YOUR TURN

YOUR TURN

readers react

Wanderlust

Regarding “Vanderlust” [September/October], what a delightful and beautifully written article! I, too, would love to spend time traveling the world in an RV. Thank you so much for such an uplifting piece, and all the best to the family as they continue this marvelous adventure.

THERESA BENNETT-WILKES 71 High Point, North Carolina

Never Forget

I deeply appreciate “Black Lives Shattered” [September/October], in which Tracey R. Gainor ’96 wrote about her brother, who called the police to report a crime and wound up killed by police, a loss that she has had to carry her whole life and feel ever so strongly with each year that passes. Thank you for publishing it, and gratitude to her for sharing a very personal story and tragic loss publicly. It brings it home again. We cannot forget all that has been happening and continues to happen in our country.

TERRY ANN SCRIVEN 78 Cape Elizabeth, Marne

Those Neff Letters

I am saddened by comments made in some of the letters referencing Blake Neff’13 [September/October]. Some seemed to suggest the desire or need for censorship. Thought control is the weapon of demagogues (McCarthy) or Nazi or Communist regimes. In this country there is freedom of speech (even if offensive) and freedom of the press. Our colleagues have every right to express themselves and even sermonize, but they do not have the right to dictate DAM editorial policy. To the editorial staff of DAM, I say resist intimidation, however loud. To the aggrieved alumnae/alumni, I say be charitable and resist your illiberal urges. Remember it was during the 1953 Dartmouth Commencement that President Dwight E isenhower made his famous antibook burning remarks. Reflect on—and take pride in—that.

THOMAS L. WATT ’57, DMS’58

Portland, Maine

It is difficult to avoid seeing 19 consecutive letters on the same subject, offering little or no substance but numerous adjectives that were largely unheard of 65 years ago when I was a freshman. These adjectives—racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, misogynistic, among others—do not present evidence of Ivy League educations. When we were freshmen most of us didn’t think we were in a position to call others by such vile epithets. We had respect for faculty and alumni. John Sloan Dickey told us, “Your business here is learning,” and most of us took that to heart.

MICHAEL D’ELIA ’59, TU’63

Harwich Port, Massachusetts

Off the Deep End

I was stunned and deeply disappointed to learn of the decision to eliminate swimming and diving at Dartmouth [“Varsity Blues,” September/October]. My first thought, as a former Big Green swimmer, was of the many deserving scholar-athletes who won’t have the chance to experience what was for me the most influential part of my time at Dartmouth. But I now realize it is bad for Dartmouth as a whole. This decision wasn’t about strained finances, inadequate facilities, or weak coaching. It was about giving more admissions spots to non-athletes and to athletes on teams with better winning records. I absolutely agree that athletes should strive to win. But the ultimate lessons learned go beyond that. Reducing the number of exemplary scholar-athletes in favor of separate consideration for scholars and athletes makes Dartmouth less an Ivy League school and more like the two-tiered systems in the vast majority of “big-time” Division I institutions.

ROBERT GOLDBLOOM ’81 Hastings-on-Hudson, New York

Dartmouth’s recent decision to eliminate five varsity sports is short-sighted and divisive: 110 dedicated, passionate, wellrounded student-athletes were sacrificed for the stated goal of reducing the number of recruited athletes by 10 percent. Many Dartmouth alums who are appalled fully support admissions’ goals to give more spots to Black, Indigenous, and other minority students. But why do you need to cut five teams to achieve this? Dartmouth can find a better way, without blindsiding and tearing out the hearts of current and aspiring student-athletes, their families, and alums. In addition, swimming and diving supporters believe the recent eliminations have an outsized impact on the Asian American and LGBTQIA communities. Let’s find a more palatable strategy to achieve the laudable goals of achieving a more diverse and talented student body.

ALEXANDRA (BOCHICCHIO) BOROWIECKI ’05

Seattle

Turbulence

I trust my three dearly loved biracial grandchildren will not think me a bigot for expressing my strong displeasure at the removal of the Baker Tower weathervane [“Winds of Change,” September/ October], but I think it’s an example of revisionism carried too far. Shall we next crash the Washington Monument because it celebrates someone who owned slaves in a time when few considered that practice as offensive as all decent people do today?

TOM HALL ’54 Foster, Rhode Island

The cancel culture strikes again. How many millions have passed by the weathervane atop Baker Library and either not noticed it, ignored it (if they could see it), or felt proud of the original intent? There must not be enough to keep some of the students busy, and they must have binoculars. When people don’t view our history, warts and all, and keep trying to make a more perfect nation, we have lost one of the great principles of education. The cancel culture is a slippery slope.

BILL STREITZ ’64

Roseburg, Oregon

WRITE TO US

We welcome letters. The editor reserves the right to determine the suitability of letters for publication and to edit them for accuracy and length. We regret that not all letters can be published, nor can they be returned. Letters should run no more than 200 words in length, refer to material published in the magazine and include the writer’s full name, address, and telephone number.

Write: Letters, Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, 7 Allen Street, Suite 201,

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Email: DAMLetters@dartmouth.edu

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