Original Article: http://dartreview.com/archives/1997/10/15/letters_to_the_editor.php
Wednesday, October 15, 1997
On Racism
Dear Mr. McWilliams:
I think you are absolutely right about Racism. If black people are given preferential treatment, the world will infer that they are not good enough to do it on their own.
Nobody would want a black doctor, lawyer, or about anything else if they knew he had gotten admitted and passed without being as good as the others.
Sometimes I wonder if the so-called black leaders want to keep black people depending on government programs and hand-outs, so they can maintain their own positions of influence.
You sound like a smart, independent young man — I hope you will go far, as America needs people like you.
A Wah-Hoo-Wah for Dartmouth!
Sincerely,
Ashley Pace '41
Pensacola, FL
Incompetence and Responsibility
To the Editor,
Professor Hart, your 'On Military Rape Charges' is very much to the point. As I recall about 15 years ago there was a lieutenant commander heart surgeon who had an excessive fatality rate. He was court martialed and convicted.
The military in effect said an incompetent, not his superior, is responsible to identify himself.
Robert Hobart
Charlottsville, VA
Correction
To the Editor,
In Vol. 17 Issue 17 you published a letter of mine to the Editor on May 14, 1997. It contains an error. The tenor is still on the beam but the issue of the Alumni Magazine which I find so egregious is the issue of May 1996. I know nothing about the issue of May 1997. I do not wish to offend anybody as the result of a misprint.
Alfred E. Jones Jr. '31
Pittsburg, PA
On Symbols and Heritage
To The Editor:
The duplicious hollabaloo that put down a revered and long-standing Indian symbol has left the college having to use the Big Green for recognition. In the long interim, that still exists, many are beginning to feel that just the Big Green is not enough. More and more want to get into the act and are coming forward with choices of their own. A large contingent for the Moose, one student donning a huge moose head with protruding antlers, paraded around this spring. Another group, unhappy with the idea of a moose, have been yelping for the wolf as a mascot. A number of individuals dislike the idea of any denizens from the wilderness. 'Denizens for Dartmouth.' 'What would they do for the college?' one group likes the hills. 'And the granite of New Hampshire... 'that's where to look for inspiration.' They call themselves the Graniteers. A suprisingly large block of students want to see the return of the Indian symbol. A stray voice clamantis in deserto would have a legal beagle for a mascot. Could it be we might see a quaterback crouching down to shout out voir-dires at the line, or witness a close football game decided by plea-barganing?
With so much interest in finding a symbol, a mascot, or whatever, a friend of The Review asks the big question: Why doesn't dartmouth look in its own back yard? The college might discover it has just the prototype for a mascot in some rugged (not ragged) little tyke just out of kindergarten who can kick a soccer ball, throw a wobbly forward pass (that is bound to get better) and goes by the name of Rob.
The advent of girls in 1972 put a spin on the wheel that is still in effect. In a short twenty-five years the girls increased in numbers until now they make up one half of the student body. They are smart in the classroom, good on the playing field and proficient in other ways. Who is to say they couldn't use a girl mascot, some little five-year old just out of kindergArten who can catch a softball, kicks at soccer ball, goes by the name Danny and is loved by those she mascots for?
Dartmouth, which is not a verse to being first, and which was the last of the eight Ivies to admit women, could pioneer in this case by fielding not one but two mascots.
Sincerely,
N. Brice Banks '34
Torrance, CA