A Library By Any Other Name

Half-Baker

If I am not mistaken, the very first photo in the "Baker's Dozen" [March] was not shot in Baker at all. Rather, it looks to me a lot like Sanborn Library.

BHG@MAIL.DUKE.EDU

Right, Mr. Greenberg. You will undoubtedly shine in an upcoming quiz on campus architecture.

They Weren't Cross

As far as my memory tells me only one of those three scary-looking folks in the April "Dartmouth Undying" on cross-dressing is a guy. The picture actually predates my arrival at Dartmouth, but I'm

pretty sure that left to right you have Tom Foote '87, Martha Cornell 'B6, and Kim Porteus '88. Some of my favorite Dartmouth cross-dressing highlights would include:

1987: Chuck Wooster '89 and Dan Monahan '87 as a husband and wife Telemark Skiing Instructing Team elegantly attired in a tux and wedding dress.

1989: 320-pound-football captain Kevin Luensman '90 gets down and dirty in a strapless dress while lip synching Aretha Franklin's "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" at the SAMS Dry Bands competition.

1989: Dean Edward Shanahan kindly requests that the Freshman Trips Lodge Croo refrain from cross-dressing lest they offend certain (unspecified) members of the community. He also suggests finishing trips with a "Smooth" (formal) dinner at the Lodge. Lodge Croo respectfully ignores his request.

MARK.SCHIFFMAN@DARTMOUTH.EDU

"Dartmouth Undying," in its almost exclusive emphasis on plays, neglected to mention that when one Burleigh "Bo" Smith '71 went forward at Commencement on the Baker Library lawn to receive his diploma, he was attired in female garb in lieu of the more traditional cap and gown. His point, I believe, was to protest what he perceived as Dartmouth's foot-dragging with regard to the admission of women.

We all had a point back then; it was the era of gratuitous protest.

WASON@STUDENTS.UIUC.EDU

Add a Poet

I want to thank Jim Schley '79 for including me among the alumni poets in the April issue. It was particularly delightful to appear alongside my old teacher Richard Eberhart '26 and my longtime pal Carl Little '76.

Of course such selections are of necessity selective; I would like to urge your readers to check out an excellent poet who was not included in this roundup: Joseph Donahue '76. Donahue's books include the collections Beyond Creation and World WellBroken. He is also co-editor of a recent anthology of contemporary American poetry, Primary Trouble, from Talisman House Publishers. A breathtaking phrasemaker and agile postmodern thinker, Donahue writes poems of challenge and grace. Here's a small sample: There is no place you can enter and be safe at last. Not even the raptures and hierarchies of art or the luminous swath of rainclouds and blue mist and the gold rooftop across the river or the clusters of berries, bare branches supple with raindrops as the three sparrows rest and their weight does not jostle the silver equipoise of fallen rain tapering now into exhilaration.

from "Desire"

GRAHAMD@MAC.RIPON.EDU

Unaffordable Bargain

Whew! I was relieved to find that Dartmouth is still "a bargain" at $30,000 a year ["Dartmouth's Productivity," March]. For a minute there I thought it was getting a tad expensive! I suppose a Rolls-Royce may be a "bargain," too, but I won't be driving one to my son's Dartmouth graduation, because I can't afford the "bargain" of either one of them.

Consider this: When I attended Dartmouth from 1968 to 1972, the average cost of room, board, tuition, books, and extras was about $5,000. My dad was pulling down an average of $32,000— good pay for the time. I earned $1,200 from my summer job, so my folks paid about $4,000 a year. This represented 12.5 percent of their net income. With two kids in college, my parents could still retain 75 percent of their pay for their standard fixed expenses.

Now I make about $65,000 a year. It's just enough to be denied any substantial college aid, and far too little to pay the freight to an Ivy school. Does Dean James Wright want to tell me how I'm supposed to pay $30,000 per year for each of my two children to attend Dartmouth? That would constitute 92 percent of my earnings!

