Dartmouth College
Class of 1960

August 7, 2009

Gentlemen of the Class of '60:

Mid-summer seems a good time to bring you up to date on a few College items. Let me first share a 1962 Thomas Merton quote with you, though, that Jack Ford sent me and that seems to sum up our ifetime, although we probably had to be close to our 50th reunion in order to understand it. 

"The crises of the age are so enormous and the mystery of evil so unfathomable: the action of well-meaning men so absurd and tends so much to contribute to the very evils it tries to overcome . . . I think what I need to learn is an almost infinite tolerance and compassion . . . because negative thoughts get almost nowhere."

(*As in previous communications, the more complete quote, as well as greater details on the following items, is being posted on our Class website.)

Two other, not strictly Alumni-Council-stuff, items; 

1. remember the August 30 deadline for the submission of your "musing" for our 50th Reunion book. Please send your contribution to John Mitchell at jmm00033@comcast.net. 
2. The book will contain a list of Dartmouth and Class related "Then and Now" items. For example, how many faculty were there "then," i. e. in 1960, and how many are there "now." Ditto for athletic teams, endowment, type of commencement speakers, athletic championships, classes, The Dartmouth headlines, academic majors, etc., etc. etc. What would you like to compare, "then" and "now"? Send me your list at agrabowsky@earthlink.net.

~~~

Alumni-elected Trustees - The work of the Nominating and Alumni Trustee Search Committee of the Alumni Council is well underway. The Committee wants to attract and recruit the best talent, the most qualified alumni, to run for the two open trustee seats that alumni will vote on next spring, without reigniting the rancor of recent elections. The "nominating and search process," says Committee chairman Tom Daniels '82, will be "fair, inclusive and transparent; yet also appropriately professional and discrete to those under consideration, as all search processes need to be." The Nominating Committee operates independently of the college. It consists of 11 members who have been appointed or elected by their peers on the Alumni Council. 

A considerable number of names of alumni have already been submitted. But the Committee seeks more input from all alumni. Send your nomination suggestions to Thomas T. Daniels'82 at tdaniels@spencerstuart.com. More details on our website.

Assessment of Alumni Council and Alumni Relations with the College - Last year's Alumni Council President, John "J.B." Daukas '84, recently offered an assessment of where Dartmouth and its alumni stand today in his view. I found it a very forthright and perspicacious document and quote from it in the following:

" . . . I know there is great reason to be optimistic about Dartmouth and Dartmouth's relationship with her alumni," Daukas begins. ". . . The past decade demonstrates that working together . . . is productive, while waging a partisan, contentious struggle . . . is destructive."

". . . During . . . the 1980s and 1990s, some in Hanover seemingly did not appreciate that Dartmouth's differences from other institutions were what made it great and should be celebrated, not eliminated in an effort to imitate others. At times alumni opinion did not seem welcomed or respected . . . "

" That certainly is not the case today. Former President Jim Wright and President Jim Yong Kim understand that Dartmouth is unique in higher education in the access that students have to tenured professors; its sense of community fostered by fraternities, sororities, and other student organizations and institutions; its access to the outdoors; its athletic tradition; and the sense of family imbued in its students that stays with them for the rest of their lives--to the extent that alumni become misty-eyed when talking about Dartmouth, and retain a lifelong passion for the College.

"During the past several years, the Alumni Council radically recreated itself to better represent alumni. We added representatives for each class through the 55th reunion year, tripled representation for the oldest classes, increased representation for affiliated groups, and refined geographic representation. We created a culture of communication . . ."

Daukas also commented on Trustee governance and the fact that trustees are listening to the concerns of the alumni. Finally, he stressed that the relationship between the College and fraternities/sororities has improved and that the Alumni Council is taking a more active hand in fostering that relationship.

When I took on the job as Alumni Councilor last year, I heard from a number of you who had been Alumni Council members in the past, that the Council at best was useless and at worst inhabited by the "stooges" of Parkhurst Hall. I have the strong feeling that that is not the case now . . . not that I agree with everything the Council does or decides! But there's an open exchange and alumni - even us "elders" with sometimes a bit of a conservative bent - are well represented and heard. 

For Daukas' complete letter see our website.

Good Reads from the Dartmouth Faculty - The Alumni Council meets frequently with faculty in discussions focused on the academic life of the College. Here are my favorites among the books faculty are reading: (For the complete list of books, the names of the recommenders and their comments see our website. It is planned to update the list every six months or so.)

• The Post-American World, by Fareed Zakaria; 
• The Wisdom of Crowds, by James Surowiecki; 
• The Discoveries: Great Breakthroughs in 20th Century Science, by Alan Lightman; 
• The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, by Jose Saramago. 

Outing Club Centennial - This year marks the Dartmouth Outing Club's Centennial. The DOC writes: "there are a series of great events taking place to commemorate this monumental event, and all alumni are invited, from those who just went on a Freshman trip and never went outside again, to those who are Chubbers to the core.

On October 10th, the DOC will become the first club to hike the entire Appalachian Trail in a single day. Sign up for your section on our website today! If you don't live on the East coast, but will be joining us for Homecoming, we will celebrate 100 years in the out-of-doors by climbing the 100 best mountains in Dartmouth Outing Country on Sunday, October 25th. We will wrap up a year's worth of celebration on the anniversary of the DOC with a special banquet December 14th.

For more details and to sign up for the Appalachian Trail hike or the climbs, go to: www.dartmouth.edu/~doc.

Footnotes of Significance - Dartmouth has 1,229 tenured and tenure-track faculty. 34% are women and 10.7% are minorities. . . . Offensive lineman Grant Palmer estimates he can save $7.71 by eating at EBA's restaurant buffet ($12.29) instead of at the D Dining Services ($20.00). . . . D received the largest gift ever, $50 million, from an anonymous alumni family, for the new Visual Arts Center.

Have a great summer!

Axel