Letters

The President's Case

How fortunate we are to have President Freedman at Dartmouth! My earnest congratulations to the selection committee that brought him to us. Finally, above the sound and fury of various peripheral extremists can be heard a calm, reasoned voice calling us back to the central function of the university: the nurturing of the life of the mind.

"Lest the old traditions fail" has, for too long, been undersold as a legitimization of the status quo. President Freedman urges us to rededicate ourselves to the higher Dartmouth tradition of fostering excellence—a tradition that, paradoxically, mandates change. We ignore this distinction at our peril.

I applaud Freedman's global perspective, and I look forward to our future recognition as one of the great world universities. Dartmouth is in good hands. I am upping mv alumni fund ante, and I encourage others to join me.

Brookline, Massachusetts

In my opinion, President Freedman's vision for Dartmouth's future alternates between nonsense and drivel. Although my first thought was that the purpose was to encourage debate on the issues, my conclusion is that he was serious.

His initial frightening assumption is that a description of the College which he has extracted from a "commercially published guidebook" is fact. He then concludes that there exists a stereotype of "today's Dartmouth" for which there are essentially only two alternative solutions—admit more "creative loners" who "march to the beat of a different drummer" and female students.

The President then states the need for more "students of peak achievement" at Dartmouth. Apparently our president does not like the current student population, but the prospect of students who do well on standardized tests appears to absolutely thrill him.

The analysis then disintegrates into a call for a student from every country, international education, and more foreign language students (presumably in Farsi).

The same issue of the Alumni Magazine includes five pages on "Dartmouth's Prospects for the Winter Olympics." I can't help but wonder how many of these studentathletes would fit within President Freedman's concept for Dartmouth's future. How many (both male and female) would have been bumped in favor of President freedman's dream for a greater international mix or "creative loners" who "march to a different drummer?"

Portsmouth, Nev Hampshire

I've waited 32 years to hear a Dartmouth president give voice to the Eastern orientation that President Freedman has set forth.

As a Dartmouth late-bloomer, a journalist who had to go on to Yale and Stanford for his Asian studies and has spent the best of his post-Dartmouth years reporting Asia, I offer a wholehearted Bravo, President Vox Clam! Godspeed, and as the Chinese might offer, Yi-lu, p'ing-an!

Half Moon Bay, California

It's a small thing, but I like having a president who calls the place Dahtmth.

Los Angeles, California

I am glad that President Freedman will expand the academic programs to include other cultures, religions, languages and civilizations, rather than to concentrate only on "Western Civilization." However, I am disappointed that he considers the past history of Dartmouth, its Indian tradition and other ideas unimportant and will not return to the previous Dartmouth environment. Since members of my family are professors and part of the academic world, I can understand Freedman's feeling of academic excellence. But emphasis on top academic standards should not omit the past. It will take years of Hanover living for the president to appreciate what I am saying.

New York, New York

I've been waiting for years for someone to state publicly that the stereotype of the Dartmouth student and the truths on which it rests are harmful to the College.

The problem is rooted in part in the alumni interview procedure that helps determine which students shall be admitted. (I remain convinced that a major reason I was accepted had to do with the fact that I arrived at my interview wearing a cast on my leg—the result of an injury received in football practice. Were it not for that, this New Yorker named Stern might not have made it, and might not, therefore, have studied with Sidney Cox and been subjected to the spell cast by John Mecklin.) The Dartmouth of my day was not, as the guidebook notes, a place for intellectuals. Nor had its climate changed much, my son informed me, when he attended the College in the seventies.

The stereotype was accurate. And I suspect that it still is. Moreover, as I've already suggested, it is going to be difficult to make any change in admissions policy as long as alumni exercise so strong an influence.

Hastings-on-Hudson, New York

Freedman's message is superb. As much as I love the College as it was we must face up to the world as it is today.

Our College is small enough to adjust its sights. I believe the great majority of alumni will support this course.

Glens Falls, New York

After reading President Freedman's talk I felt better about Dartmouth than I have in years. The words were clear and forceful and the goals he has set are inspiring.

Princeton, New Jersey

It was ironic to find an advertisement for the Ernest Martin Hopkins Institute 11 pages after Freedman's piece. 1 think it typifies what he is up against.

Mt. Kisco, New York

Dartmouth Style

That quotation from Ski Magazine in the February College section made me feel much more comfortable. I can now ignore those smart-a kids in the lift line who snicker at my seven footers and vintage of '42 leather boots. Thanks.

Bar Mills, Maine

Spelling Error

Why was it necessary to include Ray Sozzi's spelling error from the portion of the letter he sent to The Dartmouth which appeared in "The Way With Words" sidebar in the February issue? Obviously, the editors wished to demonstrate that the "detractors" of President Freedman's plans for the future aren't particularly intelligent and so should not be paid attention to. This transparent attempt to denigrate the substance of an argument by pointing out stylistic weaknesses is the shabbiest of rhetorical and journalistic tricks and has no place in the magazine.

