Green Key weekend is currently a favorite event among many members of the student body -- but it seems the memories of the weekend from the days of old are more enthusiastic than reactions of more recent times.
"Green Key was usually thought of as the party weekend to which the young man would bring his best girl, you could say," Charles Hadley '41 said as his wife sat on the couch beside him.
He remembered the weekend positively -- after all, his wife was that "best girl."
"It wasn't as big as Winter Carnival, but it was more delightful in a way, because it was the Renaissance, the springtime, the rebirth," David Anderson '59 said. "It was a different kind of weekend -- I have very fond memories of it."
But alumni of more recent years did not seem quite so enthusiastic.
Mark Engel '85 had no recollections whatsoever of the weekend. Neither did Robert Branham '74, who attributed his lack of memories to his feeling that "those things were a little less important in my era."
Many current students at the College do not see Green Key as such a big deal either.
Joann Bassani '99 did not feel compelled to stay on campus during last year's Green Key weekend. "Three-day weekends are pretty rare, so when I do get a chance, I like to go home," she said.
Other students said they left the campus during the weekend in order to attend high school or college graduations.
Jeremy Desor '00 said he had a good time during last spring's big weekend --but he did not find it so unique. "It doesn't really stand out as being that much different than any other spring weekend, other than in name," he said.
As close as a week before this year's event, the newest members of the College did not seem too keyed up about it. Not one of the seven first-year students interviewed by The Dartmouth had heard much about the weekend or had made any special plans.
"I just basically know that it's the major weekend of this term, like the way Homecoming and Winter Carnival were," Melissa Alves '01 said.
But plenty of other students at the College said they are enthusiastic about Green Key.
"It just has a very good mood to it," Christopher Springer '00 said. "I remember being out on Saturday [last year], just during the day, and everybody was just out and really enjoying themselves."
Sage Chandler '98 said the warm weather and outdoor activities offered make Green Key her favorite big weekend.
"Winter Carnival is just sort of a drag, because it's cold, and there are just parties," she said.
Students did not seem overly concerned about the amount of alcohol consumed during the weekend.
Rupa Mukherjee '99 said many social events at the College involve alcohol, but she thinks Green Key and other big weekends provide enough activities for those who do not want to drink.
Springer said alcohol was not a focus of the weekend for him, but he did notice some additional drinking during Green Key.
"It seems there is a lot of alcohol consumption, but that seems to be done in a fairly mellow way," he said.
The use of alcohol during Green Key weekend may not have been quite as prevalent in the past.
Daniel Muchinsky '63 called Green Key "one of the better weekends," but said alcohol was not a big part of the celebrations.
"Drunkenness was not the objective of anything at the time," he said. "We'd have a good time after the winter and before exams -- but drinking wasn't the major factor of Green Key at all."
Muchinsky remembered spending time with his brothers at Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity, when, like many other fraternities, they rented a field from a farmer in the country where they brought a keg, held picnics and went rafting.
But Karen Epps '87 described drinking as a big part of the weekend. "I don't drink, but relatively speaking, there was a lot of drinking," she said.
