TDR: Who Wants to Reform Dartmouth Night?

Shared from The Dartmouth Review:

Every year, on a righteously cold October evening in Hanover, the entire freshman class of our College assembles, cluster by cluster, into a massive parade of spandex, class jerseys, green flair and face paint, and winds their way towards the Green.  The bonfire site is cordoned off with caution tape of about a 40 ft radius, and a second ring of tape, about 30 ft further out, forms a track-like ring around the blaze.  The freshmen parade is channeled into this space at the end of their march across campus.  After a brief word by President Kim and a considerable amount of effort by S & S, the wood catches fire.  Spurred on by adrenaline, alcohol, spirit, and tradition, the freshmen begin running their laps around the bonfire: 100 plus the number of their class year (this year they will be challenged to run 114 laps).

This year, however, three concerned upperclassmen formed a committee and have been working around the clock to make this year’s bonfire a more “positive and inclusive” experience for the whole Class of 2014. Callista Womick ’13, Matthew Dahlhausen ’11, and Farzeen Mahmud ’12, have been collaborating on this initiative for almost a month, each focusing on improving different aspects of the freshman “Dartmouth Night” experience.

A variety of traditions that surround the Homecoming bonfire.  Upperclassmen typically yell aggressively at freshmen to “touch the fire!” and that they are the “WORST CLASS EVER!!!”  According to Womick, however, it is not these particular “verbal traditions” that their “inclusivity efforts” are focusing on.  “We’re not trying to eliminate traditions that are all in good fun,” Womick explained.  “Yelling those things, it’s silly and it’s part of the experience.  What we’re trying to get rid of are the things that are cruel.  It’s not fun to get punched in the face or spit on by an upperclassman.  Excessive rough-housing can make people really uncomfortable.”  Womick said that her experience at Bonfire last year was not completely negative, but was definitely mixed. “I had fun, but I definitely judged certain upperclassmen.  I witnessed a lot of verbally abusive, rude, and threatening comments, and I know a lot of people who left early and felt extremely uncomfortable.  Students think it’s their right to do certain things just because it happened to them.  We want to change that precedent.”

Womick also made it clear her group is not aiming to remove alcohol from the event entirely.  “We know that people drink at Bonfire, and that’s fine, it’s their choice.  But when they come really inebriated, shouting, kicking and punching freshmen, pushing them back in when they try to exit the mob, that’s when we start to really object to the behavior.”

Dahlhausen, Mahmud, and Womick have organized a number of upperclassmen, and are approaching these concerns from different angles.  “It’s a total grassroots effort,” Womick explained. “We’re starting conversations with upperclassmen all over the place, and that’s where this has got to start, by making people think about it.”

Dahlhausen has been focusing on changing the dynamics around the bonfire itself, by encouraging anyone who knows a ’14 to come out and cheer on their friends.  “He’s organizing lots of volunteers, particularly trip leaders, to come out wearing flair and to run with the ’14s who elect do to all the laps, giving them encouragement and support,” Womick explained.  Dahlhausen is also working on setting up a water station, a clearly designated exit lane, and a number of boom boxes to inspire the runners.  The size of the outer circle of tape around the fire itself has also been expanded by ten feet, so as to give more space to the runners and allow more room for people to avoid the extreme heat when the fire is first lit.  Dahlhausen’s group has also gotten 20-25 volunteers trained in crowd control, who will try to prevent the rough pushing, tripping, and trampling that often occurs because the entire class (1,300 people this year) is confined to such a small space.

Womick and Mahmud have also been working to organize a large dance in Collis Commonground after the bonfire, called “the Embers.”  Womick described how “by the time people finish running laps, its still too early for them to ‘go out,’ and having a formally organized dance nearby provides a non-alcohol social option for ‘14s without their having to leave the immediate area.”

