LETTERS

Dog Tales

Hurrah for Hanover dogs, Corey Ford, and Bob Sullivan '75's article in the September issue! It reminded me of my experience with a dog during my freshman year in 1938. Shortly after the big hurricane that year, a beagle from somewhere adopted me. Thoughtful of my welfare, he walked me to the dining hall in Crosby Equally concerned with my studies, he accompanied me to class. Unfortunately, an English instructor (thank Heaven he was never granted tenure), lacking an understanding of the beagle's interest in my academic life, tossed him out the classroom window.

Rockport, Massachusetts

The "Judge Parker" (Merrow) of Corey Ford's stories was a classmate and intimate friend of mine, and editor of the Carroll County Independent, not "Democrat" as your magazine had it. Let the poor man rest!

I was in his living room one evening when he answered the phone. Corey was in Hanover and had a deadline to meet, but was stuck for a story.

Off the cuff, Parker invented one, with full details plot, characters, action the whole business! As I recall, it was a good one, up to Corey's standard, for of course he did the writing. But he was smart enough to know where to look when he needed help.

South Easton, Massachusetts

As one of those privileged students Corey Ford adopted in 1959, I'd love the opportunity once again to sit beside a late afternoon fire and ask him for his views on women's rugby at Dartmouth. The conversation would be worth at least one good story!

Gurnee, Illinois

As a former member of Delta Kappa Epsilon and a "good friend and admirer of Corey Ford's, I thought your article was spectacular. Incidental intelligence: did you know that Ernest Martin Hopkins '01 was a Deke as well as his tough dean of the College, Craven Laycock '96?

Hanover, New Hampshire

No doubt about it. Had Robert Sullivan been Dartmouth '55, instead of Dartmouth '75, he would have joined the inner circle. He may not have achieved immortality as a member of "The Lower Forty Shooting, Angling and Inside Straight Club," but he would have hung his hat at One North Balch Street, Hanover, New Hampshire. That was Corey Ford's house for 17 years; the house known affectionately by undergraduate hunters, fishermen, rugby players, boxers, would-be Scott Fitzgeralds, and other enthusiasts as "The Ford Foundation," or, by the inner circle, as "The Foundation," for short.

The whole place bespoke Corey all over. Outside: graceful trees, groomed lawn, flower gardens, and a roasting grill. Inside: books were everywhere, many of them personally inscribed by famous American authors; fantastic curios stared from each corner, collected on air force flights to five continents; no TV was allowed in the house, as competition to conversation; the cellar was a boxing ring; in front of the fireplace was a bear rug, reserved for tired bird dogs after the hunt; the "medicine cabinet" was bountifully stocked with Scotch and beer, which the host offered generously to all guests, while partaking sparingly himself. But the heartbeat at One North Balch the room that made the Foundation's celebrated benevolence possible was the "torture chamber" at the head of the stairs, on the second floor. Signs on the door, in 12 languages, read DO NOT DISTURB. There, in the presence of whichever setter owned him at the moment Cider or Toby Corey worked, surrounded by a photo gallery of friends: professional boxers, fighter pilots, artists with a fly rod, Hollywood comedians, army and air force generals. Even a picture of me skiing was included; a rare compliment, as Corey hated winter and called snow "God's dandruff." On the table were sheaves of unlined yellow paper, matches, an ash tray, a pipeholder, and his typewriter, on which he wrote, wrote, wrote, wrote until writing killed him, in his 68th year.

Thank you, Bob Sullivan, for confirming so movingly the one thing which during 30 years of fun and wild argument Corey and I agreed on so completely: good writers die, good writing doesn't.

Hanover, New Hampshire

For those readers who like editorial detail:Ev Wood was owned by the dog on the frontseat pictured on page 24 of the Septemberissue. Her name was Snowstorm Girl.

Fishy Caption

I have refrained from writing with regard to weighty issues in the past, having believed that I had nothing new to add to the dialogue. Other alumni undoubtedly follow this logic, and more should probably do the same. Yet when I detected a glaring error in the September issue, I felt compelled to write.

In the well-written and entertaining article about Corey Ford, the fish held by Mr. Ford on page 30 is most certainly not a salmon, as stated in the caption. While the markings are not clear enough to make a positive identification, the fish is either a northern pike or a muskellunge. To an aquatic biologist and a fisherman, calling it a salmon is analogous to calling the setter on page 23 a poodle. Although the fate of the College would not seem to hang in the balance, this struck me as a shocking slip by a sports writer, if Mr. Sullivan indeed wrote the caption. I'll let this one slide, however, and send in my contribution to the Alumni Fund as usual.

Wilbraham, Massachusetts

The article about Corey Ford was super. Not so super was the caption showing Ford holding a "salmon" caught in Canada. We have fish like that in Wisconsin too, only we call them "muskies."

Wausau, Wisconsin

Very much enjoyed the Corey Ford piece. The world could certainly use an infusion of some good light-verse men.

By the way, if the fish he's holding is a salmon (and not a pike or muskie) then Ford's a Chevy.

