Over the years, Dartmouth's Commencement ceremonies have embodied the College's love of tradition and a certain eccentric sense of humor. The campus-wide phenomenon of flair, for example, may date back to the 1910 Commencement, when members of the Class of 1907 donned police men's uniforms while the Class of 1905 dressed in linen dusters and sombreros to celebrate their class reunions, which the Daily Dartmouth described as "a source of amusement to the Commencement guests."
At the College's first Commencement on August 28, 1771, then-New Hampshire Governor John Wentworth presented the Wentworth Bowl to the College's founder and first president, Eleazar Wheelock. A symbol of the Wheelock Succession of Dartmouth presidents, the Wentworth bowl is still passed down to each incoming College President, in keeping with Wentworth's original vision. Former College President James Wright presented Kim with the silver punch bowl at Kim's inauguration ceremony in September.
Other Commencement traditions have also remained constant over the years. The Commencement Ball, now known as the "Graduation Gala," will be held in the middle of Commencement weekend festivities this year, as it was in 1910.
The first Commencement exercises in 1771 were held outside with no tablecloths, and featured an ox roast and a barrel of rum provided by Governor Wentworth. Dartmouth legend maintains that the intended meal of roasted ox was never served because the chefs became too intoxicated by the rum to prepare the meal.
The College acquired its first tablecloth in 1773, after members of Wentworth's entourage complained about the "rustic accommodations" of the 1771 Commencement, according to a College press release.
The size of Dartmouth's graduating class has steadily increased since the College's first Commencement in 1771, which was marked by the graduation of only four students, all of whom had transferred from Yale University. The Class of 1960's Commencement was a "record-breaker as some 657 seniors, the largest graduating class in the history of the College, were awarded Bachelor of Arts degrees," according to the 1960 Dartmouth Alumni Magazine. This year over 1,000 students will graduate from the College.
Throughout the 19th century, Dartmouth's Commencement ceremonies gradually increased in length and often included multiple speeches in Latin, English, Greek and Hebrew. The Commencement ceremony of 1835 was particularly lengthy, as then-College President Nathan Lord decided to do away with class rankings and called upon each of the 48 graduating seniors to give a 10-minute speech.
This year's Commencement is expected to be between two and a half and three hours, according to the College's website.
Just as this year's Commencement marks the completion of President Kim's first year at Dartmouth, the 1910 Commencement exactly 100 years ago saw the completion of then-College President Ernest Fox Nichols' inaugural year.
"If a successful Commencement is any criterion of a prosperous year, Dartmouth's new leader must surely feel encouraged," the Daily Dartmouth reported in 1910.
The 1910 Commencement ceremonies were described as "enthusiastic and well-attended, the conduct has been orderly, and yet full of good-time and merriment," the Daily Dartmouth reported.
Historically, distinguished guests have attended the College's Commencement, such as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Salmon Chase a member of the Class of 1826 who attended the 1869 Commencement ceremonies. Other notable guests over the years included Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, Nelson Rockefeller '30 and Meryl Streep, as well as United States Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Bill Clinton who gave the keynote addresses in 1953 and 1995, respectively.
In his Commencement address, President Eisenhower argued for the right to freedom of expression for American Communists so that the American people could understand Communism in order to ultimately defeat it.
"We have got to fight [Communism] with something better, not try to conceal the thinking of our own people," he said. "[Communist believers] are part of America. And even if they think ideas that are contrary to ours, their right to say them, their right to record them and their right to have them at places where they are accessible to others is unquestioned."
Clinton delivered his keynote address at the 1995 Commencement to an audience of thousands of students, alumni and graduates' family members. The Commencement ceremonies were relocated to Memorial Field that year in order to accommodate the influx of visitors.
In his speech, Clinton advised graduating seniors to use historical knowledge and acquired wisdom to take on contemporary problems.
"The challenge of your time, in short, will be to redeem the promise of this great country," he said.