Some upperclassmen have expressed displeasure with Womick, Dahlhausen, and Mahmud’s efforts, arguing that their initiative aims to eliminate the harmless traditions that make Dartmouth Night special.  As one ’13 put it, “That’s like, the single, two-hour period of hazing that they get for just being freshmen.  Why do we have to get rid of the one, brief time where they pay their dues for their position on campus?  It’s part of Dartmouth tradition, and it’s just not a big deal.”

Womick addressed these concerns, saying, “Bonfire is an event for the entire community.  If people elect later on to join groups that sanction hazing and other types of ‘initiation,’ that’s fine.  But it’s not appropriate to bring that into Bonfire, which is effectively a mandatory event for the freshman class.”  She also drew a line of distinction, specifying what her initiative is really targeting.  “It’s not the ‘worst class ever’ chants and the demands that freshmen ‘touch the fire.’  It’s the physical aggressivity, and the threats. It’s okay to have fun.  It’s not okay to be mean.”  Womick cited the positive precedent of DOC First Year Trips, which she believes are very successful at achieving a balance between tricking the ’14s with pranks and genuinely welcoming them with the extensive efforts of the Croos and Trip Leaders.

“We’ve gotten an unbelievably positive reception from upperclassmen since we blitzed out,” Womick said, “and with the help of such a diverse cross-section of campus, we’re really hoping to change the overall culture of Bonfire for years to come.”  While it would seem that obstreperous upperclassmen and excessively fratty bros will remain a Homecoming constant for years to come, it seems that the initiative of Womick, Dahlhausen, and Mahmud may have tapped into a simmering reformist spirit at the College. Nonetheless, the chant this year will still reverberate around the Green, as it has for generations: the Class of 2014 most undoubtedly is, and will remain, the Worst Class Ever.

Scene Sixty-Two: INTERNSHIPS

From first-years to seniors, the word INTERNSHIP produces ebullient enthusiasm. Or sometimes severe nausea.

In preparation for our future careers in i-banking/consulting/(does anyone actually go into anything other than that?)/etc., and to avoid spending extended periods of time back in the nests that we have already flown, we tend to spend our off-terms in a career-oriented capacity.

Well, most of us.

I'm not one to do things the traditional way. This past summer I worked as a Residential Counselor for Duke TIP Summer Studies and had a wonderful time making door-decs, enforcing bedtimes, filling water balloons, and the like. This term, in addition to modeling for the Studio Art department and taking classes and doing everything else that I do, I have two internships.

The first is for OPAL as a Diversity Peer Leadership Program Intern. Essentially, I partake of weekly training under the guidance of Nora Yasumura and take the skills that I learn into the real world by facilitating discussions about gender, sexuality, socioeconomic class, ethnicity, religion, and ability in both formal and informal settings. Sometimes I am invited by a UGA to run a short workshop with a floor, sometimes it's something more informal over dinner at Home Plate. In any case, I get people engaged.

My second internship is with the nonprofit organization Global Grassroots. I work directly with founder and president Gretchen Wallace on a variety of projects. On schedule for this term are an annual report of Global Grassroots' progress from the previous year and a new business card for CVTS.

No, they're not traditional. But this is what I enjoy, and above all else: happiness. Perhaps if more of my peers agreed with me they would know far more ebullient enthusiasm and far less nausea.


*** Update 1 (15 June 2011): The Global Grassroots annual report for 2010-2011 is now available!

Scene Sixty-One: C'est my Vie

I make the most of every day, but some days are just better than others. This one, for example. That's not at all what I expected.

See, I failed my first Arabic midterm. And I don't use the term 'fail' lightly. I did not pass and I knew it when I turned it in.

It happens, moving on.

This morning after class Professor Kadhim called me aside to speak about it, which (although a bit embarrassing) was expected enough. What he had to say- that was unexpected.

"I'm not going to count this one, ok? But the next midterm that we have will count double for you."

Jaw drop.
Gratitude.
Grin and skip.

On to Shakespeare, where we're covering A Midsummer Night's Dream.

