Pomfret School - Griffin Yearbook (Pomfret, CT)

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THE COUNCIL Left to Right - back: Davis, Mr. Swinnerton, Dodson, Hard, Pomeroy, Hatch, Bricken, Mr. Nagy, front Mr, Barker, Adams j, Andrade C, Robinson, Bingham. Bartholet, Taylor j, Appleton. THE DORM COMMITTEE Left to Right- Hall, Adams 1, Mr. Crawford, Barfholet, Mr. Heskeff, Lurnbard, Polsby. .fm I I - 11 -cv ad

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GOVERNMENT Student government presents a difficult problem at Pomfret, just as it would at any boarding school. The crux of the problem is, simply, how much power does the coun- cil actually have? Presumably, the facts that the Council is made up both of stu- dents and faculty, and that the constitu- tion grants them widely defined powers, would indicate that the Council operates on a broad plane of activity. Actually, this is not the case. The Council operates al- most entirely in the sphere of community living and leaves the other functions of the institution to the headmaster and the faculty. Within the sphere that it has defined for itself, the Council has done an excel- lent job. Often discussions have been long and pointless, and sometimes acrimonious. This is, of course, the heart of the demo- cratic process, its strength as well as its weakness. Perhaps Council members at times were a little slow to grasp their responsibility to their electorates. They were occasion- ally content to refrain from informing the people who elected them what they were RECORDS COMMITTEE Left to Right- Harris, Adams I, jackson W. --l . .W . Left 20 ACTIONS COMMITTEE to Right-Robinson, Mr, Swinnerton, Pomeroy doing. This arose primarily from a miscon- ception about the social importance of be- ing a Council member, but happily, boys are learning to conquer this problem. Law enforcement was the principal headache that the Council considered. The old problem--who is responsible for whom -was met by continuing the Records Com- mittee arrangement. The Council also added a committee to take action on var- ious offenses, and on the record. The ac- cumulating of these records is a problem which was untouched during the year. The SPIFF people noted that in the sixth form, the sixteen dormitory assistants received three dormitory marks the whole year, while nineteen non-dorm assistant sixth formers got l45 dormitory marks. This situation meant simply that the records set-up was not as valuable in practice as it appeared to be in theory. The problem of law enforcement remained unsolved. Still, in dealing with many other proi- ects, from sun-bathing to a constitutional amendment changing election procedure, the Council acted as a valuable clearing house. The everyday problems of living at Pomfret were successfully governed. -N. Polsby

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ACTIVITIES - - DRAW? ln choosing its program for the year, the Dramatic Society followed the prece- dent set in earlier years and decided on two more small cast, one act plays. The reason for selecting plays with a minimum of fe- male players is obvious, but now a growing number of people would like to see the drama group undertake more ambitious projdcts. Ideas for these projects center on two suggestions. Some would like to see longer plays put on, possibly with a girls' school to get the needed feminine complement. As it is now, whenever a second former appears on the Pomfret stage, we are sup- DRAMATIC LEADERS Left to Right-Roudebush, Chapman, Morris, Marcotte. 22 THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER directed by Marcel Marcotte with Williom Hall as labez Stone Susan Cameron as Mary Stone Ogden Nield as Daniel Webster Lloyd Cutrell as Mr. Scratch Pomfret November 20, l 951 posed to think he is a girl. This sometimes takes great effort. One danger in this suggestion is that the drama group would consist of mem- bers more interested in the girls than the play, a situation like the one currently plaguing the chorus. No one has quite seen a way around that problem, short of mak- ing the school coeducational. The other suggestion is to institute a half-course in drama which would take up all aspects of stagecraft. lt is thought that this workshop experience would mean more than the present arrangement. This is not to say that Pomfret produc- tions are totally without merit. On the contrary, it means that the Pomfret stage is ready to move on to bigger and more challenging things. Both productions this