Recently, while walking on the grey streets of New York City, I ran into an '85 wearing the patented green hat with the sewn "D" in the front. We exchanged class years and spoke for a while about the College.
We never offered or asked each other for names, even after 20 minutes of conversation. All that mattered were our class years.
While students at most institutions rely on the traditional freshman through senior designation, and others, such as the University of Virginia, refer to students as first-year through fourth-year students, Dartmouth clings to a plan which identifies each student by the year he or she will graduate.
From bills sent home to the 'rents (see page 20) to the sea of green jerseys at chilly fall football games, '97 will be there forever.
"It's like a prison around here; everyone has a number after their name," College Spokesman Alex Huppe said jokingly. "But, what it demonstrates is a history of affiliation with the class."
Carey Fiertz '79, co-president of the Dartmouth Alumni Association of New York City, said the use of class years after names of undergrads and alumni's is evidence that Dartmouth "does a good job of forging class unity and unity to the College."
Dartmouth has consistently ranked at the top of schools for student satisfaction, according to U.S. News and World Report's annual polls.
And alumni not only demonstrate their support for the College but also for their classes. This loyalty is evident all over campus, from the senior bench on the Green donated by the class of 1897, to the Class of 1930 Room in the Rockefeller Center to the '02 room in Baker Library.
Dartmouth is not the only school that fixes class years to students' names, Huppe said, "but at Dartmouth it is tuned to a high degree."
"Princeton and Clemson are the only other places where you'll find alumni with the university's initials and class numbers," Huppe added. "It's pretty intense."
The numbers also serve as an identification tag in the complex Dartmouth-plan, Fiertz said. The D-plan is the College's enrollment plan that requires students to take classes sophomore summer but allows them to take other terms away from campus to pursue various interests, such as internships or foreign study.
As sophomores and juniors take leave terms, residence terms and off-campus terms, the class lines merge, Fiertz added.
For example, of two students who start taking classes this fall, the one who takes a leave term next winter will still have sophomore status during sophomore summer, but the one who stays on every term will be considered a junior. Yet, both students will still be scheduled to graduate in 1997.
Class numbers "create an identity of belonging with the D-plan," Fiertz said. "Distinctions get blurred and it creates a sense of identity and of belonging." This system, while demonstrating loyalty, can also be confusing at times. Students often complain that when they return home and speak to non-Dartmouth people, these "foreigners" do not understand.
This two-digit number, while very simple, is key in everyday life -- it defines who and what you are. Dartmouth students and graduates grow accustomed to the numbers following their name and wear them with pride. The Class of 1997 will too.
