Dr. Wheelock's Journal
Divers Notes & Observations
SINCE OUR LAST EFFUSION, AS the late George S. Kaufman once quipped in reference to a notorious transatlantic card game, a lot of bridge has gone over the water. Most recent, the College's 224th A Commencement—and the class of 1944's very first.
Because of threatening weather—which immediately turned into a heat wave during the ensuing ten days of reunions—Commencement was moved from the Baker lawn to Thompson Arena. Dean Pelton led the academic procession out of the cavern which is home to the Zamboni during the hockey season. The band, instead of the more conventional Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance," struck up the familiar three-ring circus music which we recognized as either "Elephants" or "Clowns" to herald the march of the gowned and hooded faculty around the arena.
In his address to the graduates, Secretary of Labor Robert Reich '68 was most encouraging about the career opportunities available to the 1,030 Dartmouth degree-holders in his audience. Among the "connections" available to them, he mentioned the "thousands of Dartmouth alumni like me who get misty-eyed at the sight of a green sweatshirt." Valedictorian was Kamala Dansinghani, a 4.0 biochemistry and molecular biology major from East Hartford, Connecticut, who will attend Harvard med school in the fall. She spoke inspiringly of her two-year battle with anorexia, and how it had taught her that there were things more important in life than grades and awards.
Among the honorary-degree recipients, the applause meter seemed to register highest for microbiologist Jonas E. Salk, but that mark was easily topped by the rousing hand given the reuning class of 1944, for their "commencement that never was." The '44s set records of attendance and Alumni Fund giving, and at their banquet received their certificates from their classmate, former Provost Leonard Reiser. Usually, one distinguished member of the 50th reunion class receives an honorary degree, but this year the award went to two '44s: John Beny and Walter Burke, both of these outstanding supporters of the College.
NOW FOR SOME Namedropping from earlier weeks. Two of the nation's 147 winners of Guggenheim Fellowships this year are Dartmouth history professors Pamela Crossley and Leo Spitzer Among speakers on campus were Angela "Bay" Buchanan, who dealt with family values and related topics to a packed Rock Center; and Senator Arlen Specter, testing the New Hampshire waters, who talked to a student group in May. House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt spoke at Tuck's investiture ceremony on June 11, adding mostly a pleasant earnestness to what his predecessor, Senator Phil Gramm, told the fledgling MBAs last year. And the opening remarks at Webster Hall of African-American poet Nikki Giovanni were, "I am delighted to be in the middle of nowhere."
Something happened to former Provost John Strohbehn on his way back to Thayer School to resume his teaching career. He was selected from among 200 candidates to become provost of Duke University on July 1—which happened to be the date that his successor, Dean Lee Bollinger of the University of Michigan's law school, arrived in Hanover. Another successful job-switcher: former Trustee Chairman Mike Heyman '51, appointed head of the Smithsonian Institution; and Adjunct Professor (and Relentless environmentalist) Donella Meadows, a surprise winner, as we guess they all are, of one of the MacArthur Foundation's "Genius Awards." Speaking of surprises: Have you seen the personable Andrew Shue '89, recent star of Big Green soccer and now of TV's "Melrose Place," on those promotion clips for the World Cup?
The Gap, national clothing retailer, is attempting to grace the gap on Main Street next to the Inn left two years ago by Campions' departure. Experts in the clothing biz say it's a smash success. Another new arrival on campus with somewhat more academic import is the Sudikoff Laboratory for Computer Science, opposite the now-vacant Mary Hitchcock hospital building. The 17,000-square-foot laboratory will be one more outstanding example of the College's continuing leadership in computer innovation and facilities. Major donor Jeffrey Sudikoff '77 is chief executive officer of IDB Communications of Culver City, California. Sudikoff made news in the sports world recently by becoming majority owner of the Los Angeles Kings hockey team.
The president looked well and spoke heartily at Class Officers weekend. On the arrival of Baker Library's two millionth book—it had taken 201 years to accumulate the first million-he observed that library expander "John Berry had shown up just in time." At reunion he also noted wryly that since his arrival, Dartmouth football had once again become a dominant force in the Ivy League. (At present, however, with quarterback a question mark for the first time in three years, the faithful are anxiously looking forward to fall practice). Looking backward at the spring season: men's lacrosse emerged from its annual doldrums with a 10-4 record, its best since 1949, a resurgence which Green fans devoutly hope that hockey will duplicate next winter. The women, at 11-4, including a victory over third-ranked University of Virginia, just missed out on an invitation to the NCAA tournament; the female ruggers won their fourth consecutive Ivy tide; the women sailors took the New Englands; and men's crew displayed its best-ever performance at the Eastern Sprints, including a first by a dramatic six-tenths of a second over Princeton in the varsity lightweights.
THE EVER-PRESENT HANOVER dogs are again being reined in by both College and town regulations, thanks to the refusal by mail carriers last spring to deliver mail to the 12 fraternity houses, and to other canine intrusions into campus serenity. It may come as a coincidence that along with new regulations, reenforced leash laws, and the appointment of a new animal-control officer, the town of Hanover has just, for the 15 th time, received from the National Arbor Day Foundation, the award of Tree City, U.S.A.
A class that graduated 50 years late hears of jobs open to prompter graduates.
