Beginning tomorrow morning, industrious freshmen will be scrambling around the Green to have the Homecoming bonfire ready by nightfall on Friday.
Prior to the lighting of the 62-tier bonfire, members of the Class of 2000 will sweep the streets of Hanover and gather on the Green. There they will join thousands of upperclassmen, alumni, administrators and Hanover residents to celebrate the 101st Dartmouth Night and Homecoming weekend.
According to the bonfire safety policies for this year, no students will be allowed near the structure after dusk on Thursday and the Department of Safety and Security will guard the structure through the night.
Traditionally, freshmen were allowed to start building the bonfire on Monday but in 1992 the College changed the policy after confrontations between upperclassmen and freshmen who were guarding the structure.
Assistant Director of Physical Education Ken Jones, who is responsible for overseeing the construction of the bonfire, said the freshmen seem very spirited this year. In light of the past problems during Homecoming weekends, Jones said he hopes this year will go smoothly.
Bonfire Committee member Lauren Hickey '00 said the construction will be divided into two-hour shifts with 15 freshmen from each cluster assigned to a shift.
Hickey said time slots assigned to freshmen are not exclusive, and anyone not assigned to a time slot can still contribute to construction.
The base of the bonfire, constructed out of landscape ties, will be 33 tiers high and will be constructed in the shape of a six-pointed star. The next 22 tiers will form a hexagon and the last seven tiers will form a square.
Wood fill, which will burn inside the bonfire structure, will occupy the interior. The entire structure will be topped with the freshmen class numerals, "00."
Many Dartmouth students have wondered how many times members of the Class of 2000 will run around the bonfire this year. Traditionally, the number of times freshmen have run around the bonfire has depended upon their graduating year.
"Options ranged from zero times to 100 times to 2,000 times," said Brianna Dusseault '00, who is on the bonfire committee.
"We held a vote, and the 100 times won. But it's up to the 'shmen," she said.
The freshman sweep is a tradition where all members of the freshman class parade around campus and through Hanover before arriving at the bonfire.
The sweep will begin Friday evening at 7:15 p.m. with the freshmen in the River Cluster. A bagpipe player and the class banner will lead these sweeping '00's to gather other freshmen in other residence hall clusters.
From the River, the Sweep will move to the Gold Coast, Butterfield, Russell Sage and the Choates. The Sweep will then move to Wheeler, Richardson, the Fayerweathers and Ripley Woodward Smith residence halls.
From those dorms, freshmen will run across Wheelock Street gathering more of their classmates in New Hampshire, Topliff and the East Wheelock Cluster.
The members of the Class of 2000 will then join in a parade up Main Street to the center of the Green.
Several incidents in years past -- including the uprooting of street signs and stomping of parked cars -- have lead to stricter regulations of the sweep said Jessica Roberts '97, the first-year office intern.
Roberts said she does not think problems will arise with the sweep this year because of better organization.
Members of the Green Key Society wearing orange shirts, as well as Safety and Security officers, will accompany the sweeping freshmen to keep them under control, she said.
Anticipation of the bonfire as well as Homecoming weekend is high among freshmen.
"I cannot wait," said Annie Kneedler '00. "The first time I heard about the bonfire was almost a year ago on my campus tour and I have been anticipating it ever since."
