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The Dartmouth
April 2, 2026
The Dartmouth
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Six graduates plan to take career roads less traveled

By Robert Isaacs | June 9, 1996

Along with the crowd of future lawyers, doctors, consultants and investment bankers, there are a few graduates who have decided to take the road less traveled by. While their classmates go to graduate school or work for a corporation, these graduates will be around the globe, fighting disease, injustice or even whitewater. Semper fidelis Although many graduates are preparing for professionalism, few say they want to become a general someday. But April Whitescarver '96 is aiming high. As soon as she gets her Dartmouth diploma, Whitescarver will report directly to the United States Marine Corps' Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Va.

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College awards honorary degrees to seven at ceremony

By Karen Rose | June 9, 1996

David Halberstam is not the only one who will be given an honorary degree at today's ceremony. Seven other people, from a teacher and a coach to three scientists, will receive the same distinction. Honorary doctor of letters degrees will be conferred to Halberstam, as well as sociologist and author Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet and educator Deborah Meier. Former Dartmouth football coach Bob Blackman will be awarded the honorary doctor of laws degree.

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The symbolism of Commencement is misleading

By John Strayer | June 9, 1996

One part of this whole graduation deal strikes me as particularly ironic. As we receive our diplomas they call our names and (at least in theory) each of us is honored separately, as an individual, alone. Symbolically, this ceremony is supposed to be the culmination of college.

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Seniors nervous about 'real world'

By Erik Tanouye | June 9, 1996

Members of the Class of 1996 say they are beginning to realize the world beyond Hanover can be a scary place. Other than not having BlitzMail, free laser printing and a charge account at Food Court, graduates will face the additional annoyance of switching to another school or beginning a career. Sylvia Langford, the dean of the Class of 1996, said some graduates are worried. "There is a bit of uncertainty about what the next few years will hold," she said. Langford said seniors fear they will miss "the nurturing environment that they have found here and especially the friends they have made, be they students or professors or administrators." Mia Williams '96 said she is not quite ready to go. "A few months ago I would have said I'm ready to leave," she said.

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A view from the 50th

By Howard D. Samuel | June 9, 1996

Is there anything worse than a 50th Reunion alumnus complaining about the changes that have disrupted life since the halcyon days when he was an undergraduate?

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Ceremony moves back near to Baker Library

By David Kung | June 9, 1996

For the first time in its 225 year history, the Commencement ceremony will be held on the Green this year. Amidst sharp criticism from some seniors, the College moved the ceremony from the Baker Library Lawn to Memorial Field last year to accommodate the crowds coming to see President Bill Clinton, the Commencement speaker. The ceremony had been held on Baker Lawn since 1953. But even without Clinton, Baker Lawn is too small for Commencement, Assistant Director of Public Programs Olivia Chapman said. "The problem with Baker Lawn is that classes are growing every year," she said. "The narrowness is pushing parents onto the Green, which makes it impossible to see or hear graduation," she said. The Commencement Committee has worked all year to find a new location, Chapman said.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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