Worry Them, Terriers!

Gmawing Mascots

I've got it! At last I feel confident that I have found a symbol that everyone at the College can live with: the Jack Russell terrier! It's a small dog, it's a small college. The origins of both the dog and the College are in England—Parson Jack Russell (the "sporting Parson") and the Earl of Dartmouth. The example of Parson Jack Russell religious, in service to others, but also robust and active in sport and the outdoors—is analogous to my perception of what separates Dartmouth from other schools. Plus the breed comprises smooth coats, rough coats, and broken coats; sizes from ten to 14 inches; and various combinations of white, black, and reddish-brown patches. It is rare that two dogs look exactly alike—just as there are many types of students, colors, and creeds at Dartmouth.

On the lighter side, think of the entertainment and merchandise possibilities. Imagine at the Harvard football game in Hanover, five Jack Russells explode out of the end zone, chase a giant Harvard T-shirt to midfield, and rip it to shreds in front of the fans. Imagine polo shirts with a terrier's head stitched on the breast—much nicer than any alligator.

So what do you say to the Dartmouth Terriers? (D.T.'s for short, pardon the pun).

Okayama, Japan

I would suggest that Dartmouth consider the beaver as an appropriate representative of Eleazar Wheelock's wilderness school. The following points are offered for consideration:

1. Beavers are indigenous to our region and were very plentiful when Eleazar first came to the Hanover Plain. One can still see them swimming in the Connecticut River just below the Led-yard Bridge.

2. Beavers are industrious, intelligent, adaptable, and are considered unparalleled in the animal kingdom as architects, master builders of dams and secure lodges, and creators of extended wetlands—which should make them a favorite among environmentalists.

3. The word "beaver" is easily incorporated into College cheers and songs, and the distinctive physical features such as chisel teeth, broad tail, and webbed hindfeet would make a whimsical and appealing costume to be worn at football and basketball games.

To remind us of the high quality of sportsmanship of Dartmouth teams, one has only to look up at the heavens on a clear night and fix one's gaze on the constellation of Castor and Pollux, realizing that Castor (which means beaver in Latin) and his brother were classified by the Romans as the gods of athletes.

Hanover, New Hampshie

Tenure's Uses

I was pleased to see the Alumni Magazine examine the question of tenure, but for me Jennifer Reese's article misses the heart of the matter: Universities and colleges are institutions situated between two economies: (1) the more obvious "market economy" and (2) what Lewis Hyde {The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property) and others (such as Georges Bataille) would call the "gift economy" of art and artists. The most important freedom that tenure guarantees is not free speech in the First Amendment sense but rather the freedom to have one's worth or value be measured—at least some of the time—by criteria other than those used by Wal-mart and Wall Street.

That students find their professors and courses useful should be the goal of all educational institutions, but they should also strive to give the richest possible meaning to what constitutes "useful." Tenure, no matter what its flaws may be, is one of the best ways Western capitalist society has come up with to preserve the "estates and freeholds" spoken of by Daniel Webster, and within that society the priceless gift of liberal education so often defended by President Freedman in these pages.

Toulouse Cedex, France

As a controversial professor (psychiatry), I know that except for tenure I would have been fired at least twice. As a physician, I would not have gone hungry; but I appreciated the security of tenure.

Jericho, Vermont

Parttime Stats, Please

Jennifer Reese's "Is Tenure Outdated?" (June 1996) seems an unremarkable rehash of an old saw, but in passing she mentioned a shift in undergraduate education at Dartmouth that I never knew.

To be specific, I am shocked to learn that for the last decade 25 percent of Dartmouth's courses have been taught by "parttime professors." My recollection is that every course I took was taught by a tenured or tenure-track professor; most were senior scholars. A Great Issues instructor was the exception that proved the generalization.

I ask that you report the salary range of these conscripts. The question is prompted by the knowledge that exploitation of parttimers is widespread, perhaps nowhere worse than in Washington, D.C., where $2,000 (and less) often is offered by several famous institutions of higher learning for a standard course for undergraduates—and please don't imagine there are any medical or other benefits.

