YOUR TURN

YOUR TURN

readers react

Larger Than Life

I really enjoyed reading the article about Reggie Williams ’76 [“Blood, Sweat, and Tears,” March/April]. I remember him as a rising star on the football team. He was so dedicated to the sport and being a team player. It wasn’t that he was just very good at playing, he also brought a quiet, humble, and powerful presence that you couldn’t help but admire and notice. Everyone knew he was destined for bigger places than this small Ivy League college and that the NFL was looking for him to join after graduation.

Maybe that is what made him larger than life—because here we were blessed with the talent of a young man who was basically passing by on his way to the larger, more complex world of pro football. I liked to watch him play because he dominated the field but never tried to draw attention to himself. I was on the sidelines as a cheerleader, and we couldn’t help but get excited when Reggie was running the game and making great plays.

There were many good athletes on his football team, but he truly stood alone. Thank you for publishing this article about a great, magnanimous alumnus.

ISABEL FINKBINER BRODERICK ’77 Wilmington, Delaware

I enjoyed the well-written and enlightening article about Williams and his tremendous perseverance. He epitomizes the Dartmouth student-athlete who excelled at the College and went on to positively affect others who came in contact with him through the years. Keep on, Reggie!

BILL BERRY ’73 Milwaukee, Wiscoyisin

I would like to congratulate DAM on its fine article featuring my friend and Dartmouth brother Reggie Williams. I was so very glad to read of his lifetime of achievements and success at Dartmouth, in the NFL, and in all his many accomplishments since. I certainly appreciate his shoutout to his Dartmouth brothers as well—the loyalty and strength of his friendship is a treasure.

WALLACE L. FORD II ’70

New York City

Up In Smoke

I am hardly a proponent of smoking, having quit a pack-a-day habit 40 years ago. However, I strongly object to the overreach exhibited by the smoking ban [“Smoke Out,” March/April]. One more example of the overweening, paternalistic, and selfrighteous attitude continually exhibited by the administration, it also arrogantly asserts the right to ban smoking within 20 feet of College property. I, for one, look forward to lighting up a stogie in front of Parkhurst and daring some campus cop to arrest me.

JAMES LOW ’71

Salem, Massachusetts

Herb’s Spirit

The early passing of Herb Hopkins ’74 was jarring to anyone fortunate enough to have known the man, the heart and soul of him, well [“Captain Comeback,” January/February]. Herb and I did not quite overlap at Dartmouth, but we were classmates and became very close while together at Wharton in Philadelphia in the early 1980s. I remember Herb as rough-around-the-edges, good at everything, and athletically imposing. He was tough but aman of character, of honor and integrity, far more fun than most, and one with a certain hard-to-grasp sprinkle of understanding and kindness that ran counter to his physical attributes. The tribute by Joe Gleason ’77 captures the spirit of Herb Hopkins for us all, as if for safekeeping, so that it may never really slip away. It was quite a blow to learn we had lost him.

PEER T. PEDERSEN JR. ’78 Greenwich, Connecticut

Wind Chill

I have been following the controversy concerning the removal of the Baker Library weathervane with some interest. Partisans on either side have generated significant passions and I respect the opinions expressed by both. This demonstrates once again that for our alumni, “her spell on them remains.” I am agnostic when it comes to weathervanes. Nevertheless, I was troubled to read the recent letter by Ken Meyercord ’66 [“Your Turn,” January/February]. Meyercord believes the weathervane should remain, and it is his right to express that view forcefully. However, his solution is to deny his financial support to the Alumni Fund.

I believe this sends the wrong message to the wrong people at the wrong time. In the midst of a global pandemic and financial crisis, this is not the time to withdraw support to hardworking faculty and deserving students. Consequently, I have advised the College that I will increase my regular annual contribution to make up for Meyercord’s reduction. I hope he will reconsider his action. In the meantime, I hope others will increase their contributions likewise.

JAMES FRIEDMAN ’63 Tucson, Arizona

I must admit that in four years at Dartmouth and two years at Thayer School I never paid any attention to the Baker Library weathervane. The only significant wind information I processed was a cold, snow-filled breeze, usually blowing in my face. If my architecture course final had asked a multiple-choice question about symbols on the weathervane, I would have selected “rooster.” I thoroughly agree with removal of all racist symbols at my alma mater. However, I believe abetter solution would have been to send a welder up the tower to cut off the offensive symbols and replace them with a couple of pinecones or perhaps a keg of Budweiser.

HARVEY WELKER ’65, TH’68 Philadelphia

Fact or Fiction?

Perusing the latest issue of DAM, I learned that the screenwriters of A River Runs Through It took certain artistic license with the facts, inexcusably neglecting to note that Paul Maclean ’28 [“A Tragedy Runs Through It,” March/April] followed his brother, Norman ’24, to Dartmouth, and placing Paul’s death in Montana, rather than in a South Side Chicago alley.

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 Lebanon Street, Suite 107, Hanover, NH 03755 Email: DAMLetters@dartmouth.edu Online: dartmouthalumnimagazine.com

DUKE ROBERTSON ’75

Chicago

I want to compliment Richard Babcock ’69 on his story about Paul Maclean ’28. Finally! A whole pile of alumni now will know that Robert Redford’s film, A River Runs Through It, with Brad Pitt playing the part of Paul, is not at all Paul’s true bio. I thought it the best unknown, truth-is-better-thanfiction alumnus story, which I have known since 2013, to be told at reunions. Now the story is really out.

NELSON CARMAN ’64

Penfield, New York

Rankings Rankle

Dartmouth has apparently succeeded in creating enough safe spaces and shielding enough students from controversial ideas to earn a ranking of 52 out of 55 schools (and last among the Ivies) in the 2020 College Free Speech Rankings [“Campus Confidential,” January/February]. Putting together a student body and faculty with different backgrounds and experiences is a goal lots of schools claim they are working to achieve, but that goal becomes worthwhile only if those students and their professors feel they have the freedom to develop, express, and examine ideas as diverse as the backgrounds and life experiences that helped spawn them.

CLETE DIGIOVANNI ’56 La Mesa, California

Things in Hanover seem to be going downhill at an ever-increasing rate. I was disap -pointed to read that Dartmouth earned low marks in the College Free Speech Rankings. Unless one is at the very end of the political spectrum, that is a sad commentary.

Also in the same issue was an extract from the letter the trustees sent to the swim and dive community. The letter said the decision to cut the teams would not be revisited. Oops, not so fast! Now we learn that the athletics leadership missed some “elements of the data,” according to President Phil Hanlon, and the teams are reinstated until a bevy of lawyers can be engaged to review the data. Probably would have been cheaper to have left the teams in place in the first place.

BURT QUIST ’68

Middletown, Rhode Island