1957

Class Officers Weekend provided a good deal of updated Dartmouth information. President Freedman gave the most thoughtful and personal talk I have ever heard him deliver, being very open and personal concerning his medical problem. He also had some interesting Dartmouth statistics. The incoming freshman class is essentially balanced, 51 percent male and 49 percent female, and 25 percent are minorities. The competition for those minority students is intense. Of those ranked, 38 percent were valedictorians or salutatorians of their high-school classes, with more than 89 percent of those ranked in the top ten percent of their class. The median SAT score is 1360, a rather staggering number, and the new class includes nine percent legacies. Freedman indicated that eight to ten percent of each class has been legacies.

He also spoke of the exciting expansion of Baker. It took 200 years to put one million books in Baker, and it only took the last 20 years for the second million.

We also heard of the investment performance achieved by the endowment, a total return of 18 percent in the most recent year versus 12-plus percent for the S&P 500 and 8.5 percent for bonds. This was tremendous "out performance."

Dean Lee Pelton again delivered thoughtful commentary. He's certainly a major asset for our college. He feels the big issue at Dartmouth now is the gap between academic life and social life of the undergraduates. He is working to find ways to enhance the intellectual life of the students and to integrate the academic and social. Certainly I know that was a problem 40 years ago. I am pleased there is now an effort to draw the social life into the context of the intellectual life of college.

Jack Cramer, Clark Griffith, and" I met as your class officers. We considered developing an executive committee designed to broaden class activity and particularly to bring some geographic diversity to class activities. We'd also like to try mini-reunions that are national in scope, with several get-togethers scattered around the country occurring at the same time and with the same theme. Any classmate interested in becoming active in class affairs should please call or write Clark, myself, or any of the other officers.

Hope to see you at the Cape Cod minireunion August 13-14 hosted by Howie andWendy Howland.

333 Red Acre Road, Stow, MA 01581