About 25 students were on hand to hear D'Arienzo speak about one of the College's newly renovated dorms. Although the year painted on the door of the building is 2006, Dwight Morrow donated $200,000 in 1925 for the dorm to be built. It was opened to students in the fall of 1926.
At that time, the College charged more money for students to live in singles. It was Morrow's suggestion that singles be available to all students, not just the ones who could pay for them. As a result, the dorm's original floor plan shows 70 rooms, all of which were singles. "I didn't realize he was integral in promoting economic diversity and equality at Amherst," commented RC Natasha Hines '07.
In addition to the singles, the dorm included a common room, dining room, serving room and kitchen. "This was before Valentine, and Morrow's dining hall was beloved by faculty-especially single faculty-and the football team for their pre-season dinners," said D'Arienzo. "The dorm also had 22 showers."
After providing her audience with a copy of Morrow's original floor plan, D'Arienzo spoke about Dwight Morrow and his path to the College. He was born in Huntington, WV and grew up in Allegheny, Penn. Morrow graduated high school at the age of 14, but had a difficult time getting into college.
He sat for the entrance exam to West Point and earned the best score, which prompted a local newspaper to announce that he would attend West Point in the fall. However, since Morrow's brother was already at West Point, a congressman rescinded Morrow's acceptance.
Later, Morrow applied to Washington and Jefferson College in Pennsylvania. During the math portion of the entrance exam, Morrow provided an original solution to a math theorem. This was more than what was expected of incoming students, so Morrow was not accepted there either.
A family friend, Henry Gibbons, taught Greek at Amherst and convinced Morrow to apply. "After the entrance exam he was almost rejected," said D'Arienzo. "He was good at math but miserable at everything else. An Amherst counselor suggested that he go into farming, but Henry Gibbons got him in."
Morrow was thankful for this opportunity, and he made the most of his Amherst experience. At the end of his senior year, Morrow received numerous awards, including one for best orator, and used the money to buy train tickets for his family to attend graduation ceremonies.
Additionally, he was voted "Most Likely to Succeed" by his classmates. For this distinction, Morrow got all but one vote: He reserved his own ballot for his roommate, Calvin Coolidge.
Indeed, Morrow did have a successful life. He was a lawyer for J.P. Morgan and was appointed ambassador to Mexico by Coolidge. He also served as a trustee to Amherst, where he worked to make the College accessible to everyone. Morrow was even offered the position of president of the College, but he turned it down. At this point in D'Arienzo's presentation, the students were impressed with Morrow's long list of accomplishments. One student exclaimed, "This guy was America!"
Dwight Morrow died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1931. "He was a regular person and everyone liked him," said D'Arienzo. "He thought of other people first and that made him well-liked and successful."
Morrow's legacy is the building that he donated, and it has survived several renovations. In 1934, Morrow's wife gave the dorm a library consisting of 3,000 of Dwight's books.
When Valentine opened in 1941, the cafeteria in Morrow was taken away and made into suites. The building was modernized in 1980, and the current residents of Morrow are the first tenants of the most recent renovation. "I was an RC in pre-renovation Morrow and I loved that the common room and library still held books that were hundreds of years old," said Hines. "I'm kind of sad that they covered up the bookshelves with bulletin boards."
Even though the dorm may be different from Morrow's original plan, students had a chance to glimpse what it was like through the artifacts that D'Arienzo brought along. She offered pictures, yearbooks, scrapbooks, class albums, football dolls, freshman beanies and class canes for the students to examine. The only stipulation was that students could not eat wings and cookies while looking at the objects on display.
The students seemed to be very receptive to the RC event. "I love seeing the old history of the school," said Sam Hollister '07.
"Daria's presentation was interesting and lively and incorporated a 'hands on' element by bringing actual belongings of Dwight Morrow," added Hines. "Overall, [it was] very engaging."
This was the sixth time that D'Arienzo has presented the history of a dorm as an RC event. In the past she has done Morris Pratt Dormitory, Plimpton House, Tyler House, Porter House and South College.