Re: The Dartmouth Double Murders (Part 2 of 2)
College administration works to provide counseling
by Julia Levy, The Dartmouth Senior Staff
Dean of the College James Larimore said it was his experience working for the Federal Emergency Management Agency during the devastating 1989 San Francisco earthquake -- and not his long administrative career -- that most prepared him for the tragedy that befell Hanover over the weekend.
With back-and-forth telephone calls Saturday night and meetings starting before 7 a.m. yesterday, Larimore said that he and other administrators have been on the job since they first caught wind of what investigators are now calling the double homicide of Professors Susanne and Half Zantop.
But despite his experience in thinking on his feet in emergency situations, Larimore echoed the other administrators who talked to The Dartmouth yesterday when he said, "I don't think that anything ever prepares you for a tragedy like this."
The words "tragedy," "sorrow" and "shock" were spoken repeatedly last night during a private meeting in Rollins Chapel, which was attended primarily by administrators and members of the residential life staff.
College Provost Susan Prager called the situation in Hanover a "crisis atmosphere" and College President James Wright said "this is a time when the soul of the community is most tested," emphasizing that supporting one another is crucial at this point.
During the meeting, Wright, Prager, Larimore and Dean of the Tucker Foundation Stuart Lord spoke about the College's efforts so far and what Dartmouth's plan is as the community moves into the coming week.
With students upset and calls from worried parents anticipated as the story of the Zantops' deaths hits the national presses, the College is trying to ensure that members of the community feel safe.
"An event like this is so devastating to a close community where there is such a high degree of trust," Prager said. "We want to do everything that we can to bring people together, to support one another."
To this end, Prager said the Department of Safety and Security has boosted its on-campus presence, with increased number of officers on patrol, even though the rural setting where the Zantops lived is not identical to the immediate campus environment.
Larimore said the College will try its hardest to keep the community informed -- both through posting information on Dartmouth's website starting today as well as initiating a hotline (800-646-1010) this morning. He also noted that normal safety devices such as the blue light emergency phones and Safety and Security escorts should help the campus remain safe.
"We urge people to be aware or what's going on around them," Larimore said, adding that it is "always a good idea to lock doors."
Larimore said the College contacted the community via BlitzMail as soon as it was possible yesterday, after representatives of Attorney General Philip McLaughlin looked over the message that Wright ended up sending to the community, informing it of the "tragic deaths" and some events that had been planned for the coming days.
"People are trying to make sense of something that is not sensible," Wright told The Dartmouth yesterday, while acknowledging that speculation about what actually happened Saturday afternoon at 115 Trescott Road is inevitable in the coming days.
Wright emphasized that the College only knows the information that the attorney general has released publicly -- which does not answer many of the questions that students and other community members might raise as the investigation proceeds.
Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman said the community should take the rumors that are sure to fly around campus in the coming days "with a large grain of salt."
All of the administrators who talked to The Dartmouth said they did not anticipate the events of the weekend to reflect poorly on the College.
"It's obviously not representative of life here," Wright said.
"People will recognize this is a terrible tragedy," Director of news and public information Roland Adams said.
However, Redman said, "I think everyone's thinking of Hanover not as innocently" as they have traditionally.
Adams said the College is working closely with the law enforcement officials, while trying to ensure that members of the community do not feel burdened by the news attention.
Wright said he first heard about the murder when he received a phone call Saturday night from the Valley News, which had picked up information from a police scanner. Within minutes, Wright and College Proctor Robert McEwen were in contact and working on plans of how to move forward.
Yesterday, Wright said he held meetings in Parkhurst hall with various deans, counselors, public affairs, the College's General Counsel Robert Donin and Safety and Security to discuss how to "deal with the community part of this" -- in an atmosphere where rumors are flying and many are noticeably upset.
"I don't approach this as a mystery story," Wright said. "I approach this as the loss of some tremendous friends."
Tears, bewilderment and shock seemed to be the norm last night at the Rollins meeting, as colleagues sought to understand what had happened and what the College was planning for the coming days.
Prager said she knew Susanne Zantop well from their close work together. Prager said Zantop was recently elected to the committee of academic personnel -- which is one of two elected faculty committees. She was also a member of the subcommittee on priorities and was active in forming the academic planning report, which is still in the works.
Prager called Susanne Zantop "an engaged person," as well as a "scholar teacher," and a "faculty member who engaged in a lot of service."
