At 11:15 a.m. yesterday, two Dick's House counselors, a class dean and two eatth science professors filed into Fairchild 415 to face a classroom full of students who had spent every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning this term with Half Zantop.
Chair of the earth sciences department Dick Birnie was the first to stand in front of the black board and address the students -- many of whom looked down to their desks and were noticeably upset.
Birnie himself was also shaken. He told The Dartmouth after students had dispersed that he first met Half and Susanne Zantop about 25 years ago, when the family came to his home for dinner about a half-hour after first moving into Hanover.
"We lived next door as junior faculty," Birnie said, explaining that he and the Zantops moved to Hanover at about the same time.
Birnie started off the class period yesterday by announcing that the regularly scheduled course would proceed on Wednesday, taught by Graduate Student Thomas Douglas -- who has worked closely with Zantop and knows the structure of the course and the material included in its syllabus intimately.
Douglas has worked with students in Zantop's course "through the whole term and has worked with Half for several years," Birnie told The Dartmouth.
Birnie informed students that he and the department would try to work with them throughout the remainder of the term -- and would understand if anyone wanted to transfer out of the class.
He also noted that the journalists and cameramen flocking around town would be asked to leave if they entered the building so that the privacy of the community could be respected.
Birnie's brief words were followed by further comments by Teoby Gomez, who emphasized to the class that no student is ever under any obligation to talk to the media that has flocked into Hanover to cover the ongoing investigation of the events Saturday night at 115 Trescott Road.
However, he said if students wished to talk to the media, they were free to do so, and could seek guidance on what to say from Director of Public Information Roland Adams, who is Dartmouth's liaison with the media.
Like Birnie, Gomez assured students that deans were on call to help them 24 hours a day.
Gomez and Birnie underlined the fact that the College is telling members of the community as much as it knows, but said the state police are not releasing much information during the pending investigation.
"They're clearly doing what's appropriate," Birnie said, praising the way the administration has handled the situation facing Hanover since Saturday night.
When counselors Heather Earle and Mark Reed opened the discussion up for students to share how the tragedy has affected them, members of the class could not contain their grief and anxiety.
Between bursts of emotion and deeply personal reactions, moments of silence were penetrated by sniffles and whimpers.
The counselors encouraged students to seek the help that the Dartmouth community is able to lend.
They explained that counselors on call are available at any time and that Dick's House can provide one-on-one and group therapy sessions.
"For the foreseeable future" the earth sciences department will hold pizza lunch gatherings and 3 p.m. breaks in the department lounge to "provide a place where we can come together," Birnie said.
"I'm trying to do what needs to be done to help all of us, including myself, deal with it," Birnie said.
