"Welcome to Camp Dartmouth," Government Professor Chris Joyner told his International Law class at the beginning of the term.
With all the diversions the term has to offer, students may find it difficult to convince themselves they are still at school this summer.
Sophomore Jen Jones said she has found more time to go down to the river or to play tennis than she would normally have.
"It's been ingrained into our heads that summer is supposed to be fun," Jones said. "So it's going to be fun."
Dave Markham '97 said he sensed a more relaxed atmosphere, but he said the diversity of activities distinguished it from a summer camp.
"When you're at camp, you're there for one single purpose and Dartmouth is all over the place."
But he also pointed out the presence of summer camps at the College.
"I think it's certainly got a more relaxed edge," he said. "With the tennis camps around, it's about as campish as it gets."
Sara Clark '97 said she loves having the tennis and other camps here during the summer.
"I love the little kids here," she said. The summer camps bestow a sense of community to the campus, she added. "It gives you more of a sense that there are other people with other lives around campus."
But Caitlin Foley '97 said though she has sensed the Camp Dartmouth atmosphere on campus, she has still ended up doing the same amount of work.
"It has a summer camp atmosphere because it's sunny," Foley said. "But if I actually sat and added up my time, I bet I wouldn't have more free time than during any other term."
Foley attributed her lack of free time to her increased involvement in extracurricular activities.
She said the fewer number of on-campus students causes organizations to be understaffed, which forces the summer students to make greater time commitments.
Ku Chung '97 admits to Dartmouth's camp-like atmosphere but said he is taking the same type of classes he does during the rest of the year.
"There are so many things outdoors," Chung said. "There are activities I can do that I never did before. I go out more and get to spend more time with my friends."Summer Academics
Students, used to being free from the confines of the classroom in the summer, sometimes find it difficult to spend time with their books during the warm summer months.
Clark said she does not really feel like she is at school this summer and the environment has affected her study habits.
"I'm normally completely on top of everything," she said. "But I feel like two weeks into the term, things are already slipping by me."
Clark said normally at 10:30 p.m. on a weeknight, she would be studying, but during the summer she is more likely to take a walk around Occom Pond with a friend.
Jones said the summer weather has affected her work ethic also.
"I'm a little less serious with my academics," she said. "You kid yourself that you can go out on the Green and read 300 pages of psych, but you can't."
She said in order to get herself to do work, she has to go to the library.
But Chung said the summer weather has given him an incentive to manage his time better.
He said he spends about the same amount of time studying but he does it outside.A Professor's Perspective
Some professors conceded that during the summer, students tend to tone down their usual academic vigor.
English Professor Ernest Hebert, who teaches creative writing in the summer, said teaching during the summer is "more fun."
"Everybody's I.Q. goes down in the summer," Hebert said. "People are more relaxed and it spreads from the outside into the classroom."
He said the professor-student classroom relationship is about the same because his class is discussion based, but everyone is more relaxed.
"It's less like work and more like hanging out," Hebert said.
"But people don't come into my office as much," he added. "I think they have better things to do."
He said he sees students more relaxed before examinations as well.
Psychology Professor John Pfister, who teaches statistics in the summer, said his students seem more relaxed too. He said Summer term is his favorite time to teach.
Pfister said professors teach classes differently in the summer.
"We'd like to think it is the same. We like to think of this term as being on parity," he said. "But I'm not sure that's true. We struggle with motivation."
He said students seem less motivated in the summer, but he does not mean this statement to be a criticism.
"A lot of students spend the bulk of their summers off," he said, "and they bring with them the expectation of relaxation during the summer."
Many students have also been on campus working hard for several terms consecutively, so it is easier for them to get burned out during the summer, he said.
But Pfister said the lack of initiative challenges him to find ways to get his students more motivated.
He said he changes his course to include more videos and demonstrations, but also assigns more homework.
After the first couple of weeks of class, he said, students get back into the rhythm of taking classes.
Chemistry Professor James Worman, who teaches organic chemistry during the summer, said he encounters some motivational problems as well.
"The only thing different is that it's just a little more difficult for students to reach that intensity level," he said. "I have to work harder at motivation."
He said he motivates students by "coaching" them in teams where they help each other learn the material.
The class is "exactly the same in the summer," Worman said.
He said he does not see the motivational issue as a large problem.
"It just takes a little more push to get there in the summer," he said.