And Larimore said, "My initial reaction was one of shock and disbelief."
Wright said he and his wife Susan Wright lived in the Zantops neighborhood for 20 of the 32 years they have lived in the Hanover area and emphasized that members of the community should not feel like they are alone when they try to cope with the aftermath of the weekend homicides. Rather, he encouraged people to actively support each other.
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Students horrified by weekend's events
by Kelly Cameron and Tara Kyle
Dartmouth's student body reacted with horror and stunned disbelief as word of the double homicide spread through campus late Saturday night and Sunday morning.
"I was shocked. It was terrifying. We feel very secure here and when something like this happens it just shatters that," Jocelyn Bernatchez '03 said in reaction to the Zantop double murder.
Cena Maxfield '03 said she has been in "complete disbelief" since hearing about the news late Saturday night.
"I was absolutely shocked, and I'm still in shock," said Amanda Green '01, who went on the earth sciences foreign study program with Professor Half Zantop.
Many students received word of the murder over BlitzMail from The Dartmouth around 12:15 a.m. Sunday morning, while others who were not connected said they found out from friends Sunday morning.
Colin O'Farrell '03 said he was out with friends when he heard the news. "I heard about it last night through word of mouth and then I got the blitz from The Dartmouth," he said.
The College did not release an official statement regarding the deaths of the two professors until mid-day Sunday.
Reactions were generally favorable to President James Wright's handling of the situation, which included the sending of a campus-wide BlitzMail message.
"I thought it was pretty appropriate. It's good to know that the College is showing concern over this," Barnes told The Dartmouth.
At the same time a few students expressed frustration at the lack of available information regarding the nature of the murders.
"I think that the College is really handling this poorly. They really need to get on it and let people know what is going on," Maxfield said.
Other students expressed hope that students will be updated as further details are available.
At a community meeting held at Rollins Chapel yesterday evening, administrators assured attendees that the College would inform students as Assistant Attorney General Mike Delaney learned and shared further information. And Wright emphasized that he knew no more than any other member of the community about what happened Saturday night at 115 Trescott Road.
The State Police Department's confirmation yesterday that the incident was a double homicide has left students with mixed feelings regarding campus safety.
"I feel like there's a lot of contradictory information in the reports we've been getting," said a German major who spoke with The Dartmouth on the condition of anonymity. "They say, 'don't worry,' and then 'be cautious.' Yeah, I am concerned, if they're not putting out an official statement that everything's okay."
Others expressed confidence that this was an insolated incident unlikely to affect campus security.
"I think it's probably under control. When I was out last night I felt a little uneasy, but I don't fear for my own safety," Bernatchez said.
German department research assistant Kinohi Nishikawa '01 noted that he felt confident in Safety and Security's control over the situation.
"Any news like this in a secluded area makes blood curdle," Nishawa said, adding that his worries have subsided somewhat since the initial news broke.
A number of resources are available for students wishing to discuss any issues of grief related to the incident.
Nishikawa attended a 7 p.m. meeting at Rollins and said that although the mood was somber, the discussion seemed effective. "There was lots of reflection, coming to terms, and dealing with it," Nishikawa said, noting that the event's attendance included approximately 20 students.
Provost Susan Prager told The Dartmouth that a number of Half Zantop's students visited the home of Earth Sciences professor C. Page Chamberlain to talk about the situation.
Hinman UGA Rachel Antal '03 said that she was considering holding a meeting to deal with any issues of safety or loss that students might be having.
Many students said that they would miss the Zantops, who were noted for their enthusiasm.
"She [Susanne] was one of the reasons that I became a German major," said Jen Taylor '01. "She was really open to having students come in and talking."
Kenny Gillingham '02 spent "the Stretch" earth sciences F.S.P. with Half Zantop, "We had some really good talks; everybody loved him. I wanted to do my thesis with him," she said.
Teaching assistant for Half Zantop's Earth Sciences 1 class and graduate student Tom Douglas could only say, "He was a wonderful person and he will be sorely missed."
(Other members of The Dartmouth staff contributed to this report.)
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Zantops' colleagues devastated by loss
by Ithan Peltan, The Dartmouth Staff
Disbelief was the prevailing emotion yesterday among members of the Dartmouth faculty reacting to Saturday's double murder of Susanne and Half Zantop.
