During the past four years at Dartmouth, much attention has been devoted to the topic of social alternatives. While some students and administrators have attempted to use the issue as a subtle way of attacking the Greek system, providing more non-Greek social events should be a topic which unifies rather than divides the campus.
Whether or not they enjoy spending Friday and Saturday nights at fraternity parties, very few Dartmouth students would argue that Hanover's social options should begin and end on Webster Avenue. The Greek system is and should remain an important component of social life at Dartmouth. It should not, however, be the sole outlet for students' social energies.
Unfortunately, past attempts to provide social alternatives in Hanover, such as Friday Night Dance Club, have been less than successful. Some have pointed to this lack of success as evidence that there is not much of a demand for new social options at the College.
The real reason for the difficulties that non-Greek social alternatives have encountered is not a lack of demand for their existence. Rather, the events have been poorly matched to the reasons why Dartmouth students want different social options.
While some have complained that students, and especially freshmen, will not attend alcohol-free events, this is not the case. The vast majority of Greek and independent students are not interested in attending pale imitations of fraternity parties without the alcohol. Students are looking for social alternatives which are completely different from the events offered within the Greek system.
While it is difficult to come up with a list of guidelines for staging successful non-Greek social events, Saturday's Winter Carnival Formal serves as an example for future social alternatives to imitate.
Linda Kennedy and the Programming Board deserve enormous credit for holding such a successful and worthwhile event. While attending the formal on Saturday night, I was struck by the broad cross section of Dartmouth students present at the event. I saw fraternity brothers, sorority sisters, members of coed houses, independents, upperclassmen, freshmen, whites and blacks all well represented in the crowd.
Besides drawing good attendance, the formal should be considered a great success because the vast majority of students seemed to have had a good time. This is because there was something for everybody. You could dance to the Motown band in the Common Ground, listen to the string quartet in the lobby, go to the Lone Pine Tavern for a drink, or sing karaoke tunes during the band's intermissions.
While examining the Carnival Formal's success, I tried to think of what lessons could be learned and applied to future events. A couple came to mind.
First, the formal offered a clear contrast to its competition. While admittedly far from an old-fashioned European masquerade ball, the Formal had a sense of style and elegance which set it apart from almost all other events at Dartmouth. We enjoy experiencing a change of pace from our daily lives, which can become routine and monotonous, a change that for the moment elevates ourselves above our present situation.
Secondly, the formal was a unifying event accessible to a broad spectrum of the Dartmouth community. Instead of making silly attempts at being multicultural or catering to the demands of narrow interest groups, the event truly brought the campus together because it appealed to elements that we all have in common.
The formal was also advertised as a complement to, rather than a replacement for, the fraternity parties held later in the evening. By not setting up an overt competition between events, the Programming Board was able to draw many Greeks to the formal and transcend the Greek issue. Most students probably thought of the formal as just a social alternative rather than a specifically "non-Greek" social alternative.
One student at the formal remarked to me, "They finally did something worthwhile with our Student Activities Fee!" While Student Activities fees are in fact well spent on a wide range of organizations, I do agree with the sentiment behind the comment. For once, the College has put on an excellent social alternative. Let's just hope everyone involved will study its success and hold similar events in the future.