Second, I would like to know when the practice of using parttimers began at Dartmouth, in which departments it is most prevalent, and whether there is a college-wide policy or any departmental limits as to how many and which courses might be offered by these hired guns (introductory surveys or upper division, sciences or social sciences/humanities, are suggested as guidelines for a breakdown of data). Finally, are applicants to Dartmouth informed (warned might be a better term) that they should expect fulltime faculty members only three-quarters of the time?

The issue involves .availability as well as confidence in quality: parttimers generally do not serve on committees and often act as they are treated, arriving just in time for office hours and class and leaving soon afterward for other survival employment. Since students rarely have their crises during office hours, "parttime" means students do not get the attention they may deserve for a Dartmouth tuition cum claim of nurturing undergraduate education. Suddenly I am beginning to undestand why President Freedman referred to "Dartmouth University" when he was appointed.

Nothing in the foregoing should be taken as criticism of the instructors themselves: most of the exploited take such jobs because their love for teaching overrides the insult. Instead of joining this national scandal, Dartmouth should steal a march on its competitors by returning to the undergraduate education that earned its reputation.

Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Sheila Culbert, assistant dean of faculty and adjunct assistant professor of history, replies: About 25 percent of Dartmouth's courses are taught by non-tenure-track or parttime faculty. The number varies with enrollments and with the number of regular faculty who are on leave because of fellowships or sabbaticals. Salaries vary depending on qualifications, degrees, and fields. No parttime faculty member earns less than $5,000 per course and many earn much more. More than 50 percent of these faculty members have a continuing relationship with the College. Many are spouses of regular faculty; others are community members. Most parttime faculty teach the introductory language and composition courses; they have done so for years. Parttime faculty have an important role to play and the dean of faculty values their contributions to the academic mission of College. Two years ago the dean of faculty established an annual award to assist the professional development of parttime faculty. I know of no other institution that gives such an award.

Millemiial Class

The class of the year 2000 will be called just that, "Two Thousand." Nevertheless, as I remember from my old highway-surveying days, there is an interesting hand signal for "double zero." It involves waving both arms in the air, then grabbing a portion of the anatomy. Perhaps that will become the secret greeting for the 2000s.

Fellow alumni should also know that the coming millennium.will cause serious computer problems. Most of the Fortune 500 still use software with twodigit year fields. When the year becomes "00," the results go haywire.

Example: Say a class of 2000 member was born in 1978. Computers calculate age by subtracting birth year from current year. In 1999 it would be 99-78 or 21 years old. In 2000 the result is 00-78 or- 78 years old. Since a negative age would be "a gleam in the father's eye," the software ignores the sign. And the student is eligible for Medicare at Dick's House! For more information, check out the Web site .

San Francisco, California

Could you have someone look up the Daily Dartmouth from 1900 (or actually 1896) to see what the incoming '00s were called? If we have no clear mandate on what to call the members of the class of 2000, we can always fall back on tradition.

Gtavril@aol.com

They called themselves the aughty-aughts.

More Numerology

With regard to the"New Millennium" controversy, the analogy of John Wason '71, in which he compares his birthday to the birth of Christ from which the first millennium began, is O.K. Unfortunately for Mr. Wason, there exists no year "zero" from which to date the cosmic event. The year "zero" does not exist. The year preceding A.D. 1 is 1 B.C., not "zero." Thus, the first year of the Christian Era is the year "one." It follows that the first year of the third millennium is A.D. 2001 and the class of 2001 will be the first Dartmouth class of the third millennium.

Olympia, Washington

That Madonna Fellow

The faculty of the Department of Music welcomes the suggestion that Kara McGee '97 made ["On the Hill," June] that Madonna be appointed a Montgomery Fellow. We would be happy to have her teach Music 5 (American Popular Song) or Music 18 (Song Writing). We have made many proposals to the Montgomery Endowment during the last 20 years for the appointment of a musician but to no avail. When Melinda O'Neal was chair, we recommended Leonard Bernstein. Bernstein died five years later. When Christian Wolff was chair we recommended John Cage. Cage died seven years later. When Charles Hamm was chair we recommended Frank Zappa. Zappa died ten years later. Our current recommendation—composer Steve Reich and video artist Beryl Korot is still before the committee. We hope the College will invite them before it is again too late.

Arthur R. Virgin Professor of Music Chair, Department of Music

The Yale game wouldbe a dog fight.