In the last four years, the Class of 1998 has experienced a changing world through the Internet, dorm lounge televisions, newspapers and classroom discussions, and has witnessed changes in College policies and in the makeup of Dartmouth's administration.
Freshman year
After the initial bustle of DOC trips and Orientation Week, the Class of 1998 began to settle into the College and all its turmoil.
Controversy arose during Freshman Fall over the Hanover Police's practice of arresting minors for the "internal possession" of alcohol. According to law, a breath test revealing alcohol in the bloodstream was sufficient cause to arrest minors for underage drinking.
Police were accused of violating student rights and the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union became involved in the case.
In October, Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel spoke about his Holocaust experience in Spaulding Auditorium to an audience of more than 1,100 people.
"Six million men, women and children perished in the tempest of fire and fury," Wiesel said that night. "Did God weep or is it possible that God wept and humanity was not moved?"
Wiesel stressed the importance of remembering the horror of the Holocaust.
A female student in French Hall awoke one morning in November to find an uninvited male stranger in her room. Other women living in the River Cluster residence halls also reported similar trespassing incidents. These events resulted in extra safety precautions in the River Cluster.
Two Vermont residents were charged with assault after two male students were attacked behind the Hopkins Center in November.
Concern over the spread of meningitis swept the College during Winter term after several students contracted the highly contagious and often fatal disease.
The Student Assembly became a hotbed of controversy that year. Danielle Moore '95 resigned from the Assembly presidency because of what she saw as political in-fighting and bickering. After she stepped down, Vice President Rukmini Sichitiu '95 became president.
Eight out of the 12 members of the Assembly executive committee wrote a letter asking John Honovich '97 to resign as secretary. The letter accused Honovich of causing the assembly "infighting, confrontation [and] unproductivity." Despite their attempts to remove Honovich, he was later elected vice president.
Controversy again arose on campus when Playboy magazine came to the College during Spring term to interview women interested in posing in its "Women of the Ivy League" issue.
Student members of various campus organizations, including feminist publications and The Dartmouth Review, an off-campus conservative publication, met and organized a protest. Three students were selected for the pictorial.
During the Winter and Spring terms, President James Freedman took a six-month sabbatical while recovering from lymphatic cancer. During that time, then-Provost James Wright became temporary president of the College.
During his sabbatical, Freedman wrote his book "Idealism and Liberal Education."
Headline news during the class's first year at the College included surprise victories by the Republican party in the November 1994 Congressional elections, the Alfred P. Murrah Building bombing in Oklahoma and Nelson Mandela's election as president of South Africa.
Sophomore Year
Sophomore year brought with it a string of tragic suicides of Dartmouth students.
During the summer, Sarah Devens '96, one of the College's star athletes, killed herself with a gun in her Massachusetts home. In October, Marcus Rice '94, who had never completed his graduation requirements, committed suicide in his Tarrytown, N.Y., home.
His father, Berkeley Rice, said his son had been suffering from depression for several years. This depression had caused him to withdraw from the College in 1993.
Two weeks later, another College student, Philip Deloria '96, committed suicide in his apartment in Grantham, N.H. Forensic investigators in his case determined the cause of death was "asphyxiation by hanging."
His brother Vine Deloria said "Philip was very upset" the morning before the suicide.
Philip "was real down, felt like had no where to go, didn't know what to do," he said.
Early Winter term, another student of the College, Anthony Lightfoot '92, committed suicide in a Seattle skyscraper by shooting himself in the head with a rifle.
Several hate-related incidents occurred on campus that year. During Fall term, someone threw dirt at the window of a student living in Lord Hall who had hung a Dartmouth Rainbow Alliance flag out of her window. Homophobic slurs were written on doors bearing "Gay Friendly Space" stickers.
In February, two Asian-American men in Little Hall and two Asian-American women living off-campus discovered racial slurs scrawled on their doors.
After these incidents, a rally against injustice brought more than 400 students together in front of Parkhurst Hall. Over 40 students and faculty members spoke at the event.
During Sophomore Summer, Beta Theta Pi was disciplined by the College after several violations. In June, members of Beta tackled a member of Sigma Nu fraternity on The Tabard coeducational society's lawn.
In July, a gas leak at Burke Laboratory sent three members of Delta Gamma sorority to the hospital. Only one woman needed treatment.
In late July, William McCallum, a New Hampshire assistant attorney general, was arrested for a March 1995 theft of art belonging to the College. McCallum was convicted in January of this year.
During the summer, the College began to upgrade to Ethernet for student computer communication use.
News events worldwide during the 1995-1996 academic year included O.J. Simpson's trial and acquittal, the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the festivities and bombing at the Summer Olympic games in Atlanta and the tragic explosion of a TWA 747, which claimed the life of a member of the College's Class of 1937.
Junior Year
Junior Fall saw the Big Green football squad complete its season undefeated and win its 17th Ivy League title.
The College began celebrating the 25th anniversary of coeducation and invited women, such as Regina Barreca '79, to speak at the celebratory events.
A student was anonymously accused of rape when posters bearing his face were put up all over campus.
The College's provost, Lee Bollinger, became the first of many administrators to leave when he stepped down to accept a position as president of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He officially began serving as president in February of 1997.
