Divestment?

The concerns expressed by Louise Erdrich ’76 over the environmental impact of fracking in North Dakota [“Earth Mother,” January/February] are worth some time and attention. However, the recommendation that Dartmouth’s endowment monies be withdrawn from investments in fossil fuel corporations should not be pursued.

The purpose of Dartmouth’s investment is to maximize the returns that benefit Dartmouth’s operation, including tuition grants. It should not be used to address social and environmental issues. We should take advantage of this opportunity to achieve energy independence.

During my tenure with a manufacturer of air-pollution-control equipment, we spent more than $25 million on engineering and product development to enhance the ability of our equipment to reduce unwanted effluents. Why can’t this be done in the oil/gas industry, which in North Dakota has created new jobs and reduced the unemployment rate significantly below the national figure?

Simultaneously, engineering students at Thayer could find the best pollution-control answers to the fossil fuel industries’ problems. Some of Dartmouth’s endowment could be utilized to award scholarships—and support the hiring of professors and engineers who could create a special course and lab program.

I understand that as a writer Erdrich is motivated to speak out on issues that concern her. Perhaps this is what has motivated this author of six books to do the same.

C. Welles Fendrich Jr. ’46, Tu’49
Roanoke, Texas

Bravo to DAM for agreeing to conditions set forth by Erdrich for granting an interview and for publishing “Earth Mother.” It makes me proud of Dartmouth and hopeful for our planet.

John Rhead ’67
Columbia, Maryland

I have two issues with your profile. First: the disrespectful practice of calling our planet “the earth.” We don’t write “the Mars” or “the Jupiter.” Isn’t it time we restored the proper names “Earth,” “Sun,” “Moon” and “Nature” to our style sheets? Writing “the earth,” “the sun,” “the moon” and “nature” is rooted in clerical paranoia over pagan nature worship, a prejudice we would be well rid of.

Second: Another, more recent prejudice we might need to reconsider is the assumption that carbon dioxide is the cause of global warming. In a forthcoming book, Dr. Peter Ward ’65 and I discuss the science of why greenhouse warming is impossible and why ozone depletion by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) is a far more probable driver of global warming. Since the Montreal Protocol halted CFC production late in the 20th century, there has been no further significant warming. And as the ozone layer slowly repairs itself, Earth’s climate should return to normal by about mid-century. Carbon dioxide is a benign and benevolent component of the Earth system. There are many other good reasons for Dartmouth to divest from fossil fuels, however, and I enthusiastically endorse them.

David Bennett Laing ’62
Stockton Springs, Maine

The planet does not need “saving.” It will be around for billions of years with or without humanity and will be just fine until the sun supernovas. If we’re speaking of quality of life, then the best way to ensure quality of our environment is to reduce birth rates, period. We have too many people on the planet, and the Third World continues to pump them out at an alarming and unsustainable rate. Complaining about traffic accidents and investments in oil companies by Dartmouth College is, frankly, both absurd and pointless in this overall context.

David M. Jones ’78
Tucson, Arizona

Your article reminds me of my undergraduate years and the formation of the Dartmouth Ecological Society under the College naturalist, Douglas E. Wade. He led student field trips to the Outer Banks of the Carolinas; we did pioneer studies of the peregrine falcons nesting at Fairlee Cliffs, Vermont; and he introduced us to Howard Zahniser, president of the Wilderness Society, at his Washington, D.C., office.

We petitioned the College to turn down ideas to establish a ski resort on Mount Moosilauke—and earned the displeasure of Bob Monahan, director of the College’s off-campus properties, including the College Grant.

Wade directed a number of us into lifelong careers in environmental research, education and advocacy: George Woodwell ’50 and Harlan Brumsted ’46 come readily to mind. Our concerns of 70 years ago now have top priority! Let’s hope it’s not too late.

John A. Gustafson ’48
Homer, New York

I can’t wrap my head around the January/February issue of DAM. You juxtaposed a cover article on Erdrich’s lyrical writing career and unflinching environmental advocacy with a frat-boy narrative of “fun” thievery that went unpunished and an adoring profile of an unrepentant felon. Erdrich deserves better. So do your readers, even those who love the College despite—if not for—its sometimes jarring cultural mash-ups.

Melinda Kassen ’78
Boulder, Colorado

D’Souza in Review

Dinesh D’Souza ’83, The Dartmouth Review, their supporters and others like-minded have done enough damage to the College (including the frivolous lawsuits brought in 2007 and 2008) to be overlooked in anything but a history of the attempt by the right to advocate for their agenda in higher education [“D’Souza’s America,” January/February].

D’Souza and his cohorts diminish the offense of his knowingly illegal campaign contributions by spinning it into “enthusiasm.”

While he is entitled to his opinions and a personal and professional life beyond his release, he and his ideological brethren advocate policies that increase income disparity and withhold opportunity from millions who are begging to contribute more fully to society.

It is not D’Souza’s point of view that offends, per se, it is the lack of intellectual honesty, self-examination and broad perspective that will continue to diminish his status among all but the most frothingly rabid among us.

