Letters to the Editor

Wednesday, October 8, 2003

Whitey Can't Relate to Black People

Sirs,

I'm a freshman, and I just got the first issue of The Dartmouth Review, a publication of which I was previously aware (through my mother, a '79) of [sic] but not personally acquainted with [sic].After digesting it I sheepishly admit to Googling you [Editor in Chief Alston B. Ramsay] and reading a goodly damned bit of the material you posted on Dartlog.net and TDR.com (or whatever) et cetera.I'll start by saying that you're obviously a talented writer, as well as generally intelligent, which just makes my violent abhorrence to literally everything you wrote more disturbing to me.Your publication walks a thin line between mean and evil: your railings against 'diversity' and 'political correctness' are pretty blatant and obvious attacks against 'black people' and 'gays,' and your incessant and (gleefully) impotent attempts to bring back the Indian mascot are a throwback to an ignorant time most members of the College would apparently rather forget.For a moment I was ashamed to share a college with such a horrid gang of moral deviants, but I, bleeding-heart, tree-hugging, criminal-coddling liberal that I am, convinced myself that perhaps you and your cohorts were, somehow, unaware of your own ideological perversity.It is in that spirit that I offer you the following quick two-point overview:

1) The Indian is gone because it pissed some people off.There is literally no benefit whatever to having a mascot be a certain thing over another, and if one thing pisses even one person off, then cost-benefit analysis tells us it should go.

2) The reason you get kicked out of student centers having conventions, and indeed the reason you don't get school funding at all, is because you use your paper to act like jerks and alienate people.I could get into an affirmative action debate with you right here, sir, but I'd rather just tell you that minority kids might tend to feel, as a general rule, that you don't WANT them here when they read your attacks against funding of school diversity programs instead of the swim team.I went to a school of whiteys for the past four years, and as a result completely forgot how to relate to black people, some of whom live in the real world we shall both enter after our education is completed.If there weren't black people, and Asian people, and Middle Eastern people, et cetera, at Dartmouth, then whiteys like myself [sic] and probably you would be socially handicapped.Obviously, that's the least of the many harms inherent in having a homogenous campus, but I figured I'd talk about it because A) it's the only one I feel perfectly qualified to talk about without you asking me questions like "Yeah?Well, how many black kids did YOU talk to to formulate that specific consensus?" and B) it's honestly the only one I think you'll understand.And that's not because I think you're stupid.

At any rate, since I did you the courtesy of reading your whole paper, I'd at least expect a confirmation that you read a whole letter to the Editor, unofficial though it may be, and unpublished though it will almost certainly remain.

Sincerely,
Connor Shepherd '07

The Editors respond: It is indeed difficult to toe the line between evil and mean, but we manage to do it with an unparalleled verve. We appreciate your compliments and hope you can learn to relate to black people.

Refounding Western Civilization

Sirs,

In "What is a College Education?," Dr. Jeffrey Hart aptly quotes Professor Eugene Rosentock-Hussey's definition of a Citizen: "a person who, if need be, can re-found his civilization," but Dr. Hart inappropriately uses Rosentock-Hussey's definition to argue against a well rounded education in topics outside of the Judeo-Christian and Greek/Roman tradition.In order for a citizen to re-found his civilization successfully, one can assume that this Citizen would need to adapt the new civilization to correct for the mistakes the old one, quite possibly by borrowing from non-European philosophers, authors, traditions or customs.Knowing that which comprises your civilization gives you an excellent understanding of its workings, but little training for what to do in the event that your civilization fails.Refusing to study thousands of years of history creates a corps of dangerously ignorant Citizens who will be vastly unprepared for that day when they will need to refound their civilizations.

Abe Clayman '07

A Kind Word

Sirs,

Your devotion to the American Indian is very touching.I would like to know how many American Indians attend Dartmouth currently and how many degrees have been granted to such Indians by Dartmouth since its founding.

Anonymous

On Feminism

Sirs,

With respect to feminism—There never has been a female Homer, Plato, Virgil, Ovid, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Louis Pasteur, Victor Hugo, J. W. Goethe, Richard Wagner, William Shakespeare, Charles Darwin, Thomas Edison or Henry Ford, and there never will be.

Furthermore as William Henry, early newspaper columnist, war correspondent, and radio newscaster said: "You could eliminate every female author, artist, and composer from the caveman age to the present without deforming the the quality of Western culture."

So why don't the feminists accept the incontestable and just shut up?

Spencer Miller '31

Doin' it for the Old-Timers

Sirs,

In response to your letter of April 28, I am enclosing a check to support your efforts in maintaining free speech, etc. at Dartmouth College.

I am disappointed that your newspaper continues to be under fire from the Wright administration.As you are well aware, Dartmouth began to change under the Kemeny, McLaughlin, and later administrations.I vividly remember Dean Shanahan saying years ago that one of his major goals was to shut down the fraternities at Dartmouth.Under the Wright administration you now further enforcement of thought control and, don't forget the long term goal of these socialist administrators is to change Dartmouth into a research institution—not the liberal arts college that it has been from the beginning.

Over twenty years ago, I pointed out the college was going down the unacceptable road of extreme liberalism.This was done at a Class Reunion at Lake Morey.To my dismay, there were serveral dissenters in my Class who said, "What's wrong with Dartmouth being the Berkeley of the East?"Many of these were and still are from educational backgrounds or from occupatoins that benefit from the new Dartmouth thinking.

Aside from all the above, I note that recent articles in your paper have had stories about Phi Delta Alpha fraternity again becoming active on campus.When I was at Dartmouth that fraternity was knwn as Phi Delta Theta.The actual name was Phi Delta theta—Alpha Chapter.What happened to Theta?

Keep up the good work.All of us old-timers are counting on you and are also hopeful that the day will come when the Indian symbol will return to Dartmouth.

James D. Shute '46

Buy This Book

Sirs,

I have contributed to the Dartmouth Review, every year, I believe, since its inception and have been a strong friend of its views on education and its views of a better Dartmouth.However, in all honesty, I must tell you that its refusal to review my books, or even to take notice of them, is most disappointing.My recent novel, "A Lifetime's Too Short," is admittedly no "War and Peace," but from the enclosed reviews (a fair sampling) you will see that it is not without merit.

Blake Hughes '36

The Editors respond: The reviews were indeed very flattering, especially the one from Jeffrey Hart. We apologize for our tardiness in addressing this book, and hope that our readers will find it enjoyable.

A Proposition

Sirs,

Long ago, before any of you were born, I spent two years (1963-65) as a professor in the psychology department at Dartmouth. Then I beat it out to the University of Chicago. Like many of my generation I gradually moved from reflexive liberalism to neo and cultural conservatism.

Some of your emminent Dartmouth Review alumni have appearwed on the nightly radio program that I have done for many years here in Chicago (www.wgnradio.com/shows/ex720/index.html). By the way, on that site you will find "Milt's File," a kind of demi-blog that I do on a daily basis.

As a member of the board of NAS (and also of FIRE) I do what I can in the struggle to reverse the leftist decline of higher education. But, the prospect is not particularly heartening. Whenever possible I do try to put young people struggling against the tide of academic leftism on the air.

And thus, to the point: Are any of the present members of your staff—or any of your alumni—likely to be in or near Chicago sometime? If so I would like to have them join in discussion on our program. By the way, on our"audio archive" you will find some programs with worthy commentators. My favorite among recent programs is the one with Donald Kagan.

Illegitimati non carborundum!

Milt Rosenberg

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