I defy the editors of the Alumni Magazine to assert that every letter they receive goes into the magazine without emendations. Mr. Sozzi should have been given the same courtesy especially since his remarks were appreciably more rational than many of the letters which the Magazine prints.

Madison, Connecticut

For purposes of accuracy, our policy is to printpreviously published material verbatim.— Ed.

False I.D.

The Alumni Fund's 1988 calendar, "Dartmouth Past and Present," is interesting and a welcome P.R. piece from the College. But in preparing it, someone goofed in the identification of one of the professors riding in Dean Seymour's car in the 1961 Bicentennial Parade (opposite the page for August).

Francis Childs was a professor of English, not history. A Dartmouth graduate of 1906, with an M.A. from the College in 1907 and a Ph.D. from Harvard, he became an extracurricular historian because of his interest in his native Henniker, New Hampshire, and his lifelong residence in Hanover. But he did not teach history.

As primarily a college administrator for 50 years, I am convinced that, above all, it is the teachers who make an institution of higher education great and influential. Though the Dartmouth Review is bitterly critical of the present Dartmouth faculty, I'm sure it remains the primary element in Dartmouth's greatness, as it was when I was in college 60 years ago.

Kingston, Rhode Island

Francis Horn is president emeritus of the University of Rhode Island, Pratt Institute, and Albertus Magnus College.—Ed.

Sound Musician

I was saddened to read in the winter issue the cursory obituary of Donald E. Cobleigh '23. It deserves expansion.

Don was one of the bright stars of the faculty in my day. A sound musician, a student of Lili Boulanger, he was an excellent organist and pianist. He played frequently at Chapel services and also directed the music at St. Denis Church. I first knew him as director of the Freshman Glee Club where his verve inspired us as we sang in Etna or at Colby Junior College.

Later he led the College Glee Club to national recognition with Fred Waring and was responsible for the rearrangement and reinvigoration of the great songs of Dartmouth. He supervised a memorable recording of these songs. None who heard it can forget the album's concluding number, with Baker's bells chiming in on the closing bars of "Dartmouth Undying."

Don taught two music courses: a general survey and a study of modern music. The classes were calculated to supply the foundation an educated person needed to enjoy music. They were attended by football players as well as intellectuals and provided for many an inspiration and source of satisfaction which have permanently enriched their lives.

Most importantly, Don's interest in students was not limited to the classroom. He maintained a concern with their hopes and achievements. His house on Rope Ferry Road, where his mother resided, was always open, even for overnight stays on his frigid porch. I shall never forget his kindness to me when I returned to Hanover after the death of my father in my sophomore year.

A man of great talent and sympathy, a loyal son of Dartmouth, he gave much to the College and its students. His contribution is worthy of note and of emulation.

Washington, D.C.

Market Crash

As an investment manager and member of a national securities exchange, I read with interest the January College item concerning Dartmouth's investment policies during 1987. Now that the blame for the stock market collapse is being debated daily in Congress and the media, it is informative to see some of the culprits unmasked in the Alumni Magazine: namely College Treasurer Robert E. Field and the Dartmouth Trustees.

According to the article, during 1987 Mr. Field and the Trustees decided to engage in a strategy known as "portfolio insurance" for the endowment. This strategy was so seductive (apparently Mr. Field still doesn't understand how it all went wrong) because it promised that elusive "free lunch" to fiduciaries such as the Trustees. Instead of having to make hard decisions about valuation levels and asset allocation among equities and other investments, they were promised that portfolio insurance would significantly reduce any downside market volatility while upside potential remained intact.

Of course, as even most naive investors know, the financial markets provide no free lunches. What the salesmen never mentioned and what Dartmouth fiduciaries were too eager to overlook is that such a strategy could never work in any size for very long in the real world. This is because portfolio insurance is based on the absurd premise that reasonably priced "insurance" can be purchased while everyone in a crowded theater is yelling "Fire!"

If portfolio insurance had just been another investment scam that so-called prudent investors fall prey to all-too-often, we could just add it to the bottom of a very long list. Unfortunately, this particular scam was a major contributing factor to the near-total collapse of our financial markets. It is ironic that we as alumni will be asked to repair the damage to the endowment which was precipitated in part by the misguided investment strategies of our own Trustees. I think that it is time for Mr. Field and the Trustees involved in investment policy to be put out to pasture before they come up with any more great ideas for the endowment.

Winston-Salem, North Carolina

The reality is that "Dartmouth's welltimed caution," the introduction of a "portfolio protection insurance plan," was more a cause of the market's collapse than a stabilizing agent against it.

