Tradition, tradition, tradition: Dartmouth has loads of it. The College has been here over 200 years, and during that time, a few practices have stuck with us, several of which apply directly to you, the members of the incoming freshman class who will be expected to uphold them.
"Any observer of Dartmouth must be aware that this is an institution steeped in traditions," Dean of Freshmen Peter Goldsmith said.
While some traditions are relatively recent in origin, others are ancient, and a few are forbidden.
Together in the Wilderness
A staple of the typical Dartmouth student's college career, the camping trips with the Dartmouth Outing Club can be one of the most exciting aspects of being a freshman.
Most incoming freshmen will participate in a DOC trip, which encompasses a few days of hiking and other outdoor activities in New Hampshire's gorgeous wilderness.
Chris Carbone '97, who oversees this year's freshmen trips, said hiking is the main type of excursion scheduled, as well as canoeing, climbing, horseback riding and others.
As well, Carbone this year added the organic farm as a new type of trip. The College owns an organic farm, which is an ecologically-friendly farm almost exclusively operated by students.
The new trip, which only garnered 16 interested '99's, will encompass canoeing to the farm then working and playing there for two days, Carbone said.
"The trips are an especially fitting way to begin college careers at an institution that's surrounded by an absolutely stunning natural wilderness," Goldsmith said.
Getting oriented
The first week freshmen spend at Dartmouth will be dedicated solely to orientation, the idea of getting pointed in the right direction.
Students are expected to participate in a number of advisory meetings, placement exams and episodes of performing arts which are aimed at acclimating incoming freshmen to life at the College.
"The most ceremonial aspect of orientation week is matriculation," Goldsmith said. What he called a "very formal occasion," matriculation is the ceremony where Dean Goldsmith and Dean of the College Lee Pelton formally acknowledge first-year students' entrance into Dartmouth.
Held in the tower room of Baker Library on Sept. 22, matriculation is supposed to be a special event for which many freshmen dress nicely. But Goldsmith said this is not necessary.
Building the Bonfire
Possibly the most spectacular and popular of the freshman traditions is the bonfire. Tradition has it that it is the responsibility of the freshmen to construct a monstrous wooden tower of a height of 40 feet.
The Friday night of Homecoming weekend, Dartmouth Night, the tower is set ablaze, creating a towering inferno around which the freshmen are expected to run.
Traditionally, freshmen run around the bonfire a number of times equal to their class number. Diehard '99's ran around the bonfire 99 times. This means members of the Class of 2000 circle the bonfire 100 times, or else zero.
Goldsmith pointed out that some '99's ran around the bonfire nine times, and that there is nothing wrong with students interpreting themselves how many times they run around the bonfire, or how they enjoy Homecoming in general.
Also, Goldsmith warned, "Every year there is some number of students who will attempt to touch the bonfire, and every year there are students who are taken to Dick's House or the hospital for severe burns."
Dangerous as it may sound, running around the bonfire is certainly one of the most exciting aspects of a freshman's first Fall term.
Until 1993, freshmen began construction of the bonfire several days before the big weekend. The bonfire's height in tiers was equal to the freshmen class's year.
But after a near riot in 1992, the College and the Student Assembly, the student representational body, created new guidelines curbing future constructions.
The tumult ensued after Wednesday night fraternity meetings the week before Homecoming.
Intoxicated students, many of them fraternity brothers and pledges, attacked the bonfire with baseball bats, bags of feces and lighter fluid.
The College suspended construction for days.
The following year, the Class of 1997's bonfire building was restricted to the Thursday and Friday before Homecoming weekend, no construction was allowed after dusk and the bonfire's height was limited to 61 tiers.
And for the classes of 1998 and 1999, the building and consequent burning of the bonfire have occurred without any major incidents.
The Freshman Sweep
Maybe to make up for the new restrictions regarding the building of the bonfire, the Class of 1997 conducted the first "Freshman Sweep." That first time in 1993 was almost the last as well.
On Dartmouth Night in 1993, freshmen paraded from dormitory to dormitory collecting fellow class members to form a mass exodus throughout the campus then down Main Street.
Much to the chagrin of local townspeople, overzealous freshmen vandalized the town during the sweep, trampling cars and ripping up street signs.
In 1994, Dean of the College Lee Pelton issued a letter to students warning "large numbers of students marauding around the town of Hanover presents a very real threat to the future of the entire Homecoming celebration."
The College limited the time allotted for the freshman sweep to 30 minutes, and the following two sweeps have proved tamer than their predecessor.
"The last couple of years have run wonderfully smoothly," Goldsmith said.
Rushing the Field
Banned for a decade, "rushing the field" has turned into something of a joke for Hanover police officers.
The gist of the tradition has been that upperclassmen sitting in the stands of Alumni Stadium during the Homecoming football game loudly encourage the first-year students to sing the alma mater and "rush the field," meaning they run down Dartmouth's side of the stands, across the football field and up to the top of the opposing side's stands.
However, what may sound like simple fun became dangerous.
In 1986, 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 70 year-old woman, a wheelchair-bound teenager and several Dartmouth undergraduates."
Goldsmith said those who rush the field are nearly always arrested by the police and face three terms of College discipline. In addition, violators are usually fined $100.
He also pointed out that the numbers of students who try have been diminishing in recent years. Last year, one student tried, and failed, to rush the field.
