Student activists reacted just as vehemently. More than 200 staged a sit-in at McLaughlin's office and forced classes to close the following day. Although the demonstrators were deemed to be in violation of college standards, they were not punished because of their "moral convictions."

Flanagan denounces the disciplinary treatment doled out by the college, which he says upholds "one standard for liberals and another for conservatives."

Fueled by Review

The DCBGBWC moniker was a thinly disguised front for the notorious Dartmouth Review. Ten members of the demolition crew were staff members of the Review, including Flanagan, who is vice president of the outspoken journal. All 12 say they are adherents of the paper's controversially conservative ethic.

Funded almost entirely by national interests including columnist William F. Buckley and supported by 3000 right-wing alumni, the weekly Review has a short but controversial history of political stunts.

In 1982, the fledgling paper printed an article written entirely in Black dialect entitled "Dis Sho' Ain't No Jive, Bro," which implied that Dartmouth had lowered admissions standards in order to accomodate Blacks. Recent articles have also questioned admissions policies pertaining to Jews, challenged the morality of homosexuality, and lampooned the admission of women into the college.

One of the Review's favorite targets is the president of the college, David T. McLaughlin. Throughout this winter of political crises, faculty and student groups alike have vocally criticized the laid-back style of the president of this traditionally sleepy Ivy League school.

McLaughlin, previously a successful businessman, had no prior experience in academia before he became president in 1981. Although almost universally praised for his ability to increase the college's endowment, the president's handling of the current campus strife has generated harsh criticism from all fronts.

Last month a faculty report questioned McLaughlin's ability to lead Dartmouth, specifically citing his strained relationship with the Dartmouth faculty. A significant, if not overwhelming, number of the Ivy League school's professors believe that McLaughlin's leadership style is too businesslike for effective action in the face of strife.

The Dartmouth faculty two weeks ago endorsed the findings of the report, and several professors called for a vote of no-confidence in McLaughlin's ability to govern the college.

At the faculty meeting one professor publicly attacked McLaughlin for allowing Dartmouth to become "the laughingstock of the nation," while another claimed that "bigotry, racism, and intolerance" have characterized the McLaughlin administration, The Dartmouth reported.

There has been an unprecedented amount of administrative and faculty turnover in the five years of McLaughlin's tenure. Typical of administrative confusion was this fall's firing of football coach Joe Yukica, who subsequently sued Dartmouth to regain his position.

One college official, who recently resigned because of the "stifling" atmosphere of the McLaughlin administration, told The Dartmouth that "I've never seen more managerial intimidation as Dartmouth under this president."

Students on both sides of the political spectrum are equally disgruntled with what they call McLaughlin's wishy-washy administrative response.

The Review's Flanagan says that McLaughlin "has to get some backbone." Sitting beneath a framed photo of Richard M. Nixon, the conservative student leader and former shanty-buster told The Crimson that the President's lack of leadership and "inability to lay down a law and stick by it" typified his administrative policy.