As one of but a few hundred large investors in the market, Dartmouth's endowment fund moved, albeit quickly, with the herd of money managers in instituting such plans. As these computerized protection plans kicked in faster than hands could override them, the bottom dropped out. Meanwhile, the 60 percent of the market made up of small investors simply .watched from the side.

In this light, Dartmouth's performance seems less successful.

Bloomingdale, New Jersey

Hoarded Error

Probably hordes of people are writing to you at this very moment to comment on an error in Jack Aley's otherwise very fine article in the winter 1987 issue about Alumni Computer College. The error I refer to appears on page 38: "Not if she's also got the database and hordes it!" This use of hordes instead of hoards seems to illustrate exactly the trouble with using a word processor: how is it to know which you mean? The human intelligence is still required to monitor these fine distinctions.

This intensive computer course sounds very tempting. Not to be computer-literate these days seems embarrassingly old-fashioned, especially when one's offspring all utilize this technology in so many ways. Sounds like a challenging retirement activity for Dartmouth husband and Wellesley wife.

Amarillo, Texas

One of the computer's many advantages is thatit makes a convenient source of blame. Indeed,in this case our computerized spell checker failedto catch the mistake. But so did the editors, whodo even more proofreading than they did beforethe era of word processing. Human intelligencewas the only asset we lacked.—Ed.

Sports Solution

In the February Letters, David Rainey asked whether Dartmouth might have different admission standards from the rest of the Ivy League that were negatively affecting our athletic performance.

A number of relevant columns appear in the very same issue of the Alumni Magazine. On pages 11, 15, 18, 31, and 32 we learn of the phenomenal successes of Dartmouth's women athletes, from the nation's top-ranked basketball and field hockey teams to the world's top-ranked disabled alpine skiers. Then on page 12 we read that fewer women are being admitted to Dartmouth than to Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. I think Mr. Rainey is onto somethingwe should be admitting more women!

Los Angeles, California

Foreign Policy

In the November issue, Stephen Bosworth is concerned that a democracy cannot have a consistent foreign policy because of various constraints. It would be far more appropriate for him to question why our government cannot have a foreign policy that is democratic. Certainly he must be aware of the fact that we do have a foreign policy and it conforms to his view that it is more important to be consistent than 100 percent correct.

Unfortunately our foreign policy has been almost 100 percent incorrect and immoral, and it profanes the very principles our government claims to support. Starting with the Monroe Doctrine, our foreign policy has been based on protecting financial and business interests disregarding the tragic consequences to the people in whose countries we intervene.

Perhaps the constraint Mr. Bosworth laments is the need for the State Department to tell the truth. We have an overt foreign policy aided and abetted by covert actions that deal with illegal mining of harbors, assassinations, drug smuggling, death squads, covert and not so covert wars, and untold misery and mayhem for millions of people.

The need for secrecy is quite absurd since the only people who are deceived are the citizens of the United States who pay for our sponsored terrorism—not only with their hard-earned taxes but in the depletion of our assets that could be put to better use at home. Humanitarian supplies instead of weapons could make far more friends and not force many to turn to communism to protect themselves from our counter-insurgencies and repression. Until we end the tyranny in countries we control our foreign policies may be consistent but are doomed to failure. What is worse is that these policies carry the seeds of our own destruction.

Newton Highlands, Massachusetts

It seems to me our wonderful Alumni Magazine is straying much too far afield. Take Stephen Bosworth's essay in the November issue! What has all this garbage that been in every, paper on every radio and plastered over TV ad nauseum got to do with Dartmouth? I see no connection!

Bosworth writes well. Why not let him cover athletics or studies or women or single dormitories? There's plenty to write about at Dartmouth.

Port Washington, New York

Unwholesome Kits

After much consideration I have finally decided to write concerning my views on Dartmouth's "safer sex" kits. I am against them.

In the face of the AIDS epidemic, I suppose the administration believed they were acting responsibly. But I'm afraid that just the opposite is true.

When I first read Professor Jeffrey Hart's editorial on the subject a while back, I was appalled. Like Professor Hart, I had never heard of several of the sexual acts that the kit introduced. It is hard to understand why such self-destructive acts as "fisting" and "water sports" are condoned. Seeing freshman students being presented with these materials at registration creates an ugly picture. Assuming that many of them have never been exposed to such materials, this will be one of their first "learning experiences" at Dartmouth!

I must ask myself, why is it that our colleges have refused to understand the implications of such a so-called "progressive action? Why is it that so many educators have refused to stand up for wholesome and moral values? Such disregard does not reflect a genuine concern for the well-being of others.

While in specific situations, it may be appropriate for the College to supply "safer sex" materials, to do so indiscriminately is irresponsible and dangerous. In the tradition of the liberal arts education, the administration should examine the issues surrounding "safer sex" more closely. And while they are doing so, the distribution of the kits should be discontinued.

