1947

There is some concern in Hanover that some alumni participation in Dartmouth events is fast disappearing. Bill Montgomery '52, 1952 newsletter editor, commented recently in his article: "Life on Campus in Spring '98": "Sports I don't know. After football season we just can't get our act together. We do okay in soccer, and the women's sports teams hang in near the top, but we just aren't making it in winter the way we used to in 'the good old days.' Even the two sports we used to own, skiing and ice hockey, find us well back in the pack, year after year. And the kids don't seem to care today. Even attendance at football games, for example, is way off, and I'll bet less than 25 percent of the students attend a Harvard, Yale, or Princeton game. (The only reason I put in 25 percent is so that some smart aleck won't write in and say on one day it was 21.9 percent. I really think it is about 15 percent.) What should we do?"

Good question. Declining football attendance, however, is only one aspect of a bigger issue—declining alumni participation at all levels of Dartmouth activities: Dartmouth clubs, Alumni Fund, sports, mini- and major reunions, etc. This doesn't concern just younger classes either, but classes across the board. The Council of the Alumni reported in their May 1998 meeting on the Alumni Fund. There are those who feel that the fund has been sagging for the past ten years. NOT SO:

• Alumni participation has climbed two percentage points since 1994.

• Younger classes have always had lower participation rates. The gap is currently narrower with the older classes than in the past.

• The participation of alumni in the fund is higher than male participation in 17 of 21 co-ed classes.

• Dartmouth participation is not suffering in contrast to the other Ivies. Most institutions have declining participation. Only Princeton and Harvard have seen an increase in the past ten years.

Over the past 51 years, the class of 1947 has been very generous to the Alumni Fund. The last number we have from Frank Weber is $7,902,500, which does not include the year of 1996. We can conclude that, according to their means, as a group the class has given better than $8 million to the Fund. I'm sure that this number does not put us in first place nor in last place.

If we look back over the years we can thank the leadership that God gave us for our class: 'Chad' Chadwell, Allen Bildner, Ed Sengras, Frank Weber, Walt Peterson, Townes Harris, Alan Epstein, Hugh Chapin, Andy McCulloch, Ham Chase, Dick Hollerith, Norm Fink, Joe Kurey, and the host of others who pitched in on cue! The best way to put it Thanks.

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