became a Christian. The apostle Paul wrote a letter to Philemon asking him to take back Onesimus to love him and treat him like a brother, a member of his family. St. Paul writes "... have him back for good no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother" (Philemon 16).

I suggest that before Dr. Hall's ink dries on his new book "Race In the Ivory Tower" that he study Biblical Christianity of: 1) Wheelock, the Earl of Dartmouth, John Newton, and William Wilberforce ... 2) Martin Luther and the Reverend Martin Luther King. He will perhaps find that real Christianity is quite different than he has supposed.

Weston, Massachusetts

An edited version of Thorsen's letter was in production for the March issue before we receivedthe revision printed above. Because the letter hasgenerated much comment, we thought it appropriate to publish the longer version. Ed.