We Have Come This Far

Native opinion, (more) thoughts about women

Indians' Dartmouth

Lim limpt' tl ispaouse' ("Thank you from my heart" in my language, Okanogan) for the thoughtful article about the Native American legacy that all of Dartmouth College should celebrate. You have brought to light our stories in a beautiful and honorable way. All of our community, both students and alums, now has a greater appreciation for the legacy of Native peoples at Dartmouth.

The article brings back for me all the joys, struggles, and experiences of the Hanover Plain. Graduating from Dartmouth meant a "survival" and a release from the pressure of serving as ambassadors for all Native people. No longer would we have to explain the Sun Dance or the Potlatch to fellow students or professors. We could

just be ourselves and not have to push our stories on others in order to be understood.

I can only voice my own thanks, but I am sure there are many NAD alums who felt just a little bit better having our stories told in this way. Tah' lihust' (Really Good) is the only thing that comes to mind.

OMAK, WASHINGTON JSIROIS51R015655@AOL.COM

Until the April issue, I had been strongly opposed to the 1974 action which discarded the Indian symbol even though it had been displayed with honor and affection by Dartmouth students and alumni for more than 50 years. I can now accept that the Indian symbol does convey, to students and alums of Indian heritage, a demeaning image of being "your Indians." It is regrettable that an honorable and heroic name can no longer be associated with Dartmouth, but I've recognized that it is the perception, not the intent, which determines the connotation of an identity.

INDIALANTIC, FLORIDA

I applaud all of the contributors' honesty ("I Have Come This Far," April). I was impressed by their courageous self-disclosure. I felt empathy as their words mirrored my own initial feelings of fear and isolation during freshman fall. As a 17-yearold from an upper middle class, WASPish "wasicu" background, I should have felt confident and well acculturated in Hanover.

I can appreciate that the essay was not a general diatribe against Caucasians, but rather a sensitive examination of subjective experiences. The article serves as a reminder that attributes and strengths rooted in uniqueness (and the absence of stereotyping and persecution of such) should be honored as the consummate success of the human experience.

GREENWICH, CONNECTICUT

Right there on pages 22 and 23 (April) is a sculpture of our beloved Baker weathervane. Wait a minute! Something's not quite right here. Eleazar's arm is not extended toward the pupil and the pupil is not seated at his feet, but on what I presume repre sents...a stump? It bothers me that the version of the weathervane in the April issue isn't true to the original. What gives? Was it simply a mistake? Was the artist exercising her creative license? Or did she cave into the PC foolishness on campus?

If the weathervane can be changed to satisfy the whims of a political agenda, then how about getting rid of that pipe! Next, we come to the barrel of rum. But, hey, let's save that for another time. We've altered enough of the College's history for now.

CONCORD, MASSACHUSETTT

I found the"I Have Come This Far" epic very moving, especially Robert Bennett's piece. This did more to stir and heighten my pride in Dartmouth than anything I can remember in recent decades. There are 15 or 20 Boldts or Boldt in-laws in the Dartmouth family. Of course I think well and warmly of the College. But it is not often that I hear one of its major voices so effectively affirm out-of-the-mainstream values of the kind that mean a lot to me.

ENGLEWOOD, NEWJERSEY

The chance is seldom given to us to walk a mile in another's moccasins, but Robert Bennett's moving essay, "I Have Come This Far," with its companion sidebars in the April issue, makes this possible. It sent me to the swinger of birches to understand the experience. We are one race.

Our physical differences are minor. It is culture that divides us the world over. To leave familiar ground to climb, and at a certain point, risk launching into another's firmament, brings us in the end, face scratched, cheek lashed, but spirit alive, to the fundament of our common humanity. And in this end is a beginning.

WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK

A Woman's Place (Continued)

What memories Jack Kent's tribute to his Dartmouth lady brought back! (March Class Notes) It was a fun time for all of us Dartmouth wives, and over the years, reunions, football games, basketball games, and mini-reunions have kept us in touch with the Dartmouth family. Jack Kent's tribute was right on target. I'm proud to be remembered as a Dartmouth wife who feels every bit a member of her husband's class.

(WIFE OF NELSON BELLESHEIM '51) TOMS RTVER, NEWJERSEY

"A Sluggo's Sister Chooses Dartmouth" (March) gave me more than a momentary pause for reflection. My true introduction to the Dartmouth experience came through my sister, Amy Cammann Cholnoky '77. I don't know how many of us there are, but I'm proud to say I wanted to go to Dartmouth because my sister went there.

As with the Sullivans and our classmates, Ames and I maneuvered our way through Dartmouth's forced evolution. It wasn't always graceful or pretty; it was eminently survivable, and most often fan. What I learned in Hanover went well beyond the classroom: lessons I continue to grow from as the years go by.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, CALIFORNIA TOMCAMMANN@AOL.COM

I was surprised to read in the March issue that Dr. Hannah Croasdale did "research but no teaching" until 1963. I distinctly remember her as my teacher in biology around 1950. Dr. Croasdale's teaching in laboratory is where I learned biology. I am delighted that the College finally recognized Dr. Croasdale's teaching gifts in 1963 by making her the first tenured woman professor, but you are denigrating one of Dartmouth's better teaching careers by saying that only then was she "finally allowed to teach."

WHITE SALMON, WASHINGTON

The first woman to attain faculty rank was Russian linguist Nadezhda Koroton, when she became instructor in June of 1952. She had been teaching in the department of Russian Civilization since 1950. The records of the department show that the chairman asked the dean of the faculty "to make an exception to the policy of the College and allow her appointment as instructor." Nadezhda Koroton was then advanced to the rank of assistant professor in June of 1955. Thus she became the first woman to teach with professorial rank. In spite of the praise of her teaching ability, her contribution to the department, and the fact that she was as qualified as her male colleagues, she was not promoted any farther. She was, however, the first woman to be given emeritus status, when she retired in 1967. Professor Emerita Hannah Croasdale was named "research associate with the rank of instructor" in 1953. She became "research associate with the rank of assistant professor" in 1959.

