Brian Hayes '90, who died of cancer last August only six credits short of graduating, will receive a posthumous degree at this year's Commencement.
According to Assistant Dean of Students Barbara Strohbehn, Hayes' degree will be the fourth awarded since 1965 to an undergraduate who died before completing the required curriculum, but the first awarded under official guidelines.
Discussion surrounding the decision to give Hayes a degree prompted the Dean's office to develop a formal set of criteria to systematically determine who should be awarded such a distinction. The Board of Trustees approved the new posthumous degree policy in April.
Strohbehn said the new guidelines stipulate that a student who dies must be at fewer than six credits from graduation and have completed the distributive and physical education requirements. The student must also be close to completing a major.
Strohbehn said Hayes was one credit away from fulfilling the requirements for a government major.
Hayes' time at Dartmouth was often interrupted by illness. He last attended school in the fall of 1991 and had planned to return to the College last fall to complete his graduation requirements.
Despite his cancer, Hayes was active in extra-curricular activities, especially as a staff writer of The Dartmouth, the College's daily newspaper.
He kept a police radio by his side and was ready to write a story about any newsworthy event that transpired. He would often times jump out of bed at 3 a.m. in response to an editor's plea.
Even more inspirational was the fact Hayes was always eager to return to the College after undergoing months of intensive treatment, determined to fight harder and achieve more.
Hayes was the reporter who did it all: chase late-breaking stories, write them on deadline and take pictures of what he was writing about as well.
"Brian really did it all," Michael Reynolds '90, former Edito- in-Chief of The Dartmouth, said. "He personified what any editor would hope a reporter would be like."
"He was incredibly prolific. He wrote more than any other writer and was the photo editor. It was hard to make that jump. He really could do both," Reynolds added.
His insatiable appetite for news led him to work for the College's Sports Information Office, where he helped prepare public information about Dartmouth's sports teams.
"If we needed someone to stuff envelopes, if we needed someone to run back up the stairs to the press box at a football game, or to answer the phone, he was more than willing to pitch in," Kathy Slattery, the director of sports information, said. "He was a 'no job too big, no job too small' kind of guy."
Very quickly Hayes proved his dedication and interest in sports writing, Slattery said.
So when the Dartmouth baseball team won the Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League championship in 1987, Hayes became the official college contact and traveled to Atlanta to cover the first round of the NCAA tournament. "We were all really happy for him," Slattery remembered. "He did a fantastic job."
Hayes was so fascinated with late-breaking news, he kept a portable police radio with him at all times. Later in his illness he carried a police radio attached to one side of his hip and a medical device to treat his illness on the other.
Hayes also had a special fondness for fire fighting. He befriended members of the fire department and would often ride along with them on emergency calls.
In January 1991, over his police radio, Hayes heard the call for help from members of the Dartmouth baseball team after teammate Peter McKernan '93 collapsed from cardiac arrest during a workout.
Hayes rushed to the scene in Leverone Field House, then called Slattery and then bolted to The D's offices to write the tragic story. McKernan died without regaining consciousness.
"His dedication was unparalleled. It was clear Brian would succeed in whatever he pursued," Tig Tillinghast '93, another former Editor-in-Chief of The D, said.
"Brian was a good guy. He was a thoughtful, caring, scrupulous and interesting guy. But most of all, he was thoughtful. That's what made him such a good writer. Whether it was reporting on a dorm fire, a football game or a personal profile, Brian brought insight to the subject," Tillinghast added.
Proof of his gift surfaced most clearly in an autobiographical account of his battle with cancer that appeared in March of 1991 for The New York Times, where he worked as a clerk during his two terms away from the College. The feature story, "You Could Outlive Your Doctor," included descriptions of his radiation and chemotherapy treatment and a risky bone-marrow transplant.
He wrote, "Two days later, I was discharged and I began my recovery at home. Originally, my doctors warned that I would probably be laid up for three to six months. Five weeks after my release though, I was working out and shooting baskets at the local park. At ten weeks, I was back at work at The Times."
It was that optimism and iron will that made Hayes a "silent hero" in the eyes of others. He kept much of his anxiety to himself, transforming the hardships of his illness into an internal source of strength.
"He carried a huge burden while he was here at Dartmouth and I think at times it was a huge challenge for him but he never let people know," Slattery said.
In the Times Magazine, Hayes wrote, "I did not tell my classmates about my disease. I thought that keeping it a secret would allow me to fit in with my peers better and make it easier for me to forget about myself. I could not have been more wrong."
Brian was also offered an internship in the Washington D.C. bureau of the Wall Street Journal which he was never able to take.
