REVIEW LOSES SUIT
A federal judge throws the case out of court.
A little more than a year after three white reporters for The Dartmouth Review were suspended following a classroom confrontation with a black music professor, U.S. District Court Judge Shane Devine found that a Review-instituted lawsuit claiming racial discrimination did not meet "the minimum pleading requirements" for a civilrights complaint. The Review tried to prove that some of President Freedman's public speeches following the incident were racially motivated. "President Freedman's statements do not constitute evidence that he was motivated by racial animus," Devine wrote.
Still pending is a breach of contract suit being heard in a New Hampshire state court. Last January, a state Superior Court judge ordered the College to reinstate Review editors Chris Baldwin '89 and John Sutter '88 because one member of the College's disciplinary committee was biased against the Review. Sutter dropped out of college in April.
Provost Named
John Strohbehn has been named provost following a national search. Strohbehn, an engineering professor whose research focuses on microwave treatment of cancer, has served as acting provost for the past year and a half. He is known for his 12-hour workdays, his noontime jogging and, according to President Freedman, "his ability to find solutions to difficult problems and build consensus among diverse parties." The provost oversees the professional schools, libraries, Hopkins Center, Hood Museum, Kiewit Computation Center, and the News Service. Last spring, the job was expanded to include academic programs; the dean of the faculty now reports to the provost, who serves as a kind of deputy president.
Ivy Versus Ayatollah
In a letter to President Bush, the Ivy League presidents expressed outrage at the death threats leveled by the Ayatollah Khomeini against novelist Salman Rushdie. The letter, signed by President Freedman on behalf of the Council of Ivy Group Presidents, urged President Bush to "reassert the unwavering commitment of the United States to freedom of expression and freedom of religion."
College's Loss
The College lost two of its most important donors on the same day. Robert Maxwell '23 and Robert Borwell '25 both died on February 25. Each is numbered among the biggest financial contributors in Dartmouth's history. Full obituaries will appear in the summer issue.
More Expensive
Although Dartmouth's 6.2 percent increase for tuition, room and board is the lowest hike in a decade, it still amounts to well over $1,000—a cut above the consumer price index. Next year, a typical Dartmouth student will pay $19,335 for tuition, board and fees compared with $18,199 this year.
Rush Pushed Back
Last summer, students loudly protested a College decision to move fraternity and sorority rush from spring term of the freshman year to spring of the sophomore year. In an unexpected move, Dean Edward Shanahan announced another change in policy: rush will take place in the winter term of the sophomore year. Greek officers, while preferring winter to spring, indicated they might now push for rush to be moved to the fall of sophomore year.
Also on the Greek front, Bones Gate fraternity was re-recognized after being booted out of the system for alcohol violations. The organization agreed, among other things, to permanently disable its beer tap system, limit to special events its house purchase of alcohol, and hire a counselor for three years to lead annual house retreats.
They Drive by Day
Dartmouth's Sunvox, the studentbuilt, solar-powered car that entered an international race in Switzerland last summer, is slated to compete this month in the first American Tour de Sol. Other schools entering the fourday, 200-mile, Montpelier-to-Cambridge scramble include MIT, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, University of Lowell, and New Hampshire Technical Institute. Last year in Switzerland the Green team made a respectable showing only to be disqualified for mechanical difficulties.
Want to get a glimpse of Sunvox? The race, which begins May 25, has scheduled night-stops in Hanover and Concord, New Hampshire, and Lowell, Massachusetts.
Spring Speeches
Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist and former Secretary of the Interior James Watt are scheduled to speak on campus this spring. Rehnquist will speak at a celebration of the publication of the fifteenth and final volume of Daniel Webster's papers. Watt will appear in conjunction with a senior symposium focusing on the environment and power. Other notables slated for mud-season visits include Washington Post columnist David Broder, American Federation of Teachers founder Albert Shanker, UPI White House bureau chief Helen Thomas, and arms negotiator Richard Perle.
Certified
Dartmouth is still "an academic institution of the first rank," says an accreditation report produced for the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. The report, written, by University of Chicago President Hannah Gray, found much to praise. But it also noted that Dartmouth suffers from preoccupation with itself. The report lauded a commitment to diversity, but expressed concern that discussion of the topic often centered on The Dartmouth Review, a situation that "can produce distortions of perspective and distract from the institution's own agenda and positive stance."
Dartmouth as Developer
The College plans to become a limited partner in CenTerra, a new commercial development that will be built across the highway from the relocated Dartmouth-Hitch- cock Medical Center. In exchange for 25 acres of College land, Dartmouth would own a percentage of the project. Plans for the 135-acre site include financial and retail complexes, a 'health club, a corporate and research park, and a hotel and conference center.
Beat Grandma
"The Hog" was Doug Hsieh's mentor. He also played with"The Beast" and "Fast Eddy." They taught him well. By the time Hsieh (pronounced "See") was 11, he was a life master of bridge. "These guys were sly, cunning and really aggressive. They were definitely into it for the money," says Hsieh, a Dartmouth freshman from New York City who is helping revive collegiate bridge by teaching classes and forming a club that has hosted two tournaments. "I tell students bridge is a great opportunity to learn how to beat their parents," says Hsieh. "Or, more likely, their grandparents."
Class Growth
Dartmouth traditionally has accepted few transfer students. This summer, however, under a new Trustee-approved policy, up to 50 transfer students may be invited to join the class of 1991. And what kind of students will the admissions office seek? "We will be sensitive to the desire to admit transfers into under-subscribed majors," said Dean of Faculty Dwight Lahr.
In Brief
• The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded History Professor Mary Kelley a one-year fellowship to study the American woman's entrance into public life during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
• The Thayer School of Engineering and the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center have received a $180,000 grant to improve magnetic resonance imaging systems. The devices are used to view internal organs without x-rays.
• Dartmouth's libraries rank 79th among 105 North American university research libraries in an index developed by the Association of Research Libraries. Harvard ranks number one, with 11.5 million volumes to Dartmouth's 1.7 million volumes.
• James Cuno, director of the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts at The University of California at Los Angeles, has been named the new director of the Hood Museum of Art.
The "hollow nature" of the Review's civil-rights lawsuit was a solid victory for College counselors Cary Clark '62 Tom Soybel and Sean Gorman '76.
