This editors’ note is featured in the 2021 Homecoming special issue.
As one of the three “big weekends,” homecoming always makes campus bustle. However, the typical celebratory weekend means just a little bit more this fall. Not only are alumni welcomed back to campus for the first time in years, but both the Classes of 2024 and 2025 are experiencing their first glimpse of the College’s ‘regular’ traditions.
This November marks 50 years since Dartmouth’s Board of Trustees voted to implement coeducation at Dartmouth, forever changing the makeup of the College. Today, our small college looks very different than it did five decades ago — and it looks even more different than it did at its inception over two centuries ago. For our community — which students and alumni see as family and are eager to return ‘home’ to — to reach this place, it had to go through a lot of changes. In this issue, we look back at the “revolutions” that have made Dartmouth the more inclusive, albeit imperfect, community it is now — and we consider which ones still must happen to make our school a more welcoming and equitable home.
As Dartmouth gathers this weekend, we encourage you to consider the change Dartmouth has undergone in the past and the change you — and we — hope to see in the future.
Sincerely,
Caitlin and Katherine
