There are three big weekends at Dartmouth -- Homecoming, Winter Carnival and Green Key," explained my Undergraduate Advisor. Having lived through two of these weekends, I have seen the best and worst Dartmouth has to offer. Homecoming was a splendid weekend filled with great events, a big football game, the bonfire and a party at every Greek house. So, as Winter Carnival approached, I was excited for a repeat of the great time. Did I miss something?
Winter Carnival was as silly as the pathetic attempt at the sole snow sculpture on the center of the Green. Winter Carnival was a weekend which offered little more than any other weekend, unless you count early morning drinking parties and the amazing spectacle of drunken men with skates at Psi Upsilon fraternity as new events. There were a multitude of events at the Dartmouth Skiway, but this is not an easy trip. The campus side of events was limited to a Swing Ball, a jump into Occom Pond and a tour of the Baker Library tower. A friend of mine who came up here to see the "Mardi Gras of the North" said, "This is a joke. Why not just call it Winter Binge weekend?"
Drinking is a part of the American college student's life, especially at Dartmouth. This I do not deny or hope to change. I do not think that drinking is wrong or repressible, but on a weekend that is supposed to be special, why can the drinking not take second place to a wide variety of events? As I read about the past Winter Carnivals in the program sent out to everyone's Hinman boxes, I grew excited for a snow sculpture on every Greek house's lawn and huge crowds. I understand the weather this year did not lend itself to many snow sculptures, but 20 attempts are a lot better than one pathetic product.
I understand that Winter Carnivals of the past were special because women came from far and wide and brightened up the all-male campus, but just because we already have women here does not mean we cannot still make the weekend special. As I looked around this weekend, I saw hundreds of new faces as people brought up their friends from around the country. People are still flooding to Hanover to see the spectacle -- let's revive it so it really is something to see.
The Greek houses in general did a fantastic job of having some great open parties with dancing. Almost every night of Winter Carnival there was a party at two or three houses. This did help the carnival, but it is the day events that were lacking. There should be home sports games, maybe a snowball fight on the Green and snow-shoeing tours of the trails surrounding Hanover, to list just a few events.
I was ready to break up the winter monotony and try just about anything new, and drinking is not new. Winter in this part of the country is new for many Dartmouth students. Winter Carnival would be a great time to get students to see the splendid trails for walking, snow-shoeing and cross-country skiing. Each dorm should try to make a snow sculpture in front of their dorm. The school should try and bring in a big name show of some sort, whether it be a band, a comedian or something of the sort.
I love Dartmouth and do not think I could have found a better college in this fine nation of ours. I just hope that next year those people planning Winter Carnival could try and offer many events to try to regain the splendid carnivals of past. Dartmouth has more to offer than heavy drinking and a lone snow sculpture.
