While giving tours during the past interim period, I was reminded that many of our sacred traditions here at Dartmouth College might seem a bit bizarre and strange to unfamiliar eyes. Many older alumni, especially those who were here before women were admitted to the school, might point out that Dartmouth has undergone remarkable changes and has lost a few traditions. However, I like to think that we have gained a few along the way.
While recounting wild and somewhat exaggerated stories to my tour groups, I often saw bewildered expressions on their faces. Sometimes I wondered why. Is it so strange for the freshmen class to gather themselves into a huge mob and parade through town? Sure it may look like the school was just asking for a riot, but it has been awhile since Dartmouth students actually destroyed private or public property.
Is it so strange to run around a 60-foot tall bonfire built by freshmen in matter of few days? I think the time it took to build it is more amazing than the fact that freshmen run around the bonfire according to the years of their classes. Maybe rushing to touch the bonfire before it becomes a burning inferno may be a bit silly, but I guess we call it tradition to make ourselves feel better. So what if some students get first or second-degree burns? We have to use the insurance that the College forces us to buy.
I usually tell my tour groups that most freshmen end up getting sun-burnt (or is it bonfire-burnt?) on one side of their face, because they run around the bonfire in one direction. I usually get a few laughs from that, but I do see few stupefied looks. Was it so strange for upperclassmen to use paddles to physically encourage freshmen to run around the bonfire? I'd like to think everybody needs a bit of encouragement.
Some of the parents thought it was a bit strange for Dartmouth students to run around half-naked, screaming and shouting around the bonfire. Who can blame them for wanting to shed their clothes? If you haven't run around that bonfire, you wouldn't know how hot it gets or how loud the wood burns with all those popping sounds. So what else can you do but get half-naked and shout?
In the beginning of the tour, I tell the group that after the freshmen trip, all the incoming students know how to sing the alma mater and learn to do this little dance we call the Salty Dog. And everyday at 6 o'clock, one can hear the alma mater coming from the bell tower. And every Dartmouth student owns at least four articles of clothing that have Dartmouth written on them. And they either love Dartmouth or really, really love Dartmouth. One of the prospectives jokingly said that it seemed like the College conditions or rather brainwashes its students to love the school. She sure was paranoid.
Is it so strange to have a dance and a song that all the students can do and sing? I like to think of ourselves as rather talented. If all the people died in the world and God said, "if you can sing a song and dance, you can get into heaven," I'd like to think that all the students here at Dartmouth would go to heaven. Quite a comforting thought.
Of course there is something called rushing the field where the freshmen are verbally encouraged to run across the football field during half time by upperclassmen. When I tell the tour group that at least handful of freshmen do it every year despite facing fines, time and expulsion, they usually ask why some of us do it. I guess it seems a bit stupid to those unfamiliar with Dartmouth. What I find more ridiculous is the fact that the College actually presses charges to its students. So what if a student last year, persistent enough to give the Hanover Police a merry run through the town, and "officially" caused the cops to crash into others cars, trying to escape? Blame the cops, not the student. He was on foot; the cops were in a car.
There are the more recent traditions like keg jumping by the brothers of Psi U. While it may seem a bit strange to see student jump over empty kegs, let us remember that these brave and usually drunken brothers do it for a higher cause than themselves. They do it for a charity.
Other colleges, especially older ones, have rich traditions -- and while they might not be as unique or nearly as interesting as ours, they are all sacred to their respective schools. Would Dartmouth be Dartmouth without students streaking through the Reserve Corridor at the end of finals week? I think not.
