Here at Dartmouth, home of the free, land of the stereotype it can be hard to keep up with all of the categorizations. If you were to confuse a few Greek letters you might think the football players were lesbians. This is not to leave out the ever popular prejudices based on race, creed, country of origin, etc.
It is perfectly understandable then that there is a stereotype on campus that we have all seemed to miss: the alumni stereotype. The alumnus is a rich white man. He misses the good old days of Dartmouth, the days before women, the days when any day of the week was a day to get drunk, the days before Freedman. Not only does the alumnus dislike Freedman but he subscribes to the Dartmouth Review. Perhaps he even sends them an unsolicited donation every now and then.
I cannot claim to be above stereotypes as I myself believed in this image of the Dartmouth Alumni. This changed when last week I met Steven Martin '66.
He was very interested in the counseling we have for alcohol abuse. High as well on his list of concerns was the extent that fraternities dominated the social life of the campus. He also asked several questions about how men and women were arranged in the dorms. Are they co-ed by floor? How are the lavatories arranged?
These questions seemed to indicate that the man behind the queries did not quite fit the typical alumnus personality. Almost before I could ask Mr. Martin began to tell me how much things at Dartmouth have improved since his time. In his opinion the best addition to the campus was that of women. He felt the addition improved the behavior of the young men who attend the College, which was atrocious when he was at Dartmouth. He looked back with regret at endless nights of drinking to get drunk and the senseless debauchery that followed.
Mr. Martin felt that in his time alcoholism was a large problem that was largely unaddressed. He was happy that we now have people students can talk to about alcohol abuse.
There were other indicators that my new friend from the Class of 1966 broke the stereotype that were less than unequivocal but still interesting. For instance, I did not ask him if he subscribed to the Dartmouth Review. However, among his many questions not one was about campus politics. He showed no fear that Dartmouth had become a "p.c. zoo."
As is always the case with stereotypes, the alumni stereotype disappears as soon as one meets some of the individuals who are supposed to fit the mold. Individuals never fit a mold.
