Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
Support independent student journalism. Support independent student journalism. Support independent student journalism.
The Dartmouth
November 11, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth
News
News

Four graduates made Dartmouth a better place

By Erin Loback | June 9, 1996

There are some students you read about all the time at Dartmouth. But there are many whose accomplishments are just as meaningful, but who remain behind the scenes. Here are some Dartmouth graduates who, in just four years, changed Dartmouth.

News

Class of 1931 faced floods, the Great Depression and prohibition

By Aaron Lisman | June 9, 1996

The Class of 1931, which is back in Hanover for its 65th reunion, may have been the brightest ever to attend Dartmouth at the time -- but they did not spend four years in the library. Instead, members of the class spent time battling Prohibition, the Great Depression and one of the worst natural disasters in New England's history. When they arrived as freshman in 1927, they were the College's smartest class ever, then-Director of Admission Gordon Bill wrote in a column in The Dartmouth. "For many months [I have] felt that the material from which the Class of 1931 was chosen was much superior scholastically to that of any previous year," Bill wrote. It was difficult to get a spot in the freshman class that year.

News

Graduates' goodbyes to Dartmouth are temporary

By Jodi Priselac | June 9, 1996

As they head out into the "real world," seniors may be happy to learn they need not say goodbye to Dartmouth. In fact, the College might be hard to escape, according to Director of Alumni Relations Nelson Armstrong '71.The Alumni Magazine, class newsletters, class officers, Dartmouth clubs around the world, fraternities, sororities, reunions and, of course, students soliciting donations are some of the ways the College and the Class of 1996 will interact for the rest of their lives. "You are a student for a short time; you are an alum for a lifetime," Armstrong said. The College's efforts to maintain contact have resulted in an alumni body that is among the world's most faithful. "We probably have the most passionate alumni in the world," Armstrong said.

News

Pushing the pause button

By Justin Steinman | June 9, 1996

Sometimes I wish there was a pause button on the remote control of life. Part of the problem of going to a school like Dartmouth is that we live our lives at such breakneck speeds that we never stop to truly appreciate what we have.

News

Senior's drug charge dropped

By Charles Davant | June 9, 1996

Hanover Police dropped charges this week against David Puritz '96, who was arrested in April for possession of the drug LSD. Puritz still faces misdemeanor charges of marijuana possession. Marijuana and LSD were seized from Puritz's room in Bones Gate fraternity during a police search after a false fire alarm. The LSD was found on "two one-half-inch foil-wrapped cubes," according to a Hanover Police press release. Gene Park '98, another member of Bones Gate, has been arrested as the owner of the LSD, Police Detective-Sergeant Frank Moran said. Puritz's "position was that the LSD was not his," Moran said.

News

Alumni money funds senior scholarships

By Alfonso Montero | June 9, 1996

Sometimes students think alumni generosity has little direct impact on their lives other than to help pay their professors' salaries. But a reception at the Hanover Inn May 29 showed an example of alumni helping students directly. Members of the Class of 1939 honored 15 seniors who benefited from the class's generosity as part of the Senior Scholars program, which gives money to seniors living in residence halls who are writing honors theses. The program, which is cosponsored by the Office of Residential Life, has been funded by the Class of 1939 since it began in 1980, Dean of Residential Life Mary Turco said. Bob Kaiser '39, who spoke at the reception, said he is "proud to sponsor these students, who are doing amazing things." The program was given the American College Personnell Association's Model Program Award for 1989-90, Kaiser said. The students who benefit from the grants are chosen by a committee which includes Turco, history professor Mary Kelly, physics professor Delo Mook and German professor Ulrike Rainer, Turco said. The Class of 1989 will be taking over the program next year, Kaiser said. At the reception, some students spoke about the projects the Class of 1939 helped fund. John Bennett '96 said at the reception that his grant made it possible for him to visit archives in New England and New York to research his thesis on Federalist foreign policy during the War of 1812. Another history student who spoke was Elizabeth Rybicki '96.

