There are as many
DARTMOUTH
COLLEGES
as
there are students who ever
Perception Is Everyone's Reality.
Regardless!
There is nothing more powerful than idea whose
time has come because it is RIGHT for reasons which are core to Dartmouth's DNA.
So,
I invite you to visit my thoughts on Dartmouth College and its mascot / symbol / culture that HAS gone missing for
the past four decades and on what will restore it.
Ironically...
and fortunately... in many respects The College is and has been more than half-way there in the implementation of what I propose
to formalize.
IT JUST HASN'T RECOGNIZED
THIS FACT.
It's always easier to critique and destruct than to construct
alternatives. However, since solutions are answers to problems, one's stating a problem is not negative, per se, but
manifests facts and perception from which to offer change... People smarter than I call this "Situation Analysis."
Here's my analysis of the lack-of-mascot situation:
1) Colleges founded for a purpose need a
purpose for their mascot/ symbol/culture.
2)
Despite other discussions and feeling , of which some are covered herein, when Dartmouth abandoned the "Indian," it
also abandoned a campus culture which it respected reaching back to its land grant.
3)
Further, around the same time The College became coed which brought forth another dimension to its culture, equality.
4) In absence of a
culture, equality, and of course a strong symbol/mascot which could appropriately represent sports
teams, numerous icons have appeared; some were used by select teams, some such as Keggy, while brilliantly clever and irrepressible
are non starters.
5) Slowly emerging from this morass of College indecision has been the ANTLERED BULL MOOSE
-- a male moose in heat --hardly unique among mascots even if called "Dartmoose," and therefore hardly representative
of women who make of 50% of the student body!
Why would any woman want to be represented
by such a male symbol?
Were
I a woman, I would not!
Within this website , I propose that the The College, students, alums, and
college community formally adopt Reindeer / Caribou as the the OFFICIAL brand of The College in sports, academics, and the social purpose which is a hallmark of a land grant college.
There are cogent reasons why reindeer / caribou rise above the moose and other animals which have
been considered... plus of course Keggy, irrepressible as it is, but a non-started in today's society.
This animal is not because it is my idea,
but because its CORRECTNESS IS ABSOLUTELY WITHOUT CHALLENGE as you will read.
My purpose to SELL the benefits of formal adoption of these magnificent animals and support the indigenous
culture in which they exist.
Over the past nine years I have studied college mascots; how they come to be; and whether they are
officially adopted. In truth, some are not. They just wander onto campus until kicked off, or become so institutionalized
that few remember how or why they ever appeared.
Dartmouth College allowed the Indian symbol and moniker to wander on campus. According to The
College's own history, they did so through sports reporting. Today, this is immaterial. What is material
is that the decision was "other directed" as is the "creep" of the ANTLERED BULL MOOSE.
The eventual departure of the Indian symbol was not pretty. In deed, it was costly in terms
of loyalty, therefore to The College Fund.
Dartmouth College takes pride
in its educational leadership. What is being deposited at The College's footstep is the chance to not only formally
adopt a mascot but to totally integrate it into it curriculum, culture and leadership through the formal adoption of reindeer/caribou.
One leads from the front!
John David Sottile '64 '65H