Professors across the spectrum of departments and with varying levels of acquaintance with the deceased echoed each other in describing their reactions, using words like "stunned," "horrified" and "shocked" again and again.
"The sudden loss is so shocking and the means by which we have lost them is even more shocking," said Jim Aronson, Half's close friend and departmental colleague in earth sciences. "Neither my wife or I slept at all last night."
"I was devastated, like so many other people," said history professor Annelise Orleck, another close friend of the couple. "It's a tight community and a huge hole has been ripped in it."
"The shock was like a wave of nausea," professor of classics Edward Bradley said.
The fact of the Zantops' deaths seemed to be sinking in only very slowly for many as, when speaking to The Dartmouth, a number of faculty members referred to their deceased colleagues in the present tense.
Earth sciences professor Gary Johnson he said he didn't really believe what he was hearing right away when he received a call from the chair of his department informing him of the tragedy.
"You hear those words but you don't quite register what they mean, even though you may talk about it for four or five minutes," he said.
"I think this is just terrible. It's just so stunning because nothing like that happens up here," art history professor Joy Kenseth said. "They were very, very nice people, I can't even imagine who would want to do something like this to them."
Many faculty who spoke with The Dartmouth expressed similar opinions, noting Hanover's rural, quiet nature.
"I was horrified, this is supposed to be a sleepy rural community in New Hampshire," math department chair Dana Williams said of his reaction to news of the double murder.
"Things like this aren't supposed to happen, especially not to nice and generous people like the Zantops," he continued.
"We live in an area where people don't lock their doors. You can't imagine a robbery ... but yet you can't possibly imagine that anybody who knew them could do this," Aronson said.
At least one faculty member expressed alarm at the fact that the murders were committed by a third party who has not yet been apprehended.
"That frightens me because the person might still be on the loose" English professor Cynthia Huntington said of the police determination that the Zantops died in a double homicide.
Most other faculty, however, said that the murders have not affected their image of the Hanover area as unusually safe.
"It's still a rural community, and I'm sure when the details of this are known we'll be even more horrified by the meaninglessness of it all," Williams said. "This kind of thing could happen anywhere."
Faculty members said that when they return to work today, they'll be thinking of their colleagues, but the world -- and the term -- will go on. But those gone before will not be forgotten.
"I think we will keep on hugging each other and trying to make sense of this incomprehensible event ... but there's not really any way to make sense of it," Orleck said. "[So] we will remember them and memorialize them and we will miss them."
Members of the Zantops' departments -- Susanne was the chair of German studies and Half was a professor of earth sciences -- were notified by phone late Saturday night of their colleagues' deaths.
Other members of the faculty learned of the tragedy in a more haphazard manner, through local and national news reports, BlitzMail and other means.
"At this point, people are going to be numb and slowly but surely it's going to hit them," Director of the Faculty/Employee Assistance Program James Platt said. "We want to make sure we can normalize things for them because it's going to be a real roller coaster."
Platt said there is some concern that faculty will feel a sense of conflict in dealing with their pain and loss in this situation as they also feel a need to serve as caretakers and role models for students.
Counselors will be sitting down with members of the Zantops' departments this morning and will be available throughout the week to help all College employees.
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Susanne Zantop was the editor of eight books
by Carl Burnett, The Dartmouth Staff
With the unexpected death of Professor Susanne Zantop, Dartmouth has lost a well-respected scholar, a true believer in the power of individuals and a friend to students and faculty alike.
Zantop was chair of the German studies department and was active in the comparative literature and women's studies programs. She also held the title of Parents' Distinguished Research Professor in the Humanities.
Susanne Zantop was born Aug. 12, 1945 in Kissingen, Germany. She studied political science in Berlin and at Stanford and studied comparative literature at the University of Massachusetts and later at Harvard, where she received a doctorate in 1984.
In 1982 Susanne Zantop joined the Dartmouth faculty in comparative literature. She soon began teaching in the German and Spanish departments as well and formally joined the German department in 1984. In 1996, she became its chair. She has also taught at Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Her work has spanned many academic areas, from colonialism and feminism to 18th and 19th-century fiction, from her native Germany to Latin America.
Professor Zantop was "a real workhorse," according to Margaret Robinson, the German Studies department's academic assistant. Over the past 13 years, Zantop authored or edited eight books dealing with the topics of colonialism and gender. In addition, Robinson said that Zantop was a regular contributor to a number of scholarly journals.
