About 32 members of the Class of 1932, along with their families, have descended upon Hanover this weekend to celebrate their 65th reunion.
Reunion Chair Edward Marks '32, who autographed copies of his new book "A World of Art: The United Nations Collection" at the Dartmouth Bookstore on Thursday, said several activities were scheduled for the class, including the screening of a movie featuring one of their classmates, Robert Ryan '32. Marks said Ryan was a well-known star.
Other weekend events were a memorial service, a talk by Harold Sak, the leading authority on Colonial American art and a dinner with a performance by the Dodecaphonics a cappella group and a speech by History Professor Jere Daniell.
Marks said the Class of 1932 was at the College during the Depression, and some students had to drop out for financial reasons. He said some later returned to earn their diploma.
The '32s were also in college during the era of Prohibition, but the Dartmouth men still managed to get their beer.
Marks said he and a friend once drove to Rutland, Vt. and purchased two kegs. They removed the rumble seats from the car and hid the kegs there.
They were terrified when they were stopped by a police officer on the way home, but it turned out to only be because of a broken taillight, Marks said.
According to Marks, the biggest changes at the College since his time here been the admittance of women and the campus computerization.
Marks said many members of his class worried about the effect computers would have on student-professor relationships.
Marks said he had always been pro-coeducation, but some of the "old reactionary men" in the class were upset at the College's decision to coeducate in 1972.
He recounted the story of one member of his class who stopped contributing to Dartmouth after women were admitted.
The man's daughter later enrolled at the College and was a star athlete. The man was seen cheering her on at a game one day. "He sure turned around," Marks said.
"I like a president who cares about scholarship," Marks said, referrring to current President of the College James Freedman. "I'm not complaining about athletics and extracurriculars," he said, but he said he thinks it is nice to see Dartmouth recruiting and enrolling so many high school valedictorians.
Marks said another change was that the fraternities of today's Dartmouth do not have the same importance at the College as during his day.
Despite the differences between the Dartmouth of today and the Dartmouth the Class of 1932 attended, Marks said many things, such as Casque & Gauntlet senior society, are still very much the same.
Marks said Dartmouth students first wore shorts when he was at the College as "a gesture towards spring."
