Correction appended
Even though it sometimes seems that our dear old Dartmouth is flawless, we have to remember that the College that we've come to know and love does have an extensive history of failures. Try as they might to sweep the dirt under the rug, the higher-ups can't hide some of Dartmouth's most egregious oversights, missteps and embarrassments. Let's take a walk through the shadier side of Dartmouth's history.
December 1892 Robert Frost drops out of Dartmouth###
Of our many illustrious alumni, the one we cling to is poet Robert Frost. What we often forget, however, is that the man who penned "The Road Not Taken" actually left the College after one semester. In fact, his most meaningful contribution to campus culture was pledging Theta Delta Chi fraternity. He might be one of the first Dartmouth alums who comes to mind, but apparently the hill winds weren't enough to keep him around.
Feb. 18, 1904 Dartmouth Hall catches on fire###
While many students were attending chapel, a fire broke out in the original Dartmouth Hall, which had been completed in 1791. The 113-year-old building apparently couldn't withstand an electrical malfunction, whose fault I can only assume was the organization that preceded Facilities, Operations and Management. The Hanover Fire Department couldn't stop the fire, and the building burned to the ground in less than two hours. At least alumni rebuilt it relatively quickly the second Dartmouth Hall was dedicated on Feb. 17, 1906.
June 16, 1920 "The Boom Boom Lodge"###
During the Prohibition era, Dartmouth students had some difficulty gettin' their drink on. With no Keystone in sight, Robert Meads '19 decided to run a one-man bootlegging operation. Henry Maroney '20, a member of Theta Delta Chi fraternity, tried to steal a bottle of whiskey from Meads. Crafty! But stupid Meads responded by murdering the thirsty bro in cold blood in his own fraternity. Let's all drink to aggressively overreacting!
March 5, 1934 Carbon monoxide deaths###
During a blizzard in 1934, nine brothers of Theta Chi fraternity, which is now Alpha Theta co-ed fraternity, died in their sleep from carbon monoxide poisoning, caused by a broken pipe in the fraternity house's furnace. The house's janitor had recommended the furnace be replaced for years, but nothing had been done to fix the issue. Unfortunately, this operational oversight led to one of the biggest tragedies in Dartmouth history.
1939 The Hovey murals###
Many students may not know that Dartmouth is actually home to more than one set of famous murals. Besides Jose Clemente Orozco's "The Epic of American Civilization," we also house the Hovey murals, painted by illustrator Walter Beach Humphrey, Class of 1914. The murals are located in the basement of what is now the Class of 1953 Commons, and they are just plain offensive. The painting depicts Dartmouth's founder Eleazar Wheelock feeding rum to some naked Native Americans in the woods. It also features many naked women. Humphrey apparently loved naked people. The murals have sparked a great deal of controversy over the years, and they represent another incident of Dartmouth's lengthy history of intolerance.
Aug. 31, 1945 Jewish and Catholic admissions quotas###
In another uplifting chapter of Dartmouth's history, the College once instituted caps on the number of Jewish and Catholic students that could be admitted to each class. Qualified Jewish high school students began applying to Dartmouth in record numbers, which, according to then-College President Earnest Martin Hopkins, was an issue that could only be solved with a cap. Indeed, Hopkins claimed that German Nazism was a direct response to a large number of Jewish professors in Germany. His successor, John Sloan Dickey, eliminated the caps shortly after World War II, and religion has since ceased to be a criterion in the admissions process.
September 1972 Dartmouth is one of the last Ivies to admit women###
Better late than never? Few people today would argue that co-education is a vice. Back in the day, however, we were a little late to the starting line: The first "fully" co-ed class was as recent as the Class of 1976 and the male-to-female ratio was 8 to 1. I'm glad to have some chromosomal diversity on campus, but maybe this should have been a move for the early years of the 20th century, as it was for many other American universities. Just saying.
Until 1974 The Indian mascot###
Beginning in the 1920s, a group of sweet, tolerant sportswriters and cartoonists in Boston decided that Dartmouth needed a mascot and began referring to the College's teams as the Indians, according to Dartmouth's website. "How could this possibly end horribly?!" they must have asked themselves. After almost 60 years, the Board of Trustees finally decided that the image was super offensive and probably not the best homage to the College's history. Thus, the Indian was officially retired. This hasn't stopped some conservative groups on campus from using it, however, so shame on you guys. Now we're left with a moose, a keg and a color as our choices for mascot that's just embarrassing.
1999 The Student Life Initiative###
What was the Student Life Initiative, you ask? (Should've read The Mirror two weeks ago, fool!) The end-all solution to the Greek system and Dartmouth's social scene, of course! Except it clearly didn't work. In 1999, then-College President James Wright announced a new policy that would "enhance the out-of-classroom experience at the College," according to the SLI's website. The SLI called for more co-educational housing, decentralized dining and extensive changes to the Greek system. Nice try, Parkhurst, but we all know Dartmouth students do not respond well to change.
2000 Gay bashing###
Racism, sexism, religious exclusion all we need is homophobia in Dartmouth's history to complete the quartet! Unfortunately, the College's history is rife with anti-gay sentiment. Perhaps the most infamous incident occurred in 2000 when a member of Alpha Delta fraternity yelled "faggot" at a gay student walking by the house. While this unfortunate event triggered campus-wide discussions about homophobia at Dartmouth a sentiment that seems to have somewhat dissolved over the past decade it represents yet another episode in Dartmouth's ongoing saga of failing to be fully tolerant.
Jan. 10, 2010 Fire at Phi Delt###
Early Sunday morning at the outset of 10W, Phi Delta Alpha fraternity caught fire, and the house incurred tremendous property and infrastructural damage. Only a select few students know exactly what happened to Phi Delt the night of the fire (apparently a rat's nest is to blame), but one thing is for certain: Some Dartmouth students clearly didn't catch the "leave no trace" speech on Trips pyrofail.
Fall Term 2011 New FoCo, new Blitz, new GreenPrint, new Hinman boxes###
Dear old Dartmouth: please stop. You know that line of the Alma Mater, "Lest the old traditions fail?" Clearly, some change is good, but taking away my spicy Russians, eliminating Blitz shortcuts and pranking me with a new HB and combination is just mean. FAIL.
