Photographs and Memories
The fraternity debate, the final word on green Hollywood.
The Initiative
In his opening address to the class of 1956 President Dickey said in essence: "We give you the opportunity not to become gentlemen." I expect that 95 percent of the Class of 1956 became gentlemen and 100 percent of my own friends became gentlemen. President Dickey's challenge gave us an opportunity to exert our own individualism and our own potential. My fear about the present reforms is that the spirit of individualism is being too diminished in the direction of the twin worlds of Babbitt and political correctness—the twin emerging dangers and weaknesses of out present American culture.
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI
The powers-that-be at Dartmouth made their minds up long ago. They have no more intention of being influenced by any "dialogue" than they had 39 years ago, when they polled the class of 1960 on coeducation and then rejected out-of-hand the results of that "poll." Implicit in the so-called "invitation to engage in a dialogue" is the contempt: "While we are alumni of 'research universities,' you poor clods are nothing but students and alumni of quaint, backward, rural Dartmouth College. We are even offering you 'tens of millions of dollars' of your own money, so we can build 'Harvard North,' and you are too unsophisticated to recognize how we are jerking you around."
FITCHBURG, MASSACHUSETTS
I recommend that the Trustees start by defining the cultural parameters and the desired attributes of "social life" among college-age men and women. In order to reduce the emphasis in the social life at Dartmouth on hard drinking, especially in fraternities, the definition of "social life" must change. If we are to improve "life in these United States," in the new century, young people can make a major contribution by adding a service dimension to their social life. They can choose service to state, country, and their fellow human beings. Young men and women who can get together at a party and talk of achievements that are of service, whether it's a state forestry project or shopping for shut-ins, may just have a little less interest in getting drunk. Hopefully, as the community service dimension of Dartmouth life grew, the College would enter the new millennium with its greatness burnished brightly.
JAMESBURG, NEWJERSEY DTN99@AOL.COM
We recently returned from holiday with three other Dartmouth couples—fraternity brothers and their wives. It is hard to believe that it has been almost 50 years since we pledged TEP. Shortly after we arrived home, I received a note from Barry Rubens '55 with pledge trip instructions. Barry went on to say in his note that he thinks we were able to get a piece of intimate apparel from one of the girls at Scully Square. I cannot corroborate that; in legalese, I have no independent recollection of that weekend. In looking back over the years, I can make the following observations: 1. We were certainly young, green, and innocent. 2. The world has changed a great deal. 3. The wonderful friendships that were fostered in fraternities have not changed.
MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA
We, the CFS AJumni/ae Board, representing house corporations and alumni/ae groups of the coed houses, fraternities and sororities, welcome the President's and the Trustees' invitation to participate in the discussions on enhancing student life. As the landlord and advisors to our respective undergraduate counterparts, we have collectively spent decades working with students to help provide facilities and advice to enhance their undergraduate experiences.
In order to promote and improve our organizations, we are willing to spend millions of dollars. We will not shrink from our responsibilities. In our discussions we will be guided by the following principles, which are consistent with the Trustees' "five principles."
• Students should be free to choose with whom they socialize and to join organizations of their liking.
• Coed houses, fraternities, and sororities should (and do) play a positive role in die academic, cultural, and social development of their members, and by extension, the College as a whole.
• Students should have the opportunity to have independent living and social facilities. If we want students to be responsible, they should be given responsibilities.
• There should be a diversity within, and a diversity of, organizations. There is a place at Dartmouth for single-sex, coed, and affinity houses.
• Education will be most successful in curbing antisocial behavior.
• The interaction between house corporations and alumni/ae groups, and stud ents, presents valuable learning opportunities. Organizations that own properties should not be coerced to sell them.
We want to help make Dartmouth a better place, and we believe that our houses are one of the reasons why student satisfaction is so high, and alumni/ae support so fierce. As we work together, and in the spirit of community, we seek a statement of good faith: that the Administration will not unilaterally or forcibly seek to ban, to close, or to mandate the gender composition of our houses. Such a statement would certainly help create a more trusting and constructive atmosphere.
PRESIDENT THE CFS ALUMNi/AE BOARD
Picturing Dartmouth
How sad that the caption writer ["Image Makers," June] should feel that, "the image of a robust, vigorous, granite-of-New Hampshire Dartmouth" should be in conflict with the writer's image of a modern college. These are qualities that represent unique advantages, totally in harmony with what a modern college can and should absorb in gratitude.
Recent administrations and many faculty members have seemed to look on Dartmouth's north country location as a liability rather than the wonderful asset it can be. I hope these leaders will rediscover what earlier generations knew about the wonderful social and educational advantages of spending time in the woods and mountains of New Hampshire's outdoors. Very few college students have such an opportunity, and they should make the most of it.
OSTERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS
I felt embarrassed by the racism reflected in Nathan Lord's comments ["John Brown's Photographer,"June], and proud of the integrity reflected in the decision to publish them.
COLUMBIA, MARYLAND
The new Dartmouth spirit seems to be summarized by the caption to the photograph of President Dickey and students. With this in mind, please explain to me what constitutes the "truer, fuller picture of the modern College." I want to better understand all the wonderful things that I was denied; I thought that I had them.