News

Pulitzer Prize-Winner David Halberstam to deliver address

By Sarah Burch | June 9, 1996

From the war in Vietnam to the war between Bird and Johnson in the 1987 National Basketball Association finals, this year's commencement speaker has covered it all. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author and personal friend of College President James Freedman, David Halberstam will address the Class of 1996 at today's commencement ceremony.

News

Graduates of the College share certain common traits

By Elysa Jacobs | June 9, 1996

Four years in close quarters leads most Dartmouth graduates to have certain common personality traits. In addition to the capacity to tolerate bad weather, students graduating from Dartmouth tend to be more well-rounded, better writers and less prepared for technical work than their peers from other schools, some university administrators say. Associate Dean of Thayer School of Engineering Benoit Cushman-Roisin said Dartmouth graduates entering the Thayer school "tend to be a little weak on the technical side of things." Although Dartmouth graduates may have taken fewer traditional technical engineering courses than students elsewhere, they are much stronger in non-technical subjects, Cushman-Roisin said. Dartmouth graduates "are better writers.

News

Marks '96 is official Commencement bagpiper

By Sarah Burch | June 9, 1996

You may not have run into Joshua Marks '96 during your College career thus far, but he will be impossible to miss at this morning's Commencement exercises. Marks will be leading the Commencement procession, playing his bagpipes and has had plenty of practice. Marks said he practices regularly in such remote campus locations as the graveyard, the Bema, and the Connecticut river. He tries to stay away from areas where he might disturb others, such as classrooms and residence halls, he said. Lately he has chanced practicing on the Green, where others could take notice, in order to prepare himself for today's procession. "I've been out there busting my chops for the past couple days," Marks said. He said he is looking forward to leading the procession but can't entirely rid himself of the butterflies in his stomach. "I'm very excited but I'm pretty sure I'll have stage fright," Marks said Thursday. He said it was not an easy task to replace the incumbent leader of the pack. "It was something I had to look into very early on," Marks said.

News

Graduate schools award degrees

By David Kung | June 9, 1996

Members of the Class of 1996 are not the only ones graduating from Dartmouth this weekend. Also receiving diplomas are the graduates of the College's three professional schools and graduate students from the College's academic departments. Dartmouth's three professional schools, the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration, Dartmouth Medical School and the Thayer School of Engineering, all held investiture ceremonies yesterday to give academic hoods to graduates. Hoods are part of the formal academic regalia worn by graduating students.

News

College buys student art for residence halls

By Mark Shahinian | June 9, 1996

Using money donated by the Class of 1960, the Office of Residential Life recently purchased works of art from 18 graduating studio art majors to hang in the College's residence halls. Each year the College spends up to $5,000 to purchase, frame and hang student art, studio art professor Gerald Auten said. This year's selected works will be on display in the Jaffe-Friede Gallery of the Hopkins Center for the Performing Arts until June 12. Auten, who directs the Student Art Exhibition Program, said the purchases fill a void in the arts initiatives at the College. The program "is incredibly generous in a period when support for the arts is incredibly thin," he said. Auten said Dean of Residential Life Mary Turco selected the works. Turco said the art acquisition program was founded seven years ago with the double mission of professionalizing student-artists and beautifying the College's residence space. Turco said the seniors may benifit from having sold a piece of art, because they can include it on their resumes. Maribel Bastian '96, whose photographs were purchased through the program, said, "Having anybody purchase a piece of your art makes you think about it differently." "We would like to place the works in residential halls where other students can see them and be inspired by that work," Turco said. The College also purchased works by graduates Sung Choi, Christopher George, Shannon Giles, Chung-Wen Hsieh, James Huh, Wenonah Madison, Phoebe Manchester, Molly McDonough, Jennifer Paluso, Alexander Panov, Jessica Power, Chris Schachte, Devyani Shama, Kate Shortridge, Danielle Tripp, Natalia Veniard and Dana Smith.