Dartmouth and other expensive private schools continue to duplicate facilities and programs without considering economies of scale, resulting in tuition fees representing subsidies for the underpaying and specialty-using rather than in fees reflecting the cost of attending the school. Why should any of the skyrocketing costs be borne by such a small group as students, parents, and alumni?

I believe the answer to quality college education lies with public colleges and universities. Since we all know the crucial importance of a college education for our kids and our country, we should be willing to pay for it as a community in the form of—dare I say it?—taxes. If Daniel Webster were alive today, I bet he'd rather have the other side of the Dartmouth College case.

Kennebunk, Maine

Less Condescension

Among Dr. Wheelock's "divers notes" [April] was another report on the College administration attempting to address the issue of alcohol use on campus. The issue hasn't changed since my undergraduate days, but it is nice to see the administration may not be as heavy-handedly paternalistic as in the past. During my time at Dartmouth I saw one of the most cowardly administrative acts I hope ever to witness: In midsummer (when the bulk of the student body was not around to respond), Dean Edward Shanahan announced the delay of rush. The dean invited all summer-term house presidents to discuss the issue, but the policy was presented as a fait accompli with little discussion and a disturbingly condescending attitude. It was abundantly clear the College felt the students it had admitted were too weak and inherently flawed to make their own decisions.

Dean Lee Pelton's current approach, offering a residential-life complex, seems eminently more sensible. The administration must remember, however, that in any group of 18- to 22-year-olds a certain percentage will always be looking to defy any centralized edict. Efforts to control alcohol abuse by prohibiting its use are destined to generate animosity and will ultimately fail to help those most in danger. Instead the administration should focus on education. I saw far more students respond positively to discussions with peers than were ever affected by Dean Shanahan's heavy-handed tactics. Let's hope the administration continues to recognize that the ultimate responsibility rests with the students.

Buffalo, New York

Arctic Link

I applaud Lynn Noel for the timely article "Can Science Save the Arctic?" in March. I was disappointed, however, that one important link between Dartmouth and the Arctic was missed. John E. Hobbie '57, an attendee of the conference and currently senior scientist and co-director of the Ecosystems Center at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, has been a major contributor to ecological research in the Arctic for more than 30 years. His dissertation research included overwintering at lakes Peters and Schrader in northern Alaska. He directed aquatic research programs during the International Biological Program at Point Barrow, Alaska, 1971-1973. He is also the director of the ongoing Arctic Long Term Ecological Research Program at Toolik Lake, Alaska, a multi-investigator, multi-institutional effort funded by the National Science Foundation. Visit the Arctic LTER on the Internet at .

RUBLEEP@IRIS.UNCG.EDU

Thanks for the link. Readers might also wantto see the Alumni Magazine's "Cool ArcticFacts and Links" page, .

Please remember Robert LeResche '64, William Fitzhugh '64, and Kesler Woodard '66, among others, who have done research and writing on Arctic and sub-Arctic environmental issues, Native-American and Arctic peoples, and history of art in Alaska. Dartmouth Travel organized an exceptional trip last summer to Alaska with professors from Brown, the University of Chicago, and Dartmouth (Professor Priscilla Sears), who shed 24 hours of light during the Arctic and sub-Arctic summer.

Juno Beach, Florida

Judge Not

The fair-minded and good-humored letter from Kenneth E. Warner '68, one of the four responses in the March issue to Dinesh D'Souza's article, has inspired me to chime in.

I am a concert singer especially of the recital repertoire, and have made Paris my home since late 1991. Such a profession necessarily entails endless and in-depth study of "Western" culture. But I was born in Taiwan to Chinese parents, where I was brought up a Christian and lived until the age of 15. (Incidentally, I also sing in Chinese and enjoy all kinds of music, though neither Heavy Metal nor Reggae is my specialty.) Perhaps such a combination allows me to bring a rather unique perspective to the question of "multiculturalism."

Given the wealth of cultural variety, it would seem only natural that each culture would have its strengths and weaknesses. The best any individual can do is to remain open-minded and to take in as much as he/she can of what the world has to offer us. But I should hope that we would not presume to pronounce any culture superior to another until we have become true experts on all of them.

