Not all students partake in the festivities of Homecoming. Even at Dartmouth there are those that find the weekend just like any other -- or perhaps far worse.
With midterms just around the corner, some students cannot find the time to enjoy in the festivites of the weekend. But other students just do not want to party.
Eric Eckberg '99 said he did "very little" during Homecoming last year.
"I went to the game and saw the bonfire and that was about it," he said.
Eckberg said he only ran around the bonfire a couple of times.
"It was getting a little hot and I was getting a little bored with that," he said.
Eckberg said he probably just "hung out" in his room that night and that he also did not intend to party this weekend.
"I'll probably go to the game and go to see the bonfire," he said. "I never really get excited about these kinds of things anyway."
"I'm not really antisocial, just social in a way other than parties or dances or things like that," Eckberg wrote in an e-mail message. "I don't party that much, if at all. I don't like parties very much."
Lynn Proctor '99 said Homecoming evening last year was not very memorable for her.
"I'm not really a party person," she said. "I went to the bonfire, ran around the bonfire."
Proctor said that this year she did not intend to do much partying. She said exams scheduled soon after Homecoming Weekend made partying difficult.
"The same thing happened last year," she said.
Chadd Kline '99 said he believed his first Homecoming experience was probably not the one shared by most students.
"I'm sure most students go out and have a raging good time," he said. "I am not one of those students. None of the parties held any fun [or] interest for me."
Kline said he did not feel comfortable with the Dartmouth social scene last year because he did not drink alcoholic beverages.
"Last year I didn't go out much and exude on the social scene," he said.
Kline said he has since discovered that drinking is not essential to a fun time at Dartmouth.
"It's amazing, I've found it can work," he said. "You can still have fun and not partake in imbibing."
"Now I feel more tied to Dartmouth and the community so I feel some excitement about the weekend," Kline said.
In contrast to the quiet evenings experienced by those students who did not attend parties, some students attended perhaps too many parties. Safety and Security and the Hanover Police Department reported more apprehensions and arrests last year than the year before.
Nine students were taken to Dick's House and the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center for alcohol-related incidents. The Hanover Police also arrested three Dartmouth students -- one for the theft of a police officer's hat and two others for possession of a controlled substance.
