Letters

Keeping Perspective

From this distant location, the events on Dartmouth College's campus do appear, at times, quite incomprehensible. Here the land and the people are busy with the immediacy of day-to-day living and, at times, just surviving. The needs for survival and living are clear, sharply defined and easy to understand.

Just when this old grad despaired at the seeming tortuousness of standards and values on campus, Matthew Garcia '88, in the November Undergraduate Chair, restores the belief and trust that perspectives are not lost at Dartmouth. It is reassuring.

May there be many more Matthew Garcias at Dartmouth.

Minot, South Dakota

Matthew Garcia's Undergraduate Chair blends several frightening comments into an otherwise well-written and logical argument. Yes, an articulate and open- minded discussion of issues is vital to the intellectual forum that Dartmouth represents. I agree that blind adherence to emotion may cloud the logical debate of a given topic and may put a damper on the rights of those with an unpopular (unjust) opinion. But we must not confuse these points with the symbolic representation of an idea.

Symbols such as the shanties say more than any vocal argument. Should the Dartmouth community be so intellectual and politely logical that productive symbolic dissent is scorned? I do not believe so. We must remember that as educated and ra- tionally argumentative as we all are, it is often those who are most opinionated, stubborn and symbolic in their actions who have the greatest effect on the state of humanity. Last month Dartmouth celebrated Martin Luther King Day. I would hate to think that his symbolic marches were held in vain.

New York, New York

Matthew Garcia's Undergraduate Chair is simply the best student column I have read in the magazine. What a shame that there are "students and teachers" who come to Dartmouth to cry out in the wilderness instead of listening up and learning what other students, faculty and Great Minds have to say. Come to think of it, things haven't changed all that much in Hanover over the past decade. I must confess that I could have used such sage advice myself.

Rest assured that ideological pit bulls hound thinking people 'round the girdled earth—not only at Dartmouth. They are everywhere! But have no fear, they flee at the first scent of intelligent, principled thought.

Boston, Massachusetts

Football Triumph

Well, we finally had a triumph in the Ivy League as we tied Pennsylvania. They had seven points after touchdown and we had seven points; of course, they had seven touchdowns too.

Kansas City, Missouri

Wrong Association

I strenuously object to material printed in the summer Letters comparing me with Adolf Hitler and my writings with Mein Kampf.

I have taught at Dartmouth since 1963, and have a national reputation as a journalist.

I have never had any sympathy whatsoever for the doctrines and practice of National Socialism.

Professor of English

When we published the letters, we did not thinkProfessor Hart could be reasonably associatedwith Adolf Hitler, and we do not think so now.

In the interest of providing an open forum,our policy is to publish virtually every letter sentin that is not factually wrong or libelous. However, we do not feel that Dartmouth is well servedby hyperbolic rhetoric, and we yearn for morereasoned debate in the Letters section.—Ed.

Outmanned Athletics

Reluctantly, I must change my support to those who have successfully advocated and achieved the overthrow of the Indian symbol, although my reasons are totally different from those used by the perpetrators.

The Dartmouth athletic teams of the past four or five years are no longer worthy of bearing the proud Indian name. I feel nothing but sincere sympathy for such fine men as former Head Football Coach Joe Yukica, present Coach Buddy Teevens, and especially for the young men who try their best in what must be a totally frustrating effort.

It becomes more obvious every day that our young men are not only outmanned, but also overmatched.

One would certainly hope that the Dartmouth academic achievements are in indirect proportion to the results on the fields of athletics.

Is it possible that there are two sets of admission standards in the Ivy Leagueone for Columbia and Dartmouth, and another for the rest of the schools?

Mansfield, Ohio

Censoring Outsiders

Gee, it sure is comforting to hear the good news from the College. Speakers sponsored by the Dartmouth Review and the Ernest Hopkins Institute are not being censored by the College. Rather, it is those two "offcampus groups" who refuse to cooperate, in efforts to "protect the College from exploitation by outsiders."

Firstly, who was it that decided those Dartmouth alums and Dartmouth students constitute "outside groups" which need "cosponsorship?" Why, it was the very same bunch who refused to recognize them in the first place. How very symmetrical. How Daniel Ortegan.

Now, those non-censors require that "outside groups" meet "regulations" so unspecific as to be unwritten. All that is required is that affiliation with the "outside party" be "in the interest of the College, its faculty and students." Meaning, of course, that if any member of any of the above groups should object, then approval is withdrawn. It sure sounds fair and unbiased to me.

However, another tiny question arises: From exactly what sort of "exploitation" does the College seek to protect herself? Has the Inn's silverware count been decreasing? Have there been other acts of vandalism, besides those committed by "righteous" liberals? Or are the closed minds at Dartmouth College, a la Allan Bloom, afraid of exploitation by a new idea? That can hardly be so. After all, we are constantly thirsting after "diversity." I look forward to hearing more about this dreaded "exploitation."

Fitchburg, Massachusetts

According to founders of both the Hopkins Institute and the Dartmouth Review, they, andnot the College, decided that they should be independent.—Ed.

Bridge Jumping

We were dismayed to see the October College item, "Dangerous Diving," in which two undergraduates were pictured diving off Ledyard Bridge. Although the article did point out its danger, the writer also described the activity as "keeping cool" and "thrilling to beat the heat."

It should be pointed out that at least 700 healthy persons each year suffer permanent paralysis from diving into unknown waters (as pictured) and that a near fatality occurred this June from such swimming (not a Dartmouth student!). To depict and glorify such activities only encourages such behavior and has no place in this magazine.

MEDICAL DIRECTOR

INJURY PREVENTION RESOURCE AND RESEARCH CENTER Hanover, New Hampshire

Letters Blizzards

How ironic that the November issue, which carries a blizzard of letters to the editor, also carries a letter advocating complete elimination of such letters! Like me, many readers frequently turn to the Letters column first, because it contains thoughts and ideas which are more interesting than the biographical data that make most of the Class Notes dull, although important. I hope the Letters section will continue to flourish in volume, ideology and variety.

I write as one who has been the stimulus of another blizzard of letters. About 40 years ago, when class secretary, I included in my column the question, "Why, when most of the country votes Democratic, do most Dartmouth people vote Republican?" The volume of letters protesting and defending the injection of politics into the magazine was so great that, about three issues later, the editor called "Halt! The issue is closed!" Much of the liveliness of the magazine promptly faded; don't let it happen now.

Washington, D.C.

Conservative Arts

From a review of the letters to the editor in recent issues it is clear that a number of our alumni, particularly among the older classes, hold an anathema to the word "liberal."

In order to keep all these worthies in our sphere of expanding interests, and in view of the continued presence of the Dartmouth Review and the Hopkins Institute, might I suggest that our College become the first of the Ivy League's "conservative arts" institutions and advertise itself as such? In any event it is time we all recognize that there is a good deal more to Dartmouth College than is represented by words, symbols and a plethora of rhetoric—although they and the letters certainly enliven the magazine's contents.

New Haven, Connecticut

Pulp and Propaganda

As our new president was speaking, eloquently, about the need for the College to rededicate itself to the intellectual life, I received your last issue which resembled nothing so much as a football program.

In the last five years, we have seen the magazine degenerate from an excellent publication to pulp and propaganda. Do you suppose we can expect some substance in the future?

Denver, Colorado