Jim Ruxin ’70
Los Angeles

Great Train Robbery

I recall that in real life it was one boxcar of Miller and one boxcar of something like baked beans; Schlitz was not anywhere among the cases of Miller stashed in frat cellar rooms [“Free Beer!” January/February]. The fire brigade beer conveyor system, however, did occur, the trail still visible a week later when I visited the location.

The dean’s reported intent to inspect all the frats apparently either was not carried through or there were a lot of igloos all over campus that night. The amount of beer stashed in various frat basements was significant.

Not mentioned in O’Neill’s account were the reported state police roadblocks set up between the site and campus, at which contraband was unloaded and the tariff runners sent on their ways—only to return to the site, reload and find unimpeded routes back to campus.

John A. Bowen, Tu’68
Westminster, Massachusetts

Publishing “Free Beer” was really stupid and foolish. This was not cute or wacky behavior. It was self-centered, entitled behavior. Every adolescent male knows that you can’t “loot” broken-down cars or empty buildings. This is another example of insufficient virtue from the writer who chronicled student ruses to avoid the draft in “The Lottery” [November/December 2014].

The statute of limitations usually does not toll for periods when criminals are no longer in the jurisdiction of the crime. Maybe the Vermont attorney general should reopen this case. At a minimum, Dartmouth should consider punishing the bad actors retroactively.

Dan Sheedy ’76
Paoli, Pennsylvania

Greek Defense

My Big Fat Greek Wedding came to mind as I read your campus story, “Students and Profs Seek Change” [January/February]. The point of that movie and its oft-repeated line, “Everything comes from the Greek,” was not that life and family are perfect, but that somehow they work to bring the best out in those who seek to embrace the love and opportunity they provide.

As the former president of Dartmouth’s Sigma Phi Epsilon Alpha chapter, I am glad it was there then as I am glad it is there now. The Greek system exists as a national institution to promote brotherhood and sisterhood through lifelong bonds of friendships developed from service to and support of community and each other.

Individuals who use the cloak of the Greek system to defend or mitigate behavior that does not meet this simple measure are doing themselves and the College a tremendous disservice. In the same vein, calling for banishment of Greek organizations from the Dartmouth community ignores the fact that individuals are accountable for their actions in a free society.

Garrett Douglas ’84
Osterville, Massachusetts

The Tipping Point

In 15 years as an alumni magazine editor the publication I considered my model was Dartmouth Alumni Magazine. It looked fabulous, drew readers in and, most of all, inspired us to love Dartmouth.

Even so, before reading the superb cover story in the September/October 2014 issue [“What’s Going on Here?”] I was never tempted to write. Students’ behavior had already been plastered all over the national news by the time your issue landed. Those of us with a deep connection to Dartmouth—my husband is a ’58 and 17-year member of the faculty—had spent hours discussing it and wondering how open the College would be in talking about the crisis. The September/October issue of DAM answered that question wonderfully.

For myself and many friends with ties to this place, I write to thank DAM and the College for communicating honestly about the problems it’s facing. There’s not an institution in the world that doesn’t confront a crisis at one time or another. By dealing with the issues transparently and changing policies, an institution gets through the bad times. Most importantly, by not brushing the bad news under the rug, it maintains the loyalty of those who love the place.

Edith Nichols
Baltimore

Jennifer Wulff’s story outlines students’ protests of racism, homophobia and sexism on campus and the formation of a steering committee to investigate sexual assault, high-risk drinking and a lack of inclusivity. I find it striking, then, that John Barchilon ’60 took issue with the “bad manners” of Aby Macias ’14 and Dondei Dean ’17 [“Your Turn,” November/December 2014].

Rather than advocate for themselves, Dartmouth women and minorities, he says, should show their gratitude and know their place. His reference to antiquity suggested that the students in question humble themselves to Dartmouth. I would offer that Macias and Dean and every student Wulff interviewed are Dartmouth. Each is a “Roman” who is invested in and has a right to define Dartmouth as much as any other student. That they may not embody nor ideologically be Barchilon’s “Roman” is his problem. Can students and alums really be satisfied with a Dartmouth where some do not feel it’s theirs as much as it’s others?

Matt Blanton ’98
Wellesley, Massachusetts

The College is right to look carefully at behavioral standards, both in Greek life and beyond, but equally important is the preservation of Dartmouth’s hard-won and thoughtfully sought diversity, recognizing the need to represent our diverse society and to help students from many backgrounds hone the cultural competency they will need. Many white males have a hard time understanding that, and many older grads view our College’s past through a myopia that ignores changing times. Diversity decisions are political, and the economy is stronger when more different types of people participate and reach their God-given potential, especially with a good education.

“Injured entitlement” can be a crutch for some, agreed, but certain letters published in DAM exude their own such entitlement.

Let’s help those diverse, very bright adolescents of all stripes temper their over-the-top behavior, but not try to return the College to a bygone era.

David C.H. Johnston ’66
Hartford, Connecticut