Frustrated by a lack of dating on campus, the 2011 Class Council vice president, Nadine Moezinia '11, and Lauren Bowman '11 decided to set their classmates up on blind dates. The pair blitzed out an application for the dates to members of the Class of 2011, expecting a few dozen responses. They ended up with 120 completed applications.
The idea formed during a discussion the organizers had with a male friend about why people don't go on dates at Dartmouth. Moezinia who has recently "tapped into the Tuck community" to find dates said she thinks it's important for Dartmouth seniors to learn "how to interact without copious amounts of alcohol in our systems."
"Completely abnormal social interactions are made the norm here, which clearly should not be the case," she said.
Bowman and Moezinia said that while they don't want to blame the Greek system for the lack of dating at Dartmouth, they see it as a main factor in the pervasive hook-up culture on campus.
Men at fraternities have the luxury of not needing to leave their houses to meet available women at Dartmouth, Bowman said.
"Men dominate everything at this school," Moezinia said. "They are the ones who wait for women to come."
The first round of dates, which happened last weekend, were largely successful, according to participants.
Couple A's date started off a little awkwardly after Guy A told Class Council that they could forward a poem he'd written in his application to his date. He assumed he would know his date, but he was unfortunately mistaken and Lady A turned out to be a stranger. Lady A said she thought the poem was either "hilarious" or "a little creepy."
Upon arriving at Canoe Club, Guy A cleared up the confusion and assured his date that the poem had in fact been meant as a joke.
They bonded over their common ancestry and "had a great conversation," according to Guy A. Although Lady A said she wasn't sure Guy A was her type in a romantic partner, she said the date was a success and she really enjoyed getting to know Guy A.
Couple A isn't sure they'll hang out again one-on-one, but both Guy B and Lady B sounded enthusiastic about seeing each other again. During the three-hour date, they discovered their common interest in social justice issues and talked about personal issues they'd faced during their time at Dartmouth.
"It was a cool opportunity because we got into much more personal conversation faster than you normally do at Dartmouth," Lady B said. "We talked about really serious things I wouldn't want to write in a newspaper."
Couple B raved about their date, and Guy B said he thinks the two may "go on an adventure together" sometime in the future.
Couple C also had a successful date, though Lady C admitted she thought the premise of the date was "a little weird at first" because she wasn't sure if there was some sort of "romantic expectation."
After arriving early at Canoe Club, Lady C was worried she would come off as "the overeager date" and headed to the Dartmouth Bookstore to wander around for exactly four minutes.
Once back at Canoe Club, Lady C said she was surprised by the quality of the conversation she was able to have with someone she had never met before.
"At Dartmouth there are a lot of hot topics that you can't talk about with people that you don't know because people get really heated about them," she said. "We did both find a mutual love for eggs."
Although Lady C was unsure if she and Guy C would hang out again, she said the date went "really well."
Moezinia and Bowman said they were surprised and excited by the overwhelming success of the dates so far, and they hope Dartmouth students will stop being afraid to go on real dates.
2011 Class Council plans to organize more dates in the Winter, with the goal of matching all seniors who apply.
