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Who let the dog out?
Uh, I guess that I did!
Mike Gonnerman
In the last publication of this website I mentioned
that Sottile '64, my compatriot in this site,"needled" that I had to keep the content fresh. So, like a parent whisking a
child out to play, I challenged him to "go play with the mascot issue." It drives him crazy to witness an Ivy League college
-- "the builders of leaders" as he likes to say in an lowered, important voice -- that can't come to grips with a decision
which is over 30 years in the making. So, I knew that this would "get him fetching." And well it did!
Sottile retrieved lay-it-on-the-line observations...
and recommendations, based upon a criteria of equality which was the underlying reason for dropping the Indian symbol. What
started as a one page update for The Great Class of '65 site turned into his tour-de-force all embodied in HIS site www.mydartmouthmascot.com.
And while he was at it, Sottile launched HIS
core site www.mydartmouth.com, something which he had planned to do five years ago. "My Dartmouth" as you will read, if you visit
the site, is each of our unique perceptions about The College.
I don't expect that everyone will agree with Sottile. (He's out there!) In truth, Sottile doesn't either. (He loves a good debate.) In fact, it is the diversity of perceptions that he is seeking, especially from a segment of all classes
that are considered "disenfranchised," about which he rails in his site.
Regardless how you regard Sottile's views about The College,
I believe that you will find www.mydartmouthmascot.com to be a serious effort to understand the mascot issue and suggest alternative mascots. He retrieves bones
on which all can chew; The College, the students, alumni especially female, the Dartmouth Review, the Moose, Keggy...
and even the Hanover merchants which he includes in the Dartmouth Community and Experience. Sottile needles... cajoles... questions... and even empathizes in an effort, which as he
admittedly states, to PROVOKE a College decision.
Nowhere does Sottile question The College's descision
to discontinue the Indian symbol and lore.
And finally, I know of his continuing, one-on-one efforts to move
this issue forward to a conclusion... which needs not to be one of his recommendations... BUT A FINAL DECISION BY THE COLLEGE
TO REPLACE A SYMBOL & CULTURE WHICH WAS TERMINATED IN THE EARLY '70s AND WHICH HAS BEEN MISSED (as witnessed by the continual
efforts of many groups to restore a symbol/culture) FOR OVER A GENERATION.
Sottile would like to see a College decision by Winter Carnival
'05, and is willing to debate the mascot merits in Hanover.
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We're Still In The Wilderness
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