"Homecoming is an opportunity for alumni to come back to Hanover and enjoy a very special tradition that they remember as students," Office of Alumni Relations Communications Director Diana Lawrence said. "Dartmouth alumni love their school traditions."
Homecoming celebrations for alumni officially begin at 5:30 p.m. on Friday evening with a reception at the Blunt Alumni Center followed by the traditional torchlight parade in which alumni march with their class. "Dartmouth Night" ceremonies then begin on the steps of Dartmouth Hall. Afterwards, the crowd moves onto the Green for the bonfire festivities, a focal point of the weekend for alumni.
"I think bonfire is so important because it is such a long-standing tradition; most alumni remember it from their freshman year," Lawrence said.
While there are no official statistics on how many alumni return to campus for the weekend, the Office of Alumni Relations doles out about 4,000 alumni events brochures each year.
A wide variety of alumni at different stages in their lives return to Dartmouth to celebrate Homecoming.
"Many recent [graduates] come back because they still know students on campus," Lawrence said. "Older alumni return with their families and participate in mini-reunions with their [former] classmates."
In addition to the bonfire and the parade, the Alumni Relations Office will host a vast array of events for alumni including a Faculty chalk-talk session with Dartmouth professor Susan Ackerman, a hospitality tent and campus walking tours.
One event making its debut this year is the Hanover Huddle, a chalk-talk session with Dartmouth Football coach Buddy Teevens '79 that is slated to occur at 9 a.m. Saturday morning at the Top of the Hopkins Center. Teevens will use the session to discuss and answer questions about the Dartmouth football program.
"We hope that the chalk-talk will engage alumni on campus for the weekend but also current students, faculty, and anyone that lives in the area," Teevens said.
Many individual classes will also host mini-reunions during Homecoming in order to bring together old friends.
"The mini class reunions are particularly intimate and very important to alumni," Director of the Alumni Relations Office Margaret Parsons said. "They are a great way to stay in touch between the larger reunions that occur every five years."
Fraternities will also host events for their alumni such as barbecuing and tailgating in preparation for the football game on Saturday.
Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity will host a celebration marking its 100th anniversary on Friday night at the Cutter Shabazz Hall.
"We're thrilled with what the fraternities do. For many alumni that is the strongest bond they have to the school," Parsons said.
There is no scheduled discussion of the new proposed Association of Alumni constitution despite the recent controversy surrounding its proposal.
