Once bussed into Hanover for big-weekend dances in the years before co-education and now throwing parties in their own sorority houses, the role that women have played over Green Key Weekend has changed greatly throughout Dartmouth's history.
Before the College became coeducational in 1972, up to 1000 women would travel to Hanover by bus, train or car for Green Key weekend as the male students' dates. Many of the women were the girlfriends of Dartmouth students, but many others were friends or blind dates.
Though women traveled to Dartmouth from around the country, most female visitors were students at women's colleges in New England, like as Mt. Holyoke College and Smith College.
However, despite the Dartmouth men's reputation for rowdy behavior, most women were treated with respect, Joseph Nadeau '59 said.
"I never saw the crazy things you see in the movies," Nadeau said. "At least for my part, it wasn't the barbarians grabbing the women by their collars and dragging them to the fraternity houses that people sometimes associate with partying."
David Farnsworth '60 also emphasized that while some men may have behaved in a misogynistic manner, this behavior was atypical.
"[The women] were usually friends and girlfriends of the guys that had invited them up and I would say well over 90 percent were treated very well," Farnsworth said.
Farnsworth also recognized that "some guys, particularly when grossly inebriated, could be obscene, even toward a woman just walking by."
While at Dartmouth, most women stayed in fraternity houses, that had been vacated by their male occupants for the weekend. Others were housed in the homes of community members or in bunk rooms at the Hanover Inn.
Though strict rules attempted to curtail promiscuous behavior -- men could not go above the first floor of fraternity houses where women were staying, and there was a curfew restricting the hours when women could be in dormitories -- Farnsworth said that students definitely found ways to be alone together.
Fraternity parties, which often featured live bands and copious amounts of beer, were the main social events of the weekend for students and their dates, according to Suzie Hartford, a 1965 graduate of Smith College who came to Green Key Weekend to visit the man to whom she is now married.
Men also took their dates on picnics, Glee Club concerts, the annual chariot races on the green, and to watch "hums" -- an inter-fraternity singing competitions -- to Glee Club concerts and to the annual charriot races on the green, Hartford said.
Shortly after Dartmouth became coeducational, men continued to bring women from outside of the College to Hanover as dates for Winter Carnival and for Homecoming, but the practice was less frequent during Green Key, according to Amy Cammann Cholnoky '77.
Cholnoky said that she understood why men would want to bring outside women to campus. At the time, however, she said that many of the female students felt upset or displaced when large numbers of visiting women, often referred to as "imports," arrived on campus.
"It seemed really odd from a female student's prospective that the men would still be bussing in women," Cholnoky said. "It was almost like you were friends with these guys during the week, and then on the weekend they brought their girlfriends in."
The relatively small number of women who did visit over Green Key stayed in fraternity houses, as they had prior to co-education, but were no longer segregated from their dates, Cholnoky said.
Cholnoky also emphasized that before Dartmouth's first sorority came to campus, fraternities dominated the social aspects of the weekend, as they had previously, but that this did not limit her enjoyment of the weekend's social scene.
"[The ratio] was eight to one, men to women," Cholnoky said. "All the parties were given by guys. The fraternities definitely dominated the social culture, but I felt very welcome."
"The usual thing was to have a 'tails party on Friday night, and Green Key it might have been smooth 'tails, where people get a little dressed up. There were lots of bands and lots of beer pong."
Today, thirty years after the founding of Dartmouth's first sorority, Sigma Delta (formerly Sigma Kappa), fraternities are no longer the only party venue for Dartmouth students during Green Key.
"We usually have a few different tails events with some of the fraternities, and usually a big barbecue [over Green Key]," Laura Crowe '08, president of Sigma Delt, said.
Crowe emphasized that sororities such as Sigma Delta provide women with their own spaces and an outlet for all students to enjoy themselves outside of the fraternity system, both on weekends such as Green Key and on a typical Friday night.
"It's definitely different from a fraternity," Crowe said. "There's generally a few more girls there than would be at a fraternity party, but when a party gets really big, it's pretty similar [to a fraternity party]: a big dance floor, a crowded basement. I think it's really exciting because it shows that you don't have to go to a fraternity to get that big, fun, party atmosphere."
