Testing your Dartmouth knowledge: Is the movie Animal House really based on Dartmouth’s Alpha Delta? Yes and no. Chris Miller ’63, author of the stories that originally appeared in National Lampoon and were later the source for the movie, says most of the crazy pranks never took place during his years at Dartmouth. No horse was put in the office of a Dartmouth dean; no parade destruction; no pot smoking with a professor, but “the whole premise was based on my fraternity’s exploits.”


How about the return on Dartmouth’s investments? The 5.8-percent return, highest in the Ivy League, yielded $197 million. Dartmouth investments now total $3.49 billion, up 2.1 percent from a year ago.


Hope you’re watching the senatorial contest in New York State as two Dartmouth women vie with one another. Kirsten Rutnik Gillibrand ’88 is the Democratic incumbent, having been named by New York Gov. David Patterson in 2009 to complete an unexpired term. Wendy Long ’82 is the Republican candidate. Kirsten was an honor student and athlete, Wendy was an editor of The Dartmouth Review and active in Aquinas House. Two of Wendy’s ardent supporters are Dartmouth alums, Dinesh D’Souza ’83 and Laura Ingraham ’85.


U.S. News & World Report, in its rating of U.S. colleges and universities, has again named Dartmouth No. 1 in undergraduate teaching “for its strong commitment to teaching.” Dartmouth is listed as one of the top 10 universities in the country.


I’m sorry to report the death of Harry H. Townshend Jr. Our condolences to his family.


—John Jenkins, 80 Lyme Road, Apt. 304, Hanover, NH 03755; (603) 643-2757; mmjenkins@kahres.kendal.org