Letters to the Editor
Capitol Hill Gang
Thank you for printing Jake Tapper's wonderful interview with"The Dartmouth Caucus" [March]. Tapper's interview encapsulated especially well the straightforward politics of my congressman, Mike Capuano, a Bud man to the core (which I mean as a compliment to the man, if not the beer). Besides checking out Tapper's prose at www.salon.com , your readers, in particular those who perused The Dartmouth during Tapper's terrific tenure there, would also do well to look up his political cartoons at www.rollcall.com/ pages/cartoons/.
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS MSTERNMAN@BOSTONCHAMBER.COM
Rep. Sherwood states that George W. Bush "combines traditional conservatism with a compassion and an interest in people." Tell that to the families of the 123 out of 124 men and women who were not granted relief or a stay of execution from the Texas governor's office during the last four years or so. Compare the statement, too, with George W.'s touted tax break, which ignored Social Security or paying down the national debt and was heavily weighted with "compassionate conservatism" toward the top 2 percent of the wealthy in the United States. Even John McCain couldn't stomach that!
Finally, George W. has found it necessary to adopt three personas on the stump in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Michigan. It's usually called pandering! Perhaps Misters Sherwood and Portman will take a real look at what they tout.
Suffield, Connecticut
My Days with Maury
I thoroughly enjoyed your articles by and about Maury Rapf ["The Day F. Scott Fitzgerald Came to Campus," March], I remember Maury mostly through his connections with the Players student drama group and his associations with one of my roommates, Hlarry Ackerman '35. (Harry post-grad was involved in starting the radio show "The Lone Ranger" and eventually was a CBS vice president.)
My principal memory of Maury was his part as co-author and producer of the allstudent musical "Banned in Boston." This show was presented in Robinson Hall during the 1934-35 school year. Ackerman was another of the authors. Budd Schulberg '36
may have been involved, too. Paul Siskind '35 wrote the music. I was the lighting manager. This show was written and produced entirely without help from the Players. We did borrow some Players' equipment, especially the lights, and we had Warner Bentley's blessing. I don't remember where the financial backing came from or if we made expenses, but generally it was a big success.
It's nice to know that Maury is still connected with Dartmouth drama.
DALLAS, TEXAS
Solving Greek Problems
D. Dylan Gray '91 is the first person in the fraternity debate who comes with the solution—or a solution: terminate all College support ["Letters," March]. College-owned houses should become regular dwellings for students and be operates in the manner of residence halls.
In the case of houses not owned by the College, the College should—indeed, in the interest of enlightened debate, mustlet the Dartmouth community know about the current legal setup. Who owns the structure? Who owns the land under and immediately adjacent to the houses? Is it the College or the town that exercises jurisdiction over the houses? Who pays for fire and police protection? Who supplies water and sewer? Does the College act as insurance carrier and collection agent for house dues, as Gray writes, and why? The answers will suggest details of a solution. Where the College owns the land but not the structure, a ground lease would give it the needed control over operations and activities. State and municipal laws would apply and be enforced, as they would be in houses owned entirely (land and building) by non-College entities.
Whichever is the case, it is clear that the houses should become de-coupled from College dependency and support. They should become in essence "off-campus" dwellings and be occupied by enrolled upperclass and graduate students. They still could be operated by the owners and occupants in some kind of club format—the principle of free association demands that they may—subject, of course, to College regulations over student conduct and behavior and to state and town laws. And when that is done, many of the "Greek problems,"
real or perceived, would disappear. The College would be out of the fraternity-sorority business; it could concentrate its energies and resources on its primary mission.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Getting It
John Daukas '84 criticizes the administration for the Orwellian character of its approach to the student life question ["Letters," January]. In his view, the approach taken is essentially illiberal. It is an effort to impose a preconceived (and foreign) notion of what is good for students and leaves no room for genuine debate or consultation on the subject.
What interested me in the context of this complaint was the second theme of his letter: "People who did not attend Dartmouth simply 'don't get it.' " The point here is presumably that those who didn't share the undergraduate experience have no legitimate right to judge it and to suggest change in it. Free discourse is fine so long as you "get it." If you don't "get it," then you have no right to be heard. It sounds to me as if Mr. Daukas is suffering from the very illiberality of which he accuses the administration. So much for consistency.
As one who did attend Dartmouth and who, therefore, "gets it," I think the concerns raised in the social alternatives debate are legitimate. I do not believe that the litmus test for participation in this debate is attendance at Dartmouth. That is a recipe for stultification and inbreeding. As for the process itself, I think Dartmouth deserves to be congratulated for the mature, careful and transparent way it has approached this important issue.
OXFORD, UNITED KINGDOM
Dartmouth University
Contrary to your editors' note to Cedric Kam's letter ["Letters to the Editor," March], the Lambert Trophy did indeed arrive in Hanover inscribed "Dartmouth University." They finally "got it right" by re-engraving it.
BEDFORD, NEW YORK
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