Head Agent Henry Eberhardt needs our help. He wants to build an expanded campaign organization as we head into our 1996 reunion. In the 1994 campaign, which ended June 30, we raised $122,574, with 52percent participation. "As a class, we have done and should do better," he said.
By contrast, in our October 1992 column I reported: "We made our Alumni Fund goal of $160,161, our highest non-reunion total; our participation was 64 percent." So we have slipped off substantially in both participation and total gift in just two years. Compare our record to the overall Alumni Fund. Henry is writing letters to select members of the class asking them to assume leadership positions. As of this writing, he had slots available for a regional coordinator and matching-gifts coordinator.
After years of devoted service, Alan Orschel has stepped down as our regional coordinator. The class owes him a round of snaps (gad, it's been years since I said that) for a job well done. If you can help as regional coordinator (a position which focuses on classmates who did not join fraternities), or matching gift coordinator, or as doctors chairman, or as lawyers chairman, or as chairman for any other professional group, call Henry at (902) 477-8470 (h) or (902) 494-3304 (w).
In case you didn't notice, Tom Conger has been elected to the executive committee of the Association of Alumni of Dartmouth. The notice, from Mike Choukas '5l, then the director of Alumni Affairs, added, "Let me hasten to assure you that the position is strictly ceremonial—it will not involve any duties."
It turns out that the sole remaining duty of the association is overseeing of the alumni-trustee elections. That function is ordinarily carried out by those officers of the association who live near Hanover. But the organization's constitution calls for a president, two vice presidents, and seven executive committee members. So, another round of snaps for Tom.
Several months ago, I mentioned ParkerBorg's new ambassadorial appointment. Bruce Hasenkamp '6O sent me a note to remind me that this was not Parker's first embassy. He was ambassador to Mali in the early 1980s. President Bush appointed him ambassador to Burma. "He never made it to Rangoon, however. Senator Moynihan blocked his confirmation for several years over some policy disagreement with the State Department." Thanks, Bruce. I thought Jesse Helms was the only senator to do that.
Sometimes I think Dartmouth is übiquitous. Remember those statistical odds tossed out in our freshman math course: if you have 25 people in a room, two will have the same birthday. Similar odds would seem to apply to alumni. Go to a big event somewhere, and there's bound to be another Dartmouth grad. I was at a retirement dinner Saturday night for a medical school faculty member and found myself sitting next to Bruce Ehrenberg '6B, a member of my brother's class. I never had met him before, but somehow the conversation meandered to Dartmouth, and bingo.
Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1015