Los Angeles, California

We are tempted to reply in the mannerthat Ford's good friend E.B. White usedwith broccoli: "I say it's a salmon and Isay the hell with it." But the fact is,Messrs. Wagner, Langlois, and O'Neill wereright, and we were wrong: the fish is aMuskellunge, which is a species of pike. Ouronly excuse is that the fishing experience ofthe caption writer (who was definitely notauthor Bob Sullivan '75) was limited to thebass, trout, and occasional land-lockedsalmon of New Hampshire lakes.

Well-Connected Ruggers

My interest in the September issue jumped to the top of the scale when I read the one-page article by Jim Perkins '55, "The Colonel and His Kids," wherein he mentions the trip to England by the rugby team.

It so happens that I was rather deeply involved in that trip. At the time I was the chairman and managing director of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, Ltd., based in London. Soon after the team arrived in England I received a call from the manager saying that the boys were not happy with the quarters arranged for them and that they were quite a distance from London. I immediately contacted a number of friends and colleagues in the film industry and raised sufficient money to put them up in a London hotel. I then arranged for the team to meet the American ambassador, Mr. Jock Whitney, for a short session at the embassy. I also set up a cocktail party for the team in our private theater with the Earl of Dartmouth as the guest of honor. The boys loved this treatment.

The team had a schedule, if my memory serves me Correctly, of seven games. It won five. The British press could not believe it. One paper came out with the headline, "The Yanks CAN play rugby."

West Palm Beach, Florida

Politicizing Discipline

In discussing a certain plagiarism case before the Committee on Standards last spring ["Letters," September], William B. Modahl '60 insists that the process aimed at "political ends" and concludes that its motivation lay entirely in the administration's "animosity" toward the Dartmouth Review.

I cannot allow this allegation to go unchallenged. If disciplinary cases involving Review staffers are "politicized," the source of that politicization lies with those staffers and their supporters.

An example: as external agendas came to dominate the plagiarism case, Philosophy Professor Sally Sedgwick, the faculty member who had called the student's paper into question, was subjected to vicious objurgations. At that time, I stated to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences that Professor Sedgwick "did exactly what she should have done, indeed was required to do" by our regulations. "It was our rules and procedures, not her interests, that shaped this process."

For adhering to the College's established procedures, Professor Sedgwick has become the victim of malicious personal attacks, including hate mail and harassing phone calls. I affirm the correctness of her actions, am proud that she is a member of our faculty, and regret the hurt she has suffered.

Dean of the Faculty

In reply to Mr. Modahl's displeasure with my anonymity and my account of the Committee on Standards proceedings in the Andrew Baker case in "Dr. Wheelock's Journal":

In his zeal to reveal "facts" about the case which he has probably retold so often that he is now convinced that they are true, Mr. Modahl overlooks that the column has always been anonymous, and that it obviously is neither dictated nor censored by the administration.

My assignment is less that of a reporter and more that of an independent observer how a typical alumnus or alumna would see and judge any campus affair from the standpoint of one who lives right here and has his eyes and ears open. As Yogi Berra said, "You can observe a lot just by seeing."

For that reason, I more than "begged anonymity" as my editor said; I required it although if he gets too many letters like Mr. Modahl's, I imagine I will soon be out of there. However, I see one of Mr. Modahl's classmates regularly and admire the job he does for the College; I helped another get an interesting job a few years back; and a third, ages ago, was Senior Patrol Leader in my scout troop. I'm reasonably sure that all three would vouch for my sense of judgment and fair play.

I agree with him that Baker's paper was a good one. I read it, and also the book from which he derived the offending reference. I don't know Baker, but it seems that he has handled himself very well in the situation except for "going public" to the Review, which released the flood of hand-wringing syndicated columns and letters-to-the-editor that, in an ill-conceived attempt to embarrass the College, instead made Baker a nationally known figure. In the past three years 20 or more students have committed the same offense and taken their medicine. Thanks to the College's policy of confidentiality in disciplinary cases, Mr. Baker too could have been anonymous.

Hanover, New Hampshire

Wrong School

I noted with pride my inclusion in the "Give a Rouse" column of the September issue received this weekend but hasten to correct the information. Although I would be honored to receive a degree from the University of Maine, a proud and purposeful land grant university, for accuracy I was honored by Bowdoin College.

Not unlike Dartmouth in its tradition, spirit, and mission, Bowdoin treasures its liberal arts heritage. The action really honored public education and the importance of schooling. I may have been the recipient, but the real award deservedly goes to the classroom teachers here and in every city.

Robert Binswanger '52 Headmaster, Boston Latin Academy Boston, Massachusetts

We apologize for the error.

Divestment Results?

How smug is Cap Palmer '23 as he notes that student activism and the resulting divestment helped in the freeing of Nelson Mandela ["Letters," September], All too true. And is Mr. Palmer likewise smug about the nascent civil war in South Africa, which has already claimed hundreds of lives, and promises to claim thousands more? Certainly not. That is someone else's responsibility.

Dellwood Minnesota

In the interest of receiving more letters,we hereby identify the fish in this photo asa carp. The man holding the fish isdefinitely Corey Ford. We checked.