100637.441@COMPUSERVE.COM

Richard H. Porter's letter [March] epitomizes with great economy the Stalinist orthodoxy of multiculturalism run amok. How dare you print a single article, he asks, espousing a viewpoint with which he disagrees? Of course the only counter arguments he presents are threats to "reconsider financial commitments for the College." Whew! Education, anybody?

Palo Alto, California

Cure for Tears

The Virtual Homecoming button on the Alumni Magazine Web page warns against tears but fails to mention the sure antidote. A quick click of the online edition of The Dartmouth will cure the nostalgic in short order. The electronic text is a catalogue of outrages, in which the perpetrators, the reporters, and the victims-the many, many victims—comport themselves with the sober sophistication of witnesses at the Salem witch trials. One fraternity member calls another a "pussy." A group of pledges performs a witless and crude skit. Leaflets by anonymous authors are distributed, listing by name recent purveyors of "racism, sexism, and violence." Meetings are convened for the exposure and rehabilitation of the guilty, and for the catharsis of the victims—the many, many victims. A candlelight vigil is held to bemoan this winter of discontent.

Of course the average Dartmouth student is oblivious to such cant. What is still being denounced as "apathy" by the shrill remains the sturdy common sense that most of us remember as the school's defining trait. Otherwise I'd wonder if the College was teaching too few courses on Shakespeare and Homer, and too many of the breast-beating so-called "studies" that surely inspire the humbug on display in the electronic D. Too bad for the uninitiated Web surfer, who'll happen by and not know better.

JNOSSITER@MSN.COM

Don't Let Clubs Fail

The Glee Club's spring tour made it to central Florida this year. The Tampa Bay-alumni club officers worked hard to notify area alumni. Several members spent hours of effort. The Glee Club, directed by Louis Burkot, performed beautifully and exceeded my expectations. On its own, the quality of the singing would satisfy critical aficionados, but nostalgia for Dartmouth elevated the performance to rare, special-occasion status.

The downside was poor participation by local alumni. Very few offered to house the 41 Glee Club members. Half of them slept in a local college dormitory. Of the 300-plus alumni in the area, there were fewer than 50 people in the audience. Not all of them were alumni, either.

I am sure that this is not just a local problem and that alumni clubs around the country are facing similar problems of participation. The volunteer alumni running the clubs must feel that they are beating their heads against the wall. Poor participation really saps the pleasure from the organizational work.

Please become involved when Dartmouth students visit your area, and support your local club. Dartmouth community depends on you. Waning interest threatens the very nature of the institution. Your effort will produce dividends for everyone.

DONSCHWARTZ@MEM.PO.COM

Go Big Crimson

I recently received a solicitation for donations from the Dartmouth Alumni Fund that was printed entirely in Eli blue ink. Considering Freedman's plans for the College, crimson would have been a more appropriate color.

HOLIVER@HUSC.HARVARD.EDU

Go Incredibles

I see that an informal student group is seeking College approval for a new mascot. I would suggest the Incredible Hulk. Fle's big. He's green. And he represents perfectly the image that Dartmouth men were cultivating when I was there in the mid-sixties.

Cleveland. Ohio

Or the Too Gees?

In the March issue you ask for suggestions on how to refer to the class of 2000. I propose the "two-grands" but hope they don't think themselves "too grand."

DC4037@AOL.COM

Jerry's Coffee

Amen! to Rodman Rockefeller's tribute to Jerry Lathrop ["Letters," April].

At the urging of another great teacher, my mentor Stearns Morse, I took several of Jerry's courses. In recent years, on visits to Hanover, we occasionally ran into Jerry and Dorothy in the Hanover Inn lobby, or the tunnel under the Hopkins Center, or on the street.

I recall Dorothy telling us: "Once, after dinner, Nelson was helping us do the dishes.

"He asked me, 'Where do I put these coffee cups?' "I told him, 'On those little brass cup hooks in the kitchen.'

"'Oh, great idea,' he said. 'I'll have to tell my mom.'"

Old Lyme, Connecticut

Sanborn is all this, arid tea, too.