The way that students fraternize during Homecoming has varied throughout the tradition's storied past, the weekend has always been an opportunity for men and women to mingle at the College.
While Homecoming in the years after coeducation occasionally sparked gender tension, earlier celebrations were decidedly dominated by men.
"For those men lucky enough, women played the role of dates," Jim Adler '60Tu'61 said.
The arrival of women on campus for Homecoming, or Dartmouth Night as it was previously known, provided a respite from Dartmouth's monastic lifestyle, Adler said.
Before coeducation was instituted, Homecoming was a rare opportunity for Dartmouth to be a destination for women, according to John Engelman '68. Men would normally have to travel to other campuses to see women, he said, and would take road trips to visit women's colleges to find dates for the big weekend.
"It was a big deal to have a date," Engelman said, adding that Dartmouth's rowdy reputation often enticed women to make the trip to Hanover.
Men in relationships would invite their girlfriends, and their girlfriends would often bring a friend or two to avoid traveling alone, Adler said.
These women would often be set up on blind dates with the boyfriend's friends, adding to the pool of potential dates for the weekend. There were, nonetheless, often many men without dates, he added.
For this reason, couples usually socialized at the Greek organization where the man was a member, Engelman said.
If a student failed to show his date a good time, there were plenty of dateless men who would, he added.
To accommodate large groups of women, Adler said, men would move out of their fraternities and sleep on the floor of a friend's room. Out of respect, men were not allowed above the first floor of fraternity houses while women were staying there.
"Men and women sleeping together was absolutely taboo," Adler said.
A few men would also stand guard at the stairs to prevent any student from sneaking into the women's sleeping area.
If a student and his date were found in bed together, expulsion was a potential punishment, Adler said.
Men would also clear out of specific dorms that were designated sleeping areas for women.
"Whenever women came to Dartmouth they were here as guests," Adler said, adding that men did their best to receive them with hospitality.
The arrival of the first female students at Dartmouth in 1972 inreshaped the face of Homecoming, despite some resistance to change from some segments of the student body.
The tradition of traveling to other campuses to find dates endured early on, and was especially common right before Homecoming, despite the presence of women on campus.
Merle Adelman '80 said she and her friends found themselves overlooked by male students during Homecoming, in place of a "random" woman who would disappear at the end of the weekend.
"It was actually kind of odd, because suddenly many of us found our male friends absent and we ended up out in the cold," Adelman said.
Paul Bonucci '84 admits that there was a bit of a stigma attached to being a female student at Dartmouth.
"They were tough and rightly suspicious of us." Geoff Berlin '84 said, adding that some young alumni who had graduated before coeducation did not fully support the inclusion of women, and that many women were guarded as a result.
Although misogyny was largely absent from the classroom, Berlin said, fraternities dominated the social scene. Some organizations actively adapted to the new coed scene, while others maintained remained unchanged for years after coeducation, he said.
For some women on campus, the pace of progress was not fast enough.
Frustrations came to a head on the Friday night of Homecoming in 1986, when "approximately 12 people wearing bulky jackets and hats and carrying plastic bags dumped simulated bloodied tampons on the grass in front of the area where College President David McLaughlin '54 was speaking," according to reports in The Dartmouth.
The group identified itself as "womyn to overthrow dartmyth" and explained that the demonstration had been to "graphically illustrate the presence of womyn at dartmyth." The group also claimed that Dartmouth was run by "white capitalist men."
Despite the 1986 incident, many female students did not find that gender issues trumped the loftier ideals and traditions of Homecoming weekend.
"We didn't really know the difference, the gender issues, at that point. We were just so happy to be there," Janine Avner '80 said of her Homecoming experiences. "When we rushed the field, the whole class was really bonded."
Cheryl Bascomb '82 said she remembers that norms for Homecoming dances varied between fraternities.
While some parties included groups of men and women dancing together, Bascomb said, it was more common to see couples. By that time, however, it was not a social faux pas to be seen without a date.
"Darned if I'm going to wait for someone, if a good song comes on," she said, adding that finding a partner was not difficult. "[Men] didn't have a great shot when it's three to one; they need to take some action."
In the years following coeducation, women became fully integrated into all aspects of Homecoming traditions.
Bascomb said she remembers helping to build the bonfire and guarding it from raids by upperclassmen.
Adelman said she played in the marching band and marched through Hanover during the parade to the bonfire.
"That first month is the most incredible month I can remember, including Homecoming," Avner said.
