Letters
YOUR TURN
readers react
A Note to DAM Readers
DAM’s staff and board are dedicated to making a great magazine for you. With all the feedback about the Blake Neff’13 item in our July/August issue, let me say loud and clear: We hear you, and we thank you.
Our coverage of Neff is a matter of newsworthiness, given his prominent role with Tucker Carlson Tonight, a television show with enormous influence on the president of the United States. That said, DAM should have provided additional context and more rounded reporting to explain the role of Carlson’s show in today’s political culture. The magazine’s editorial board and I have held extensive discussions about your feedback and the shortcomings in our story. The editors will be more rigorous moving forward.
A week after DAM published the issue, CNN reported on July 10 that Neff had posted racist, misogynistic, and homophobic comments on an online forum using a pseudonym. Neff resigned from his job at Fox News, and DAM temporarily pulled the online version of the story to provide an update. The original remained available in our digital archive.
A number of alumni wrote letters to express their dismay at Neff and the magazine, and we’re devoting extra pages to include many of them in this issue. We published all letters on our website in early August.
One thing I noticed in the letters: some misunderstanding about DAMs relationship to the College. As the masthead says: “Editorially independent since 1905.” DAMs mission, according to its charter, is to deliver “news of the College and its alumni, provide a medium for the exchange of views concerning College affairs, and in other ways provide editorial content that relates to the shared and diverse experiences and interests of Dartmouth alumni.”
To those who wrote to ask if DAM is somehow proud of Neff, the emphatic answer is no. The editors condemn Neff’s reprehensible actions, which in no way reflect the views of this magazine.
Thank you for writing, and thank you for reading.
—Sean Plottner, editor
Further Review
I am extremely disappointed by the magazine’s decision to feature Neff, Tucker Carlson’s writer. Given Carlson’s regular racist, sexist, and false remarks, the institution could easily have anticipated that at one point Neff would cross the line.
ERIN KLEIN ’13 Chicago
Really? Out of all the remarkable Dartmouth alumni since 1769, you had to pick Neff?
ETHAN BRAUNSTEIN ’67
Flagstaff, Arizona
You picked the wrong person to lionize. The Dartmouth Review tormented Native and Black students for years. We were tormented by the Neffs of the world at a College founded for the youths “of the various Indian tribes.” We are proud to be alums, but the DAM celebration of Neff scratches at old wounds we still carry beneath the flesh.
WILLIAM HARJO (LONEFIGHT) ’89 New Town, North Dakota It’s so disappointing when alumni such as Neff reinforce the negative aspects of Dartmouth’s brand despite all the good work that so many people are doing. I can only imagine the impact on students and alumni of color.
DAFNA SARNOFF ’85
New York City
It should be noted that Neff began his illustrious career in journalism at The Review. Neff’s journey from being a bigot in a small town in New Hampshire to being a bigot on the national stage should remind us that The Review remains a stain on the Dartmouth experience and serves only to create a pathway to influence and fame for the worst of our College. Yet again, The Review and its alums have brought shame to our great institution.
HEMANT JOSHI ’04
Allston, Massachusetts
Whose brilliant idea was it to highlight the most dubious achievements of Neff? Yes, you’ll tell me this was written before the current scandal. And yes, we are a community that fosters free speech. But give me a break: I was there (as a member of the staff and later arts editor of The Dartmouth) when The Review was founded. We have always known that while it was based on conservative political philosophy, it was in reality a means to express cruel, racist, xenophobic, and homophobic ideas. As an institution we may have no choice but to tolerate the existence of The Review on campus, but for DAM to highlight how one of its alums has now gone on to promote hateful ideas on a national scale with Carlson is a bridge too far.
JESSICA ROSENBERG BROWN ’83 Brooklyn, New York
Dartmouth has wonderful alumni doing important work, but in light of the racist, misogynistic, and homophobic comments that he has posted online over the past few years, Neff is not one of them. Please remove your profile of him in the current magazine. The College has nothing to be proud of in calling him an alumnus.
SHARON GRAYZEL ’87 Portlayid, Oregon
Unfortunate timing for the Neff profile, but I appreciate how quickly DAM updated the story online with a condemnation of his racist views. I hope that article stands as his last appearance in these pages, but history suggests that might not be the case. Consider the relatively small but highly visible cadre of alumni who’ve turned bigotry into a highly remunerative career path and how frequently they are mentioned in this publication.
I cannot be the only alumna who cringes whenever someone like Neff makes the news for aprovocative tweet or screed, then earns another mention in an alumni publication. What responsibility do we have as an institution to opt out of promoting those alumni whose careers are a constant test of the line between political opinion and inflammatory hate speech? Is it necessary to write sympathetically about convicted felon Dinesh D’Souza ’83? Must a book by Laura Ingraham ’85 be noticed?
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,
Hanover, NH 03755
Email: DAMIetters@dartmouth.edu
Online: dartmouthalumnimagazine.com
LETTERS
When alumni profit from white supremacy and exclusionary politics that conflict directly with the College’s values, why must we remain neutral? Plenty of other media outlets with distributions exponentially greater than DAM’s will continue covering their every utterance. We cannot revoke their diplomas or deny their alumni status, but let’s at least decide to stop including notices about them in alumni publications.