AMISSVILLE, VIRGINIA
The June issue was by far the most impressive of all the issues I have read in the last 33 years. The students look like themselves, the faculty as well.The historical photos were a revelation. Joe Mehling '69 is a real artist and Dartmouth is most fortunate to have him as staff photographer.
PROFESSOR OF MUSIC DARTMOUTH COLLEGE HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
I give you high marks for an incredibly dull and boring [June] issue. At a time when the College is planning important changes in campus life, we get not one word of update. We do not need more photos of self-conscious professors posing in their offices.
WAYZATA, MINNESOTA
The tribute on the last page to my late husband Adrian Bouchard was an unexpected and gracious one. He would have been very happy to know that his work would be remembered and appreciatedas happy as he was when he was doing it.
HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
Hovey
You report that in 1882 Richard Hovey 1885 was noticed "parading around town holding a sunflower while wearing knickers, silk stockings, and a monocle" ["Dartmouth Undying," April], This description could just as well be of Reginald Bunthorne, W.S. Gilbert's caricature of James McNeill Whistler in his comic opera Patience. If Hovey was not costumed for a student production, perhaps he too was "anxious for to shine in the high aesthetic line as a man of culture rare," and had succumbed to the pop culture craze Gilbert satirized so exquisitely.
BILLINGS, MONTANA WBSQUARED@AOL.COM
Soul Searching
I read with substantial agreement Robert Sullivan '75's article ["What Does Dartmouth Cry For?" March] advocating College soul-searching. Without advocating any creed, I agree that a knowledge of religion should be a part of the gathered information of a Dartmouth graduate. If the proposed soul-searching were to be instituted, I would propose the approach of one university. Georgetown has a mandatory course called "The Problem of God," which assumes that in our present world each person should acquire an understanding of the beliefs of others. I would think of it as comparable to the citizenship course which was prescribed for freshmen in my day and which sought to introduce young minds to current social problems and scientific realities. This would lift the bar which prevents Dartmouth students from acquiring selfdeveloped acquaintance with this universal phenomenon which in various forms is a source of solace and inspiration for billions of their fellows.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
I believe one of the questions posed by Robert Sullivan deserves at least one, qualified answer of no. Sullivan asks: "...aren't everyday values (work hard, play fair, don't cheat or steal) religious values at heart?" As Bill Clinton probably would say, "The answer to the question depends on how you define religion." If religion is defined as a way humans explain those mysteries for which there are no rational answers, I believe Sullivan's everyday values have litt le to do with religion. It seems preferable to develop and share values to guide human behavior that are based on doing the right thing because it makes our world a better place for all of us to live. My observations of the actions performed by humans in the name of "religion" convince me that the guiding but unwritten values of religion frequently cause people to work against making Earth a better place for all of us. I say: "Hooray for Professor Ronald Green and his desire to include a requirement for an ethical or moral reasoning course in the Dartmouth curriculum." How about such a course for junior high school students?
CORALVILLE, lOWA
Religion, values, and ethics deserve to be debated. I must say, though, that I was irr itated by the author's way of disguising a rather clear desire for more Christian content. The author's frequent use of the interrogative mode gives his essay the look of critical inquiry, but my ears detected a decidedly nudging and even bullying tone at times. I don't see how the author can inform the reader that the Dartmouth community includes "19 recognized student religious groups" and at the same time wonder if the College or Dartmouth (considered monolithically) is collectively "searching for a soul" or is crying out for something. When he says "We are teaching a subject here, not preaching," religion professor Hans Penner reaffirms what seems to me to be the College's entirely appropriate adherence to the principle of separation between church and state that exists in American society at large. Clearly the existence of those 19 groups is proof enough that the College, considered as a heterogenous sum of its community members, is hardly a secular or spiritually impoverished place.
MAITRE DE CONFERENCES, DEPARTMENT D'ANGLAIS UNIVERSITY DE TOULOUSE-LE MIRAIL TOULOUSE, FRANCE
Money and Luck
I read with sympathy Regina Barreca '79's article "Money and Luck" [March].litis not always easy for public-school graduates of working-class parents in Brooklyn to ignore the feeling ofnot being one of the crowd when immersed in a Ivy League college atmosphere. I'd like to point out that these emotions are not limited to those of so-called "minority" backgrounds. As a WASP descendant of New England Mayflower passengers and Old England Maritime officer ancestry, I can assert by personal experience that when you're an outsider, you're an outsider, and no one or few ethnic backgrounds are subjected to this set of difficulties, problems, and insecurities.
HOLLIDAYSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA
If one were to take Regina Barreca's work as truth you could assume that the average financial-aid recipients lived in constant fear of exclusion, felt out of place, and froze to death because they would rather be stylish than warm. If you were partially Italian, and grew up anywhere near New York, you could not possibly fit in and would spend the rest of your life working through your feeling of inadequacy.
