While many feel that the College is on the road to recovering from the deaths of Professors Half and Susanne Zantop, remnants of sorrow linger.
Professors and students alike still mourn the loss of two people whom they admired. President James Wright alluded to this personal sense of grief when he remarked, "We continue to grieve, to mourn, to miss our dear friends."
But even students and faculty who knew neither Zantop personally attest to feeling a heightened sense of vulnerability, a sense that Dartmouth is not as safe as a place as it seemed to be.
Still, some members of the Dartmouth community report that the cloud hanging over campus had a silver lining in that they have learned to better appreciate friendships and savor everyday interactions with close to them.
Several friends of the Zantops noted that, while healing has taken place, they do continue to grieve for their lost friends.
When asked whether the recovery from the murders was complete, Wright said, "I don't know how you ever say it's complete because obviously life goes on, but it's never the same."
Others point to the tragic circumstances surrounding the deaths of the Zantops as one thing making it so difficult to move on.
"We can never fully recover from the death of colleagues, especially given the brutal circumstances," Dean of Faculty Jamshed Bharucha said.
And while many feel that the College will never be the same, there is a sense that some healing has occurred.
Bharucha thought that Wright's wise handling of a difficult situation helped the community to recover.
"President Wright provided opportunities for us to assemble, and that was a very important part of dealing with the grief," he said.
Accordingly, in his eulogy for the Zantops last February, President Wright acknowledged the importance of support for one another, saying, "We gather to affirm our aching sense of loss and grief but also to comfort one another."
Bharucha summed up the difficulty of balancing the Dartmouth community's need to express grief and its need to heal by saying, "I think the grieving process continues, as does the healing process. On this first anniversary of the deaths of the Zantops, we should remember the Zantops and all of the faculty we lost this year," he said.
Leslie Sonder, chair of the Earth Sciences department, expressed similar views.
"I feel that the campus has recovered a sense of equilibrium," Sonder said. Zantop's colleagues in Earth Sciences "continue to miss him and all he brought to the department. But we've also had to move beyond it and face the reality of it.."
Other students and faculty have felt more general concerns that Dartmouth is not as safe since the murders.
"I think there is a universal feeling of increased vulnerability," Sonder said.
Initial concerns that a Dartmouth student might have committed the murders increased some students' sense of vulnerability.
Soojung Rhee '04 said, "If it had been a Dartmouth student, a lot of perceptions would have changed."
But while the professors' murders may have heightened feelings of vulnerability, "I also feel that people are more aware of the resources that existed before," Heather Smith '04 said.
"If something were to happen now, people would know where to go, what to do," Smith said.
Others point to a stronger sense of community on campus and a greater appreciation of friendships as a result of the tragedy. "I think their deaths brought about a renewed sense of purpose and meaning, and reminded us all how important our community is to us and how important our colleagues are to us," Dean of the Faculty Jamshed Bharucha said.
"I hope we can come out of this with a heightened appreciation of friendships, for one cannot always predict how much time you have with a person you love," Wright said.
"We've all gotten much more sensitive to the value we place on friends, people who were always there for us. We know now we can no longer take them for granted," former Dean of the Faculty Edward Berger said.
The passage of time has done little to change the fact that the Zantops still remain an integral part of Dartmouth College in many ways.
A scholarship fund for students has been set up in the names of Half and Susanne Zantop.
Besides such concrete reminders of the Zantops, their legacy is kept alive in less tangible ways.
"Professors Half and Susanne Zantop would be most happy to know that their friends, students, and colleagues all carry memories of them in their hearts," Wright said.
"That is the most important way they live on, though the students they touched during their teaching careers," Berger said.
"They'll forever be just dear, sweet colleagues that we will always miss."
