"How could anyone have been crazy enough to put the president's house on Webster Avenue?," then-College President John G. Kemeny asked in an article published in The Dartmouth in 1977.
It does seem crazy that the College president resides at the end of what is commonly referred to as "Frat Row," the location of three of the College's sororities, one coed house and eight fraternities.
But current College President James Freedman and his wife Bathsheba disagree with Kemeny.
"People think this is a funny place for our house," Bathsheba said. "But it's a lovely house, and that's where it is. It's a mild cause of humor."
The president's house was built in 1926 by Amos Tuck, before the Greek system took over Webster Ave.
Despite rumors that the Freedmans do not actually live in the official College house, Freedman confirmed that "we have no other residence."
Peaceful co-existence
James said, "It's been easy living on Frat Row. We never hear the noise. We're in bed by 10:00 p.m., when the fraternities aren't even warmed up yet."
Bathsheba added the noise is not usually a problem, since the windows are closed in the winter and the house is air-conditioned in the spring.
The Freedmans' bedroom faces the back of the house and is at the far end of Webster Avenue, away from most fraternities and their noise.
However, Bathsheba said there have sometimes been difficulties.
She said she hears funny noises and drinking chants on Wednesday nights, and it disturbs her to hear the old version of the Alma Mater, which begins "Men of Dartmouth" rather than "Dear old Dartmouth."
In addition, Bathsheba said there have been some pranks over the years which she does not "approve of."
"Our housekeeper, Patty, makes a stunning wreath every season which we hang on the door," she said. "Inevitably, someone takes it and that really puts me in a snit. That's a little more than playful, especially when it probably just ends up in someone's basement."
She said people also smash the Freedmans' pumpkins -- which she and her husband carve themselves -- each year on Halloween.
Neighborly relations
The Freedmans have a special relationship with their next-door neighbor, Sigma Nu fraternity.
"Once in a while, I get locked out," James said. "I go next door and they let me use the phone to call Safety and Security."
Bathsheba has locked herself out as well, and she said when she went to Sigma Nu to call Safety and Security they gave her a tour of the house.
This neighborly relationship goes two ways. James said Sigma Nu brothers have rung his doorbell to borrow milk or sugar.
Sigma Nu President Adam Mirick '99 said his fraternity is on good terms with the president. "We even have him over for fireside discussions about once a term," he said.
The Freedmans are social with their other neighbors as well. "We've had barbecues at our house in the past for the sorority and fraternity across the street," James said.
Bathsheba said she recalls members from Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity -- neighbors from across the street -- coming over one night at 11 p.m. earlier this year to borrow firewood.
"We have a woodroom in the basement," she said. "We told them to take the wood and not to bother bringing any over when they got their own."
Bathsheba said she and her husband are very friendly to anyone that stops by.
"Early on, there was some scavenger hunt where one of the items was a picture of my husband and I in bed," said Bathsheba. "We had to be a little judicious, so we sat on the bed and let them take a picture of us. Many teams came by."
Bathsheba said she received a very interesting request last year. "A really sweet guy came by around graduation and said that he was planning on taking his girlfriend on a picnic for her birthday. It was raining, and he asked if he could use the little house at the end of the garden for the picnic. We let him use it, and he wrote a very nice thank you note."
The president said he is not bothered by the mess on Webster Ave. that accumulates after weekend Coed Fraternity Sorority parties, because it is usually cleaned by noon the next day.
But Bathsheba recalled how disturbed members of the Board of Trustees were by the mess they saw on their recent College visit. She said they were "appalled by the number of plastic cups on the lawns and even an old mattress sitting on a lawn" that they passed on their walk over from the Rockefeller Center.
Bathsheba said she is frustrated every winter by the aborted snow sculptures on the Greek house lawns and wished the houses would finish what they started.
She said one year she decided to make her own snow sculpture -- a flock of snow flamingos on the lawn. However, it did not work.
"I put them in the freezer and left them out in the snow, but the ice never stuck," Bathsheba said. "Nevertheless, that idea was aborted as well."
She said her fantasy is to make a snow sculpture that will "knock the socks off of everybody."
House parties and Wednesday night meetings do not interfere with entertaining at the president's house, the Freedmans said.
James said that there is nothing he would like to change about the location of his house. "There is a perfect congenial relationship."
Bathsheba said initially she would have preferred to live in a different location because she "was teaching and wanted to get away from the work world." But she said she adapted and now the house on Webster Ave. "feels like home."
Bathsheba said she would like to get to know more of her neighbors, but it would take a lot of effort and energy to plan a block party.
She said she has positive feelings toward students and sees them as individuals, not as fraternity members. She said she always tries to wave and get to know people.