Perhaps Professor Barreca ought to look elsewhere for the real reasons for missed opportunities at Dartmouth. My parents are off-the-boat Italians, and they would be appalled if I ever came close to believing that I was somehow inadequate. Not once did I alow my alleged station in life to shape my life at Dartmouth. (I also learned long ago that wearing a sweater under the leather jacket works really well when it gets cold.) Why wallow in misery 20 years after the fact when there was so much joy to be had in the experience?
I guess I was lucky.
STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT
In September 1970 I arrived at Dartmouth, a first-generation American whose father and mother had emigrated from Cuba and Belgium, respectively. We were solidly middle class, not working-class nor poor, but accustomed to thrift: my father recycled used sheets of carbon paper at his small exporting business; my mother walked several blocks to save a few pennies on a gallon of milk. I was also accustomed to ethnic diversity, a result of a public education in New York City schools.
Dartmouth was different. To this day I have yet to completely understand the spell it cast on me, its combination of allure and foreignness. The students looked ail-American compared to my high school classmates—their hair blonder and straighter, their skin fairer. Their last names were easier, too. Twenty-five years later, I still wonder at this gulf between myself and many of those around me. What was it? The class gaps that Ms. Barreca poignantly describes? A chasm between urban and suburban upbringings? Or was my experience akin to other outsiders' encounters with a complacent, fairly homogenous community, whose enticing self-image did not, upon close inspection, seem to include us? In the same issue, President Wright asks the College to take a second, more inclusive, look at its constituency. Given my experience, this plea has personal meaning. I wonder: can Dartmouth's embrace really encircle us all? Might our school's image one day come to include a wish for—and genuine appreciation of_ diversity?
NEW ROCHELLE, NEW YORK
The Lambutks
As a near-native Hanoverian I remember quite well the awe in which I stood whenever I would encounter one of the Lambuths on Main Street ["Letters, "March]. My child's mind led me to believe that this was what my Plantagenet forebears must have looked like. (Subsequent history courses and reading disabused me of the absurd notion that those Norman louts could ever have shown such grace.) I would like to add a small addendum to Mr. Monagan's fine letter: as memory serves, and I saw it ever so many times, the vehicle in question was not a vulgar Cadillac but a white Packard, a make whose mold has also unfortunately been thrown away.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Hollywood (The Sequel)
It's gratifying to see so many alums working in the film industry. It's even more gratifying to know that there are scores more who are hard at work out there. Probably for practical reasons, they were not mentioned in your article ["Big Green in Tinseltown," April]. I'm sure we're still leaving some folks out, but the following should be remembered.
WRITERS (OR WRITER/DIRECTORS) Bob Berlinger '80 Walter Bernstein '40 Julie Davis '90 Steve Geller '62 Owen Gottlieb '95 Steve Greenberg' 70 Libby Schmeltzer Hinson '83 AmyLasser '90 Reed Moran '73 Chris Norberg '96 Denis O'Neill '70 Peter Parnell '74 Bill Phillips'7l W.D. Richter '68 Budd Schulberg '36 John Schwab '97 Debra Shulins 'BO Seth Swirsky '82 Dawn Urbont '94
ACTORS David Birney '61 Tailinh Chin '92 Connie Craig '83 JimMetzler 73 Michael Moriarty '63 Cirri Nottage '83 Juan C. Peinado '88 (Carlos Whiteshirt) Jennifer Leigh Warren '77
OTHERS (production, casting directors,production managers, filmmakers) David Arndt '70 Bill Aydelott'72 Chris Carlson '75 Chris Chesser '70 Ron Clemmer '71 Ana Coyne Alonso '88 Austin DeBesche '68 Carol Dudley '71 Dick Durrance '39 Dick Durrance '65 Rob Eshman '82 Jon Fauer '72 Bob Gitt '63 Derek Goldberg '84 Rick Goldman '83 Anne Hallager'81 Billjohnson '82 Pam Katz '80 Matt Keener '84 Zach Lehman '95 Gemma Lockhart '79 Rick Low '84 John Lugar '70 Jeff MacFarland '70 Sarah Nilsen '89 Therese Ojibway '78 Ray Prado '89 John Pruitt '74 Larry Ramin '83 Jim Ruxin '70 Tom Seidman '71 Van Spurgeon '53 Andrew Stone '60 Chuck Thegze '70 Wayne Wadhams '68 Pamela Mason Wagner '81 David Woll'82
HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
How could Holly Sorensen '86 miss the other members of the class of '63 who are large players in Hollywood and elsewhere? Chris Miller '63, author of and actor in Animal House and co-author with wife Mary Hale of Multiplicity, starring Michael Keaton; Steve Macht '63, actor in easily 50 films for TV and the big screen; MichaelMoriarty '63, award-winn ing actor on the big screen and TV. These gentlemen deserve a mention for their fine efforts.
CONCORD, MASSACHUSETTS
You overlooked one recent alum in Tinseltown, Edward Rogers '94. Though we used to give him a hard time about what he was going to do with a music degree, he has had the last laugh. He composes music for TV shows, the most recent (and highest rated) being NYPD Blue.
LLOYD HARBOR, NEW YORK RSKCORWEN@EMAIL.MSN.COM
Adrian Bouchard's camera magic still casts a spell.