ANDREA GREER ’93
Houston
Congratulations on your timely piece about Neff on the eve of his firing. Have you considered running similar articles about Dartmouth grads serving time on death row or in hospitals for the criminally insane?
GREG PRENTISS ’66 Lakeview, Arkansas
To find a feature in the most recent issue about Neff under the headline “The Right Stuff” is truly disgusting. It gets worse. The magazine flippantly adds that Mr. Neff worked for The Daily Caller as if it were some innocuous broadsheet instead of a publication that has published a number of white supremacists, anti-Semites, and bigots. DAM owes the Dartmouth community an apology. People such as Neff, Laura Ingraham, and Dinesh D’Souza should never be featured. These people have no business being anywhere near the Dartmouth we all love.
NICK BERNSTEIN ’84
Brooklyn, New York
There is no place for the racist, sexist comments of Neff in the Dartmouth community. I’m incredibly embarrassed to have graduated the same year. The recent article misrepresents what kind of person he is and undesirably draws more attention to his connection with Dartmouth.
JANE CAI ’13 New York City I was so disappointed to find out that Neff is a Dartmouth alum. We certainly do not want to celebrate him. He’s offensive and an embarrassment.
LAURA FRIEDMAN KLEIN ’91
Brookeville, Maryland
Yet another member of The Review joins the ranks of the disgraced. I’m rolling on the floor laughing my ass off as I wallow in schadenfreude.
JOHN CHAMBERLIN ’70
Falls Church, Virginia
Yet again I find myself incredibly disappointed by Dartmouth. It is totally appalling that DAM would publish a feature on Neff. Regardless of the fact that he was just recently caught posting racist and misogynist diatribes online, he writes for a racist and misogynist TV host and lets us know that those are his words that Carlson is saying on TV. He’s proud of that, of course, but should DAM be? I fail to understand how someone writing for a TV personality who has a clear disdain for women and for people of color should be celebrated. Does the College feel proud of the job it did educating [Neff] if these are the views he graduated with? I would hope the College is working to educate and graduate students who value and celebrate diversity and graduating white people who understand the privilege that they were born with and that they carry as Ivy League graduates. Lord knows the College needs more diversity—and celebrating graduates such as Neff certainly won’t help it attract a student body population that it needs to be a successful school.
BROOKE LIERMAN ’01 Baltimore
My husband and I are both alums and were frankly appalled to see the article about Neff. To have that article come out the week Carlson besmirched Tammy Duckworth—a disabled woman of color and war hero—was ridiculous. And Carlson is so racist and sexist that many advertisers will not even pay for ads on his show. But I held off on saying anything until learning why Neff had to resign from Fox News. I am shocked but not surprised. This is exactly the kind of person who would commit themselves to working for Carlson. You owe all of us an apology for normalizing and glamorizing this work. There aren’t two sides to every story. Sometimes there is just right and wrong.
MIRIAM INGBER ’01 AND PETER VASSILEV ’00
Westport, Connecticut
What a “nice” coincidence to have Carol Muller’s interview [“A Failure to Dig Deeper,” July/August] on the same wall space as the recognition of Neff’s achievements! Reminders of a couple of Dartmouth’s legacies—of John Kemeny, an important mentor of mine [who oversaw Dartmouth’s decision to go coed], and also of the College’s insular, sometimes racist and sexist, environment.
NEIL HENRY, ADV’60 Richmond, Virginia
As a parent of a Dartmouth T6, T8, and ’21 as well as the wife of a Tuck board member, I am horrified by the news of Neff and his racist posts. I would hope that DAM will hold Neff accountable and run a followup article condemning Neff and exploring the role Dartmouth has played, if any, in forming or allowing his racist views and the College’s current race culture.
SONIA F. MCARDLE Chicago
The timing of the article highlighting Neff may have simply been unfortunate, and DAM would never knowingly publish a glowing article about an alum who proudly espouses racism, homophobia, and sexism. We are hoping that his unmasking and subsequent dismissal from Fox was exactly at the same time as this article was being written, printed, and mailed.
Neff does not reflect conservatism, and he does not live up to the standards of being a daughter or son of Dartmouth College let alone a human being with any level of basic human decency.
We are ashamed to see that he is an alumnus but unfortunately not surprised that he is a former Review staffer. His intolerance and cruelty is typical of some of the more notable Review alums.
Please write an addition or correction acknowledging who and what Neff is and what he’s done, and that the College does not condone his vile views and, in fact, abhors and rejects them.
IKE ANYANWU-EBO ’94, TH’96, AND CARMEN HARDEN ’96 Thornton, Colorado
I was disappointed to see your piece on Neff, akindred spiritwith, and mouthpiece of, Carlson and his racism and misogyny. It would appear to be a pretty clear call that this son of Dartmouth’s accomplishments do not deserve celebration. The embarrassment from Neff’s resignation because of his own postings of racist and misogynistic views under the shield of a pseudonym is just confirmation.
