The next Senior Symposium, which will take place April 4-17, will focus on "The Turning Point," in part because this year's senior class will be the last class to graduate in the 1900s.
"1999 is a turning point in humankind," said Damali Rhett '99, one of three Senior Symposium committee co-chairs. "We wanted to continue this idea in our theme."
The other co-chairs are Nahoko Kawakyu '99 and Willy Wong'99.
The symposium mainly revolves around the lectures given by guest speakers. This week, the Senior Symposium committee is in the process of sending out invitations to over 100 possible guest speakers, anticipating an affirmative reply from about 10 of them.
Some of the committee's hopefuls this year are the Rev. Jesse Jackson or his son, Jesse Jackson, Jr., newscasters Dan Rathers and Barbara Walters, Oprah Winfrey and the artist formerly known as Prince (with the bold hope that he might sing his song, "1999"). A few science fiction writers, some renown scientists and politicians are among the invites as well.
The guests the committee invited are not necessarily big names in their field, however. Many are people who have made a major contribution or impact to their field or the community in which they work without achieving celebrity status.
In addition, the committee must find funding for the events.
Activities and speakers involved in this year's symposium will be broken down into four major categories: arts and entertainment, politics and society, sports and leisure, and science and technology.
While the symposium will consist mainly of speakers and lectures, the coordinators are hoping to involve the speakers with the students and community to a greater extent than in previous years
Possibilities include small discussion groups with the speakers after each lecture, lunch or dinner with speakers and possibly class participation by a speaker with specific knowledge in an academic field.
In addition to more involvement with the speakers, the coordinators of the symposium want to highlight a few of the extraordinary talents of seniors, possibly by performances, discussions or student-led activities.
The Senior Symposium at Dartmouth originated in the 1970s and has been an annual event at the college ever since. The intent of the symposium is to present "an intellectual gift that the senior class leaves to the college," Rhett said.
"Our class created DarCORPS and fought for the addition of the all-night study lounge," she said.
This year's symposium will be something that will reflect what the '99s have done on campus, our positive legacy."