Professor Koroton was my mother-inlaw. I ask you on her behalf to make this correction, since she passed away in 1994.

ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN

We stand corrected that Hannah Croasdale did not become an assistant professor until 1959. But Croasdale's curriculum, vita shows that she TO as "admitted to the faculty" as a research associate in 1950, the same year Nadezhda Koroton began teaching as an "associate." Ed.

I have come to accept coeducation at Dartmouth. However, your March issue appears to be a sad attempt to rewrite history to pander to the politically correct forces that seem to be overtaking Dartmouth. Your "cover girl" Sarah Harris, of Indian heritage, is allowed to take great pride in that heritage while the institution that was founded to educate her forefathers cannot enjoy the same freedom. Her portrait is inappropriate in the debate at the College. Am I to assume that the College is moving toward a mascot that would be acceptable to the Trustees: the Dartmouth "Female Indians"? I'm sorry. I don't understand. You've lost me.

BRYAN, OHIO

A legacy like Patricia Berry (March), I was introduced to Dartmouth at a young age. I was young enough that Dartmouth had always been, in my memory, a coeducational institution, though my father Ron ('61, TU '62) and my uncle Byron ('57) had attended a single-sex school. I chose to apply to Dartmouth early-decision.

My father was thrilled and confused. He wasn't sure what about the College attracted me above schools that seemed to have stronger ties to my interests. I sought "academic rigor." It was that, I think, along with the feeling of continuing a family tradition. I have never regretted my decision. I had a marvelous, enriching four years. I made wonderful friends, both male and female. I attended great classes with incredible professors, both male and female. Never did I feel apart or excluded from any pursuit on the basis of my gender. When I graduated, no one was more proud than my father.

MORRIS PLAINS, NEW JERSEY CATHUSE@AOL.COM

Your list of Dartmouth's most influential women (March) fell at least one short. Miss Ruth Adams was a former president of Wellesley College who became a vicepresident at Dartmouth at the time of coeducation. She was the number one "agent of change." In addition to her administrative tasks, she taught English and helped her students to grow up sensible.

SALEM, OREGON

I enjoyed tie commentary by Wade Herring in the Class of 'BO notes (March). One thing struck me, however that in our day Dartmouth men and Dartmouth women were not "items." I've never been sure what an "item" is, but even in the dark ages of the 1970s many Dartmouth couples dated, went steady for years, and married. So far as I'm concerned my wife, Marianne Parshley '80, and I were an item by the winter of our sophomore year, and have been ever since. We know of many all-Dartmouth marriages from the class of 1980 and earlier classes. That this Dartmouth couple phenomenon was overlooked or denied at the time is testimony to just how weird Dartmouth's social life could be before the school became fully coeducational.

PORTLAND, OREGON STEVE.COOK@BULLIVANT.COM

One could say that the Trustees' decision in 1971 to admit women meant that women were fully welcomed at the College, but it took another eight and a half years of fighting and protesting before the Trustees agreed to admit women on an equal basis with men.

I remember my classmate, Paula Sharp, getting up to testify before the Trustees in 1979. She said that she had grown up as a typical suburban kid who believed in the system. When she came to Dartmouth, she learned more about the Trustees and their connections to the country's largest corporations, and about their role in maintaining the status quo, not just in admissions policies at Dartmouth but in all of society. Paula said that gaining that knowledge had been a radicalizing experiencethat she would never view the system the same again. She concluded by saying that it was not in the Trustees' interest to produce people like her, and that is why they should drop the 3-1 ratio. They did.

SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS

I was amused to discover my likeness ("Sampler," March) excised from a photograph of the Dartmouth (Injun)aires juxtaposed with a quote from an anonymous alum of '49 warning against the hardships that coeducation would impose. Those who know me will attest that my appreciation of strong, smart and attractive women was so finely honed by Dartmouth's liberating arts that matters of haberdashery and hygiene could never deter it. My marriage to a coed from Brown (Pembroke) a week after commencement confirms this.

SCARSDALE, NEW YORK

For 25 years, Dartmouth has so striven to seek diversity that it would be anything except what it used to be. Your March issue celebrating women so completely expunged the male image that even the obituaries were omitted. Which leads us to the inevitable conclusion that the "Men of Dartmouth" are truly "Dartmouth Undying."

MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA

How could anyone even suggest Dartmouth isn't a better institution for doing what it did 25 years ago? As I approach my 50th reunion this June I'm as proud as I could possibly be to be a member of the Dartmouth family.

HINSDALE, ILLINOIS

Thanks, Mom

I was pleased to see a photo [pictured at left] of my son's dog figures on the Green in your April edition (Dartmouth Undying). I am wondering why credits were not given. He was a senior fellow in Studio Art during 1992-1993, and these dogs were part of his intention to create daily interaction with art. His name: Torin I. Porter, class of 1993.

GLOVER, VERMONT

Thanks, Dad

We are delighted to see the picture of that marvelous young woman on page 96 of the Alumnae Magazine. We wonder why, with the only full page picture of a woman inside the magazine, you neglect to provide her name and class. Surely the underwhelming quote from John Kemeny doesn't fill the need to know who she is.

FAIR OAKS RANCH, TEXAS

She's Kelly Dixon Cooper '82. Ed.

unleashed a newbreed of art.