News

Class of 1926 notable for generosity and eccentricity

By Jessica Jacob | June 9, 1996

The Class of 1926, which returned to Hanover for its 70th reunion this weekend, will always be remembered as being a bit eccentric. Within the class are a Nobel laureate, famous writers and actors and some of the College's most generous alumni ever. The Blunt Alumni Center, the Murdough Center, the Darling courtyard at the Hopkins Center and other facilities were given to the College by members of the Class of 1926.

News

Commencement has brought some oddities in its 225 years

By David Pichler | June 9, 1996

Since the first Commencement in 1771, the ceremony has brought its fair share of drunks, charlatans and American presidents to campus. Only four students graduated at the College's first Commencement ceremony, which was held outdoors where Reed Hall now stands, according to a history of Dartmouth Commencement written by College English Professor Francis Lane Childs '06. The earliest Commencement weekends were social events attended by locals from miles around.

News

Graduation List

By The Dartmouth | June 9, 1996

Todd Mitchell Aaron Drew William Ackert Lee Nii Noi Addo Ping-Ann Addo Jessica Craigle Adelman Kavon Adli Amel Farouk Ahmed Hina Nikhath Ahmed Norman Lindell Alderman Elizabeth Anne Allen Mason L.

News

Class of 1996 gift will be largest ever

By Jean Blackerby | June 9, 1996

As of Thursday, the Class of 1996 had pledged to give the College $108,722 over the next four years, thousands more than the Class of 1995 pledged. More than half the class, 526 seniors, made pledges to Dartmouth, Associate Director of the Alumni Fund Joe Whitworth said. "That is the best ever," he said. This year's gift "shatters the '95s' record year last year of 525 [donors] for $102, 614," Whitworth wrote in an e-mail message. This "gives the '96 [fundraising] agents a great head start toward record-setting efforts in the next five years," he wrote. The money raised is used to pay for professors' salaries, financial aid and other general College expenses. Whitworth said part of the reason fundraising was so successful was because of a strong core group of volunteers. Whitworth said each of the four Alumni Fund interns deputized 10 seniors to solicit money. Each of these 40 seniors chose up to 10 agents to help contact seniors. This year's interns, Lauren Currie '96, Charles French '96, Jason Fanuele '96 and Sarah McAlister '96, planned a student telethon in January and organized the spring fundraising drive. McAlister said even though "some people are not willing to give," it is often possible to get seniors to change their minds. Whitworth said there is no typical donation. "We have some people giving $10 a year," he said.

News

Class of 1946, separated by war, comes together for 50th reunion

By Neil Desai | June 9, 1996

As American involvement in World War II became imminent, 700 Dartmouth men waited in sleepy Hanover, knowing battle might be only days away. After spending up to three years stationed on the other side of the globe, many of the men returned as Dartmouth's Class of 1946, hoping to pick up where they left off. Those men return again this weekend, 50 years later, not to study, but to share memories and catch up on the five decades that have passed since they parted. They return to a campus changed by 50 years of change, but where many of the same traditions endure. War and peace In recent interviews with The Dartmouth, members of the Class of 1946 told how theirs was a class divided by war. Ed Scheu '46, whose first semester at Dartmouth was in the fall of 1942, said "it was a very tough time." "None of us knew what lay ahead, especially concerning the military," he said.

News

Four years at Dartmouth have brought triumph and tragedy to the Class of 1996

By Jacqueline Rose | June 9, 1996

Four years at Dartmouth brought the Class of 1996 both triumphs and tragedy. And even though little has changed since they stood on the steps of Robinson Hall before their Dartmouth Outing Club freshman trips, the events of these four years have shaped a common experience for graduates. From fun in the sun sophomore summer to the suicides of two of their classmates last year, graduates remember the four-year roller coaster ride that comes to an end this morning. Freshman year Controversy struck the moment members of the Class of 1996 began its time at Dartmouth when Student Assembly President Andrew Beebe '93 proposed a plan for the coeducation of the entire Greek system at Convocation exercises in the Fall. Panhellenic Council President Dani Brune '96 said students vehemently opposed Beebe's motion. "People thought it was ridiculous," she said.

Trending