Monday, January 31, 2005
Volume 25, Issue 7

Interrogating the S.L.I.

At the end of November 2004, The Dartmouth Review obtained hundreds of internal, confidential documents from the Trustee Committee on the Student Life Initiative. These papers are a wealth of primary source material—memorandums, reports, minutes, letters, agendas, copies of handwritten notes—of a kind that is simply unprecedented, and it is almost impossible to overstate their value. They are a window into the deliberative decision-making process at the College, the way the institution works, and they let us begin to understand why some things happen and why others do not.

How Hemingway Became a Catholic

If anything, in America, Catholicness is a little odd, no one more aware of American exceptionalism than the Vatican. In England, it is a little odd too.

'Think No Small Thoughts'

Therefore, the message must go out to Internal and External publics that the Greek system has served its original purpose, has overstayed its welcome and must be completely replaced by residential and social alternatives more consistent with and supportive of the College's academic purposes.

What Exactly Were They Thinking?

This exerpt concerns the 'alternatives' the S.L.I. Committee considered regarding 'social organizations' and ran on pages 9 through 14. A full copy of this document is available upon request.

Dartmouth's War on Fun

The student body had fallen prey to the depredations of Demon Rum. The frats, like the burlesque houses and opium dens of the Barbary Coast, were the source of the problem; and Wright, a man of strategic vision, wouldn't stand for it.

Dartmouth's Fraternity Row

The settled thought of alert Dartmouth-watchers is that what we have here is not really a serious attempt to alleviate the pangs of lonely freshwomen, nor to hit back hard at demon rum. It seems one further venture in the ideologization of life. Don't countenance situations where men and women are formally seperated. We won with the co-ed bathrooms, now let's go for the fraternities. And the whole thing on the binge-drinkers—blame it on them.

The Fortunes of Dartmouth Football

Such statements immediately aroused the ire of many alumni, and caused the Dartmouth Public Affairs Office to shift into overdrive, issuing frantic apologies from Furstenberg, Athletic Director Josie Harper, President Wright, and others. Immediately the question of blame arose—was Furstenberg to blame for Dartmouth's athletic woes?

What College Athletics Should Be

Clearly, the lessons of the liberal arts are manifest in the discipline and the sacrifice of athletic endeavor. Team and individual competitive endeavors are a positive force in the process of liberal learning at Dartmouth. Over the years, I have been persuaded that the scholar/athlete is a reliable model for determining leadership capacity for a broad range of roles within society.

The Spell of Dartmouth Football

Through all the anecdotes, and photographs of athletes in antique leather trousers and thin helmets, David Shribman and Jack DeGange convey the spirit of Dartmouth football—the spirit of Dartmouth.

Historic Perspectives on College Sports

In the early 1890s, the College found itself at a cross-roads concerning the role of athletics, particularly as the College expanded under the stewardship of President William Jewett Tucker. To that end, the Executive Committee of the Alumni commissioned a report to plan for the future success of Dartmouth Athletics.

Pipes Speaks, Civility Ensues

Pipes himself characterized universities as "islands of repression within a sea of tolerance" where "you are unacceptable if you deviate from the truth." However, his visit to Dartmouth shows that groups dedicated to balanced academic discourse can succeed even when political correctness-minded groups attempt to censor free speech.

TDR Behind the Scenes: Inauguration

To cover the story behind the inauguration of President George W. Bush's second term, The Dartmouth Review sent intrepid Political Editor Michael J. Ellis to Washington, DC, where he rendezvoused with Editor Emeritus Alston B. Ramsay.