To the Editor:
The spectacular performance by Senior Fellow Robert Mirakian '01 and the orchestra he assembled was the most exciting student artistic event I have witnessed in my 35 years here at Dartmouth. It should be a paradigm for all artistic activity at the College. Here was Spaulding auditorium packed with students to hear a student conductor lead a student orchestra. No tickets, no pretension, but simply heartfelt performances by talented students. The quality was exceptional and for once I felt that a cultural facility at Dartmouth belonged to the students -- as of course it should -- and not exclusively run by faculty or arts administrators. How wonderful it would be if the Hood Museum would throw open its galleries to the equally impressive work done by student visual artists. How exciting if there were theater and music spaces run only by and for students. I've always thought that was what a college was supposed to be.