To illustrate the simple yet complex parallelism and contrast that weave Shakespearean yarns, Professor Gamboa read aloud Go, Dog! Go!- one of my favorite children's books. He even used the doc-cam to show us the pictures.

Then (as if this day couldn't get any better), I got an extra slice of sushi in my lunchbox from the Hop. Some days are just better than others.

© Copyright Callista Womick 2010

*** Update 1 (11 Nov. 2010): I made an A on my second midterm. : )

The Dartmouth: Group works to improve bonfire

Shared from The Dartmouth:

The typical Homecoming bonfire experience of heckling at the hands of upperclassmen, who insist that first-year students must "touch the fire" or are the "worst class ever," may be too intimidating for some, according to several upperclassmen currently trying to make the bonfire a more positive event for first-year students.

"I want Homecoming to be more mutually enjoyable," Callista Womick '13, a member of the group, said in an interview. "Upperclassmen have fun hazing, but freshmen don't necessarily enjoy it."

The group held an open meeting attended by 14 students on Tuesday night to discuss the issue.

Womick said she received over 50 responses in the first hour after sending an e-mail invitation to the meeting from people who wanted to be involved but could not attend that night, she said.

"There are a lot of people who didn't have a good time on their Homecoming night, and would be willing to see it change," said Billy Zou '12, who did not attend the meeting but who supports the group's efforts.

"Part of the problem is that a lot of people have a lot of different ideas about what [Homecoming] is supposed to be," Zou said. "We have to send a collective school message. Changing the whole thing to be entirely positive would be a much more meaningful experience."

New to the bonfire this year will be a lane used by students to bring water in or to help freshmen in need of help to exit the bonfire. These came as a result of the students' suggestions, according to Farzeen Mahmud '12, one of the students who originally proposed that improvements to the bonfire ceremony be implemented.

The official bonfire committee independently of the group has also decided to expand the circle where students run around the bonfire. While the distance between the fire itself and where students run used to be 40 feet, this year it will be 50 feet. The outer circle will be at the 150 foot mark. Group members said will improve first-year students' experiences.

Matt Dahlhausen '11, one of the original student organizers, said he has personally handed out water at the past two bonfires, but that Dartmouth Emergency Medical Services could perhaps handle water distribution this year.

Programming Board had already planned an event in Collis Common Ground for Homecoming night, which has been made into a dance party at the group's request, Mahmud said.

Involved students hope to encourage upperclassmen who were offended by the negative atmosphere who might not otherwise attend to instead help change the mood of the evening via their supportive presence, Womick said.

Students could personally provide paint with which upperclassmen may decorate themselves on Homecoming night, according to Mahmud. First-year students will thus be able to recognize the painted upperclassmen as specifically there to help them, Mahmud said at the meeting.

Toward the end of the night, upperclassmen will be encouraged to support freshmen by running with them for a few laps, Dahlhausen said at the meeting.

Like-minded upperclassmen could also cheer during the first-year student sweep, Mahmud said.

Students who led Dartmouth Outing Club first-year trips should also be specifically encouraged to cheer for the first-year students they know, the group suggested.

Some other ideas proposed during the meeting included free massages, positive messages written in chalk on sidewalks and boom boxes to play music as first-year students run around the fire.

Group members also considered talking to sports teams that they said were notorious for causing problems.

"Homecoming isn't about hazing '14's so they feel tight as a class," Zou wrote in a statement to The Dartmouth. "There are plenty of opportunities for that. It's about welcoming them to Dartmouth, and it's about feeling tight as a college. In many ways, it is a celebration of our togetherness in this transient four-year experience."

Some upperclassmen may intend for their negative feedback to gradually become positive as the first-year students continue to circle the bonfire, Zou said.

"Those [first-year students] who exit early never experience the positive moments, if such moments ever come, and upperclassmen get caught up in the jeering and forget to transition to positive things," he said

A difficulty of addressing the negativity of Homecoming is that it presupposes that the ceremony is indeed negative, members of the group said.

