Some of Dartmouth's Green Key traditions may be over 100 years old, but the College's spring celebratory weekend has undergone radical transformations since its origins.
Green Key officially started in the spring of 1899, when students started having large, coordinated house parties over one spring weekend each year.
The weekend received its formal name when the College created the Green Key Society in 1921.
The community service-based organization established a spring variety show that same year.
The "rowdy" behavior of students in 1924 caused campus officials to cancel the weekend for that year. But that wouldn't be the last of Green Key weekend shenanigans.
After the 1924 event, the Green Key Society started the first annual Green Key Ball to replace the variety show, and the prom-like dance proved a staple feature of Green Key weekend for decades to come.
Lulu McWoosh -- a student at a nearby college -- created a stir Green Key weekend in 1931 by riding completely naked on his bike before church services.
The event, highly inflammatory at the time, caused Green Key's cancellation for the following three years.
Green Key weekend remained relatively the same after this hiatus until the 1960s.
During this time, Green Key was distinguished by the busloads of women who came from nearby colleges such as Smith and Mount Holyoke to visit the Dartmouth men during the weekend.
The visiting women were quickly welcomed into their dates' respective fraternity houses and The Dartmouth printed the name of each fraternity member's date.
Freshmen were strictly forbidden from this part of the weekend and remained dateless and desolate around campus.
Also, by the 1960s, the Hanover Country Club golf course had become an important site of Green Key traditions, outstripping the Green Key Balls of old.
Golf course traditions started prior to the 1960s, when 69 students and their dates were arrested for misusing the town's "normally-afforded pleasure privileges" at 4 a.m. on a Saturday morning.
From then on, "outdoor sleep," as it was called, became the highlight of Green Key Weekend. Students would gather on the local golf course in large numbers with their dates and bring pillows and blankets.
In some years, mattresses were even spotted.
However, this Green Key tradition was also eliminated when, in 1965, a local parent complained to the College about Dartmouth students' behavior.
The 1970s also provided time of change for the weekend, when the events became less formal and coeducation began at Dartmouth.
The Hums tradition, whereby student crooners from various fraternities competed in song, originated in 1899 but ended in 1974.
In 1974, as women were in the early steps of assimilation into the College, Theta Delta Chi fraternity's winning song was titled "Our Cohogs." Sung to the tune of "This Old Man," the song featured lyrics widely viewed as demoralizing and sexist.
The Hums competition no longer exists today.
Students in the early 1990s also started a tradition of ritually clobbering newly-elected student government officials with various items.
As the tradition became more and more violent, administrators replaced it with chariot races in 1984.
The races were not as popular, however, and ended by the late '80s.
The Alpha Delta fraternity has recently become renowned for its lawn party.
The house has hosted popular musical groups including Anthrax in 1982 and Blues Traveler in 1988.
Over Green Key weekend in 1999, many students questioned the future of the weekend in the wake of amendments brought about by the Student Life Initiative.
"I hate to think of this as the last Green Key as we know it," Alpha Delta fraternity member Jonah Sonnenborn '99 told The Dartmouth. "New changes hopefully will only enhance traditions and not diminish what they have given to Dartmouth students past, present and future."
Alpha Xi Delta sorority member Kristin Garro '99 noted at the time, "I can't think of Green Key outside of the Greek events that are held. I honestly don't know what school-sponsored activities there are for Green Key."
Despite the controversy in recent decades, Green Key weekend remains an important springtime celebration, especially after Hanover's long, cold winter.
Year after year, students look to the weekend as a time to enjoy the warm spring weather and celebrate life at Dartmouth.