While Dartmouth is a great institution, not everything its alumni do is great, even if influential. I am sure there are many like me—who graduated and, without fanfare, worked hard and became leaders in their communities—who have a difficult time seeing their values in this editorial choice.
It is possible someone may wish to turn my comments into a partisan attack. Nothing could be further from my point. There are legitimate and illegitimate conservative perspectives just as there are legitimate and illegitimate liberal perspectives. Carlson, and the hateful words he spews, bear almost no resemblance to, for example, George Will, David Brooks, and The Wall Street Journal.
GEORGE STRANDER ’84
Albion, Michigayi
Good Question
“My Arrest” [“Personal History,” July/August] by Keith Boykin ’87 was timely and alarming. Why would a Black CNN political reporter and teacher at Columbia University, who was photographing a protest on New York City’s streets after George Floyd’s murder, get arrested? Boykin conveys the absurdity of his experience—arrested and in the custody of the NYPD for six hours that ended with him locked up in a jail cell with 34 other inmates before he was released. He was simply a middleaged Black reporter photographing another protest. I hope DAM prints more about the words, thoughts, and actions of Black and white undergraduates who are working hard to help release all of us from the grip of systemic racism.
WILLIAM HENGST ’61
Philadelphia
Spy Games
The Rick Beyer ’78 article, “The Professor Was a Spy” [July/August], took me back to the pleasure experienced when I took professor Eldredge’s course on propaganda in my senior year. I disagree, however, that “his students never knew.” It was eminently clear to us that Eldredge had engaged in important intelligence work during World War II and knew far more than he was telling.
What has stayed with me all these years was his explanation of the knowledge Prime Minister Churchill and the Allies had of the Nazi extermination camps and the decision they came to with respect to how to deal with them. Our leaders understood that until armies on the ground could actually reach them, there was little that could be done to help them. Perhaps more significant was the decision that if the Nazis were willing to divert precious resources from the fight to prevent the advance of the Allied armies to the operation of these camps, our leaders were prepared to permit them to do so, as the “better” of the choices available.
Those of us who were children during World War II and came of age during the Korean and Cold wars, and actually met and knew at Dartmouth refugees from the 1956 rebellion in Hungary, learned that in the field of ethical and moral decisionmaking the predominant “color” is “gray.” That is why it is so disappointing that the teachers and administrators of our current generation of “woke” students have failed to help them learn that in matters of good and evil there are few vivid “colors” to assist us. The world is far from as simple as they apparently believe.
ALAN M. SHAVER ’60
Brunswick, Maine
President Thad!
I enjoyed the “Dad Thad” piece [May/ June]. I loved Dean Seymour. He was as fine a man as I’ve ever known. He talked me out of dropping out when I was a scared freshman. He loaned me his car to pick up my date in “White Rivah,” Vermont.
My six college warnings brought us up close and personal on many occasions.
I’ll never forgive Dartmouth for not naming him president. He would have been perfect.
MARSH POTTERTON ’62
Northfield, Illinois
Doubleplusgood
One particularly excellent page from the May/June edition of DAM both delighted and fascinated me. The “Look Who’s Talking” column on page 17 featured Jimmy Martell, the College welder, with great humor and spark (pun intended). I delighted in his answers to the questions about his becoming a welding teacher and how he describes one of his toughest assignments, when he had to weld upside down using a mirror for orientation.
Also on page 17, “Blast from the Past” describes the time when the Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918 hit campus. Students’ isolation and restrictions then mirror some of those we see today, with the coronavirus slamming communities so hard.
Joy opposing misery. The placement of these two succinct and pithy articles sideby-side was most intriguing and heartfelt. Well done.
FIONA BAYLY ’89
New York City
In the Booth
Thank you for profiling Aileen Chaltain [“Look Who’s Talking,” July/August]. I ushered at the Hopkins Center during my four years at Dartmouth, first as a volunteer and then as a paid head usher. Aileen was the manager at that time, and it’s wonderful to hear that she is still a leader at the Hop all these years later. I have excellent memories of the movies and musical and theatrical performances that occurred. I also fondly remember the monthly head usher meetings led by Aileen. Her warmth and humor really made the job fun.
ELIZABETH TERRY ’92
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cover Offense
Your choice of Lis Smith ’05 and the manner of representing her on the cover of DAM [“Trail Blazer,” January/February] offends me, as I can determine no merit in her style, substance, or attraction as it pertains to what I hoped from my Dartmouth experience of the early 1960s. Many of us did not learn to drink responsibly, regard women respectfully, or have the privilege of matriculating with them. Perhaps this is why I shed my graduation gown faster than Houdini shed a strait jacket when immersed 20 feet in New York Harbor, anxious to see the real world again at last. Your choice of adulating Smith graphically and pictorially must offend a great many women and men who were culled from the best of the best to benefit from Dartmouth. I had hoped my College had come a long way.
PETER DORSEN ’66 Eagayi, Minnesota