Garret Simpson '11, who attended the meeting, said he feels the group is composed of a loose association of people with a common interest, and is not a formal organization.

He was inspired to become involved in changing the Homecoming atmosphere when he considered how much more positive first-year trips were than the bonfire.

Several students interviewed by The Dartmouth also noted the discrepancy between their trips' welcoming atmosphere and the conversely negative atmosphere of Homecoming, but other students said they felt that the atmosphere at the bonfire was either not negative or not an issue.

"I don't think there should be a change," Austin Greenfield '12 said.

The students involved with the movement said they did not mind the varying degrees of commitment across campus.

"If people don't feel like this is a big issue, I don't think any less of them," Simpson said.

The movement is intended primarily to increase comfort overall.

"Dartmouth is home to everyone, and so everyone should feel at home," Womick said.

Scene Sixty: Milque and Cookies

Every term, Phi Tau holds a campus-wide event called Milque and Cookies. The purpose of this event, as you may have guessed, is to consume copious amounts of milque and cookies.

• What is milque?
• Where do the cookies come from?
• Who are these madcaps?

Excellent questions.

• Milque is a special, spiced, milkshake-esque mixture that Phi Tau prepares and serves by the vat (or, in this year's case, the pumpkin) specifically during M&C.
• The cookies come from three days worth of in-house baking. Yes, they're all homemade. Phi Tau provides the ingredients and the kitchen, brothers and campus at large provide the manpower and creativity. This year I made four different kinds of vegan cookie (the best of which were Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies with raspberry jam filling, image below). Of the (literally) thousands of cookies, flavors range from bacon (an old favorite) to lace (a new favorite) to chocolate chip (traditionally delicious) to peanut butter curry (nontraditional, but delicious). It's a spectacle.
• Such are they.

© Copyright Callista Womick 2010

Have you ever eaten cookies under a disco ball?

© Copyright Callista Womick 2010

(The above is just one of several tables of cookies in one of three such cookied rooms.)

Scene Fifty-Nine: DartTalk

This weekend began with a blitz about BFAB @NOW, which would have been better if a shmob hadn't nomed all the chocolate chip pancakes before I stumbled to Brace with my fifoon and foco bowl in hand. It was chill, though, because one of my trippees was hosting a prospie so I got some facetime in with them at Homeplate and had no fewer than three pav cookies (how else am I going to burn all my DBA?). The prospie thought I was pretty crunchy, especially after I suggested we walk to the BEMA to see Robert Frost...

Wait, what?

Dartmouth has a vocabulary all its own: see to it.

Scene Fifty-Eight: Rush

Dartmouth has a very open Greek party scene, but this weekend not a single house will open its doors to freshmen, or anyone not interested in joining for that matter.

This is the weekend which Greek-aspiring upperclassmen (the college doesn't allow students to join before completing three terms on campus) have anticipated and dreaded. For the gents, it is a more relaxed process: they go to the houses that they like for as long as they like. For the ladies it's more regimented: they visit each house at least once for no less than 45 minutes in a tightly organized, tiered system.

H'orderves will be swallowed, yawns will be swallowed, egos will be swallowed, etc.

Once the dust settles some people will run crazy through Novack Cafe clutching their newly acquired bids while their less-blessed friends shy off to mope in solitude. It's a brutal process, for sure.

As for me, I choose to watch sorority rush from the sidelines. Earlier this week I attended Phi Tau's first night of rush and signed the book with my bestie Rebecca Drapkin. Later, as we sat in Novack, a horde of Taus decked in flair and bearing standards of the house (a Jolly Roger and a rainbow among them) stormed in, belting "Happy birthday to you..!" and attempting to light candles atop two homemade cupcakes.

"We like you, we like you! We really REALLY like you!" they chanted as they decked each of us with a bid-bedazzled fedora. Then, just as quickly as they'd come, they were gone.

Most remarkable about this display, though is that it wasn't particularly remarkable. Not one of the students studying in the cafe batted an eye. This is Dartmouth, after all.