Beta Theta Pi fraternity was derecognized in December because of a series of offenses that began in 1993, including having alcohol in its house during the Fall term of 1996, a violation of the house's suspension.
An unknown group wrote messages in chalk around campus accusing fraternities of rape and homophobia.
"Frats assault. Frats rape. Frats suck," one message said.
One of the biggest controversies of the year ignited when Dartmouth Dining Services proposed a mandatory $800 declining balance account meal plan.
DDS claimed to have lost over $400,000, and DDS administrators explained to angry students that an $800 charge was the absolute minimum necessary to recover the losses.
This event convinced the Student Assembly to conduct a campus-wide referendum in order to gauge student opinion. Students overwhelmingly voted to cut services at DDS and a revised plan was proposed, including the closing of Collis Cafe on weekends and several levels of nonrefundable DBA.
The College lost two famous professors to tragedy in 1996. Native American Studies Professor Michael Dorris committed suicide in April and Chemistry Professor Karen Wetterhahn died of dimethylmer-cury poisoning in June.
In national and world news, incumbent Bill Clinton defeated Republican challenger Bob Dole in the November presidential election. Timothy McVeigh was convicted of planting the bomb in the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City.
Senior Year
The Class of 1998's fourth year at the College has seen the resignations of numerous Dartmouth administrative power-players.
College President James Freedman announced in September that he will step down this month, ending 11 years of service.
College Provost James Wright, who had replaced Bollinger, informed Freedman that he would also resign. The Board of Trustees announced in April that Wright will succeed Freedman as president of the College.
DDS Director Pete Napolitano resigned to accept a new position at Middlebury College in Vermont, and Tucker Rossiter took over as head of DDS.
During Winter term, Dean of the College Lee Pelton announced he will resign next year to accept a position as president of Willamette College.
College Vice President and Treasurer Lyn Hutton and Dean of Residential Life Mary Turco announced their resignations at the beginning of Spring term.
Chairman of the Board of Trustees Stephen Bosworth was sworn in as the U.S. ambassador to South Korea in November. While many feared he would resign as chairman of the Board, he said he will stay in his position for the remainder of his term, which expires this month.
Perhaps the biggest controversy of the year arose as a result of the fall report of the College Committee on Alcohol and Other Drugs. The CCAOD recommended to Pelton that the College restrict the number of kegs at parties and allow Safety and Security officers to monitor Greek events.
During Spring term, Pelton issued a new alcohol policy, a compromise between the CCAOD's recommendations and a Coed, Fraternity and Sorority Council response. Under the new policy, up to five kegs are allowed at open events, kegs are prohibited during sophomore summer, and Safety and Security officers, accompanied by student monitors, are allowed to enter Greek houses during parties.
Two sophomores were seriously injured in October. Dan Becker '00 suffered injuries in a climbing accident, and Adam Dansiger '00 sustained massive head injuries in a one-car accident.
In November, five years after its construction was approved, the $4 million Roth Center for Jewish Life officially opened.
During the beginning of Winter Term, the sisters of the Alpha Xi Delta sorority moved into the house at 6 Webster Ave., which was formerly occupied by Beta Theta Pi fraternity.
Two student publications drew fire for their content. The Jack-O-Lantern humor magazine printed several pieces in the Fall that some students found offensive. Uncommon Threads, a feminist cultural journal, printed an article about a lesbian encounter that raised some students' hackles.
As one of the highlights of a weekend of celebration of the College's 25th anniversary of coeducation, actress Meryl Streep, winner of two Academy Awards and a nine-time Oscar nominee, was honored with the Dartmouth Film Award. Hundreds of alumnae returned to campus to participate in the weekend's events.
Three-time Academy Award-winning writer/director Oliver Stone received the Dartmouth Film Award during Winter term. Stone was honored by a tribute in the Hopkins Center.
In February, Brian de Moya '00 alleged he was threatened and mistreated by Safety and Security officers. Pelton formed a panel to look into the complaint. The panel decided no action needed to be taken.
This year brought prominent figures in politics, religion and the arts to campus. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson was the Montgomery Fellow for an entire term -- the first fellow since Winter term 1996 to remain in residence for a full 10 weeks.
Conservative pundit William F. Buckley gave a speech in Rollins Chapel in late January. He said Dartmouth should not be afraid of the ideal on which he said the College was founded -- to Christianize its Christian students.
Boxing promoter Don King discussed racism and the history of America in a February speech.
King's speech included descriptions of "Indians running around the plains, shooting bows and arrows and smoking the peace pipe," that offended some students.
April brought speeches by Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich and former presidential candidate Lamar Alexander.
Religious Right leader Ralph Reed spoke on family values in May. Outside the speech, members of the DRA protested Reed's conservative views.
News events throughout the country and around the world included a sex scandal involving President Bill Clinton and White House intern Monica Lewinsky, as well as the Olympic victory of the U.S. Women's Hockey team, whose members included Dartmouth alumni and a Dartmouth student.
The world was saddened by the deaths of Princess Diana and Mother Theresa. In addition, shootings by children at schools in Arkansas and Oregon shocked the nation.
