All first-year students know that upon entering the world of "college life," they will enter a world that has existed for hundreds of years, through thousands of students, millions of ideas and many traditions.
Though the faces of Dartmouth continually evolve and shape to the newest members of its community, there are some aspects of the College that just seem to stick around.
From the moment a new student reaches the campus for DOC trips, traditions are evident. DOC trips are one tradition that have withstood the test of time. But, just last year the title, which used to be Freshman Trips, was altered in recognition of its inherent male-orientation.
The trips feature the well-known Salty Dog Rag, a dance on every trip, the green eggs and ham served in the name of Dr. Seuss and the inevitable bonding that occurs when a group of people gathers for four days in the backwoods of New Hampshire (see page 7).
Each annual Homecoming weekend finds the first-year class building the grandest of bonfires in the center of the Green. However, this is one tradition that is, in the midst of controversy, changing to fit a new set of concerns.
In past years, the bonfire was created by building as many tiers as there were class years; for example, the Class of 1997 would have built a bonfire 97 tiers high.
Along with the tradition of having first-year students build the structure, however, went a tradition of having upperclass students try to tear down the bonfire at night, while first-year students stood guard on top.
Over the past several years, the tradition of even building the bonfire has almost been discontinued, due to injuries and drunkenness resulting from class rivalry -- and has certainly changed from building as many tiers as years.
After some students fell off the top of the bonfire structure last fall, and others were injured in a drunken melee, the administration suspended building for several days, restricting the number of tiers that could be built in time for Homecoming.
According to Acting Dean of Freshmen Anthony Tillman, it is generally not first-year students who cause problems with destruction and violence at the bonfire; last year, only upperclass students were reprimanded.
In addition, Wednesday night, the night which is designated as house meeting night for members of the Greek system, is associated with the most reports of violence, possibly due to the presence of alcohol at meetings.
This year, several suggestions are being made for the construction of the Homecoming bonfire, Tillman said.
"Next year's recommendation is to reduce [building time] from four to two days, and one will not be Wednesday," he said. "Building may be just Thursday and Friday."
Another recommendation for this year's Homecoming festivities is that the height of the bonfire be limited, Tillman said.
The other question that has challenged this long-standing tradition is whether the bonfire warrants the contribution to environmental destruction that results from burning an enormous amount of railroad ties.
To replace the wood that has been burned, a tradition began for the first-year class to plant trees on the College land grant.
Other Big Green favorites during Homecoming weekend used to include the entire first-year class "rushing the field," which involves frenzied freshmen scrambling down the stands at half time of the big football game, climbing over the field wall and running to the other side and up into the opposing team's stands to sing the alma mater.
After the Committee on Standards ruled that "behaviors have resulted in threat and intimidation to spectators and band members and in actual physical harm to a number of people, including a seventy-year-old woman, a wheelchair-bound teenager, and several Dartmouth undergraduates," in September of 1986, it implemented an automatic $100 fine for first time offenders and a referral to the committee with possibility of suspension for second time offenders.
The sanctions for the over-zealous fans who still choose to rush the field have been increased to three terms of College discipline in addition to the $100 fine, and often involve in arrest by Hanover Police.
College discipline is "a formal sanction that becomes part of the permanent record of a student," Tillman said.
"If an employer, a law school, a medical school or an internship company asks if there have ever been any discipline problems, the student would be required to respond in the affirmative, as would the College. These are very serious implications for a student," he said.
Last year, 22 students were placed under as much as three terms of College discipline and were charged as much as a $100 fine.
The Department of Safety and Security has arrested students in the past through the use of a video camera that can incriminate those who sneak past security guards and onto the field.
However, this year, the punishment for rushing the field is in the process of review, Tillman said. It appears as if the penalties will remain the same for this year, Tillman said.
Among the other traditions Dartmouth hoards are special weekends such as Winter Carnival, Green Key, Summer Carnival, Tubestock and countless others that add to the campus social scene.
Traditions, however, are only part of life at Dartmouth. And only part of the traditions that currently exist will be part of the College careers of the members of the Class of 1997. The other part, the majority, will be new and revised traditions that meet the needs of students' particular Dartmouth experiences.
Though the College symbol and sports icon used to be an Indian, for example, and the sports teams were referred to as the Dartmouth Indians, this is one tradition that has been discarded as the needs of the College and of the members of its community have been redefined.
As pleas came out for the College to recognize the implications of its traditions, many have been adapted to changing societal values, such as the tradition for seniors to break clay pipes on the stump of the Lone Pine on Class Day, which symbolized a break from the College.
Last year, the Class of 1992 became the first class to refrain from the tradition of breaking the pipes, since the clay pipes are considered sacred in Native American cultures.
Instead, the class began its own tradition of a candlelight vigil the night of Class Day. Traditions come and go on the Dartmouth campus every day.
Certainly, it would seem just a little out of place if every entering first-year student were required to wear a beanie while traversing the campus, as was the case in years past.
Changing traditions are inevitable. "I think it's good," Tillman said. "Everything needs to be evaluated from time to time, and if a tradition is offensive to even one person in the community, to continue to honor it is to continue to foster insensitivity."
"Traditions need to be reviewed and modified, keeping with the same outcome," he added.
According to Tillman, one of the best traditions that has changed over the years is the commencement of co-education at the College.
"If it were for tradition's sake, we wouldn't have any female students here," he said. "How long would Dartmouth have remained an all-male school?"
Although it is not possible to come to Dartmouth without some clue of the College's many traditions, it is safe to say that in four years, the traditions of the school could look very different.