New York, New York

Logical Extremes

While I am fascinated with the logic and clarity and boldness of Mark Sawyer's critique of his classmate Charles Moore IV in the Winter issue Letters, I am also perplexed.

It appears that many arguments taken to their logical extreme often produce results that are less than desirable. While on the one hand, free expression and unlimited use of First Amendment rights works wonders among the literati, we of the working world often find that lines must be drawn. Are we free to advocate white supremacy? Genocide? Repeal of women's rights? Return to slavery?

Are such arguments manifestations of free expression, of "intellectual and creative freedoms?" Of course not. They are irresponsible, counterproductive and unnecessary at best. Really now, if we continue to choose to live in a democratic society, even our First Amendment rights must have certain limitations.

Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

New Preamble

How about this as a basis for future harmony in the Dartmouth family? A proposed preamble for promotional and informative publications of the College:

In 1769 the Earl of Dartmouth helped Eleazar Wheelock to establish a school in America for the education of Indian youth in the knowledge, culture and wisdom achieved by the aristocracy of Great Britain. This required teachers and students wellgrounded in that tradition.

As America became free of Britain and the aristocracy, and developed into what it is today, Dartmouth College has continued to attempt the finest education possible in the best that is America. Just as America became the beacon light of freedom and the hope of men everywhere, so Dartmouth welcomes youth of every state and nation to an education in its tradition.

Its purpose is not to make one a better Bostonian or Chicagoan, Yankee or Rebel, Christian or Jew, Indian or African, but rather by studying every influence that has molded America, and offering fellowship with the most promising youth in America's leadership of the world. Thus every graduate can become a more effective representative of his or her own traditions, while contributing to the advancement of the human condition in the American way.

No one is excluded from Dartmouth because of what he or she is or thinks, but rather is selected for promising high character, ability and devotion to the principles that have made America, and Dartmouth, great.

The Trustees of Dartmouth are responsible to the alu mni/ae and charged with appointing an administration capable of ensuring a faculty and student body and facilities adequate to maintain its pre-eminence among universities. Likewise the alumni/ae are responsible to one another and to the nation for providing the funds and the personnel to maintain the Dartmouth tradition.

Buffalo, New York

Symbols

My father ('16 Tuck grad), my uncle ('16 Tuck also), my brother ('44), my husband ('48, DMS '50), and my brother-in-law ('50) were all "Men of Dartmouth." They were too busy getting a good education to change songs and symbols and construct illegal shanty towns.

Bill and I were married his freshman year and we had two daughters born on the Sachem Reservation. We loved being in the Dartmouth family—the sports rallies, the songs sung with great heart—the Indian symbol of tradition, and, of course/an excellent education. Times change, but why has tradition become a dirty word?

I am appalled at what has been allowed to happen to Dartmouth. Let's get the old spirit back with the students and faculty that will support it—who love Dartmouth for what it was and can be again.

Until then, no more money.

Pittsford, New York

So why isn't our athletic symbol the Dartmouth Moose? I can see the headlines now: "Moose Trample Tigers," "Moose Maul Elis," "Cornell Crushed by Dartmoose!"

Moose is, of course, both a singular and plural form, and usefully short for banners and newspaper headlines. "M!0!0!S!E! Moose! Moose! Moose!" works fine as a cheer. Football helmets would look great with a moose antler painted on each side. Moose are the most powerful, tough, and mobile animals in the New Hampshire hills. They live outside all winter, climb mountains in their bare feet, and eat trees for breakfast.

Wait! I can see it clearly . . . Moose head canes come into vogue . . . "Moose of Dartmouth" becomes, the new and non-sexist College song . . . President Freedman wears a moose-antler cap to home games . . . Rally behind the moose!

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Now that the controversy over the Indian symbol is all but dead and buried along with the College's character, it is sad to realize that Dartmouth College is really no longer deserving of the Indian symbol nor of the perception of it as one of the great Ivy League institutions.

Now the "flower children" can dance with glee on the grave of "Old Dartmouth."

Wellesley, Massachusetts

Conservative Campus

First campus conservatives created an alumni within the alumni to elect Jonathan Steele to the Board of Trustees and to underwrite The Dartmouth Review. Now they would like to create a curriculum within a curriculum by establishing the Hopkins Institute.

Fortunately, the next logical step, unlike the first two, benefits both the ideologues and the College. What to do with the Medical Center if the Medical School moves to West Lebanon? Sell it to the partisans and thus give them their own campus within a campus. Sympathetic professors could hold office hours in operating rooms with a view of Baker Tower and from there imagine they were defending Western civilization by barricading it. Meanwhile the rest could work in Baker (and in peace) and from there defend civilization as a whole by synthesizing its ideas. There they will always have the support of those alums who are as skeptical of White Male Studies as of Women's Studies.

Bonn, West Germany