Robinson had worked closely with Zantop for about 15 years in the German studies department. Robinson was also a personal friend of the Zantops and often socialized with them outside of academic settings, she said. They would cross-country ski, attend movies and eat meals together. When Robinson's husband died three years ago, the couple was very supportive of her, she added.
Robinson described Susanne Zantop as "a very alive person with a good sense of humor," well liked by students and faculty alike. According to Robinson, many former students remained in touch with Zantop after they graduated.
One of the highlights of Professor Zantop's literary career, according to her colleague and close friend Susannah Heschel, was her 1997 book "Colonial Fantasies: Conquest, Family and Nation in Precolonial Germany, 1770-1870," which introduced a new idea to the study of colonialism: that even before Germany began to colonize other parts of the world, a colonialist mentality had become part of the national consciousness.
As a department chair, Zantop was a member of a number of College committees, Robinson said. She also said Zantop was currently planning a conference on post-colonial issues, which was scheduled to take place at Dartmouth in June. Now, Robinson said, without Zantop's driving force behind it, the conference is unlikely to happen.
Heschel talked about Zantop as a mentor to younger faculty members as well as a warm and generous friend, a prolific and talented writer and a voracious reader with a wide breadth of knowledge about many topics.
Heschel also praised her honesty and directness. "When she came to a lecture, even if it was [given by] a close friend, she wouldn't automatically praise you. She would tell you what she really thought," Heschel said. "She could be quite critical -- honest, but not mean."
Above all, Heschel praised Zantop's ability to produce work that had an effect on others. She spoke of her own experience two years ago when she was struggling to write an article. Lying in bed late at night, she thought of an idea she had recently read in one of Zantop's books. Heschel jumped out of bed, inspired by Zantop's thinking to find a new insight into her own article.
"There's a lot of smart people out there, but it's rare to find someone who can enter someone else's intellectual agenda," Heschel said.
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Half Zantop was interested in environmental issues
by Ithan Peltan, The Dartmouth Staff
Deceased Professor Half Zantop was described by former students and coworkers yesterday in glowing terms, both as a popular teacher and good friend.
"As a colleague and friend, all I can think about is a well-spoken, quiet individual who befriended everyone and was never judgmental," fellow earth sciences professor Gary Johnson said.
Zantop joined the Dartmouth faculty in 1976 after earning his Ph.D. at Stanford in 1969 and spending a few years of exploration work in industry.
His primary research interest was in an area of the earth sciences known as "economic geology," which concerns itself with the study of mineral resources like ore deposits, their formation and exploitation.
Earth sciences professor Jim Aronson noted Zantop's growing interest in the environmental impact of the mines that he studied and his ability to apply his knowledge to new situations.
"I try to cover both the geological and the social aspects in my academic pursuits," Zantop wrote in a brief autobiographical description posted on the earth sciences homepage.
Prior to his death, Zantop was finishing up a new edition of a book he originally co-authored in 1988. Titled "International Mineral Economics," Johnson said the book has value both as a reference and as a textbook.
This term, Zantop was teaching earth science 15, Earth Resources. He had also taught Introduction to Earth Sciences and two upper level classes on ore deposits.
Students and colleagues described Zantop as a professor with an excellent grasp of his subject matter, who could take difficult subject matter and make it understandable for students.
"He was a brilliant lecturer," earth sciences professor emeritus Robert Reynolds said. "He was probably regarded as the best teacher in our department, based on student evaluations."
Students also praised Zantop's sense of humor and his dedication to helping his students to learn. One student said he would often show slides of rocks taken in the field interspersed with unrelated images … like that of a duck.
"I think many of us would hope to emulate the type of interaction that he was able to engender" with his students, Johnson said.
Several colleagues also praised Zantop's ability to act as a voice of reason during debates. Long-time department administrative assistant Grace Morse described him as a "peacemaker."
"He was always someone who could find the good in any situation," Morse said. "That's how I remember him and will always remember him … he's a wonderful, wonderful person."
On the non-academic side, his colleagues said Zantop was very proud of his greenhouse, contained within his Etna home. He was an avid sailor and the Zantops often went sailing in Maine during the summer. Zantop was also active in Democratic politics.
Zantop was born in Germany in 1938 and attended high school in Barcelona, Spain. He and his wife immigrated to the United States from Germany in the 1960s, but only recently became U.S. citizens. Two adult daughters survive the couple.
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