The Simpsons are "drinking like a Dartmouth boy." Zack Siler ponders his Dartmouth acceptance, hiding it from his alumni father in "She's All That." Sweet, adorable, love-smitten protagonist Preston "Can't Hardly Wait" to graduate, date Jennifer Love-Hewitt and go on to Dartmouth.
Dartmouth, tucked away in its little hamlet in New Hampshire, has nonetheless made several appearances in the news and popular media worldwide.
For good or for bad, every mention invokes certain images of the College in the minds of viewers and shapes the way society perceives the stereotypical Dartmouth student.
"Dartmouth College is the college everyone loves to hate," English Professor William Spengemann said, commenting on the pervasiveness of negative stereotypes associated with the school.
Have you seen that alcoholic, misogynistic, racist, smart, outdoorsy, white, wealthy, conservative and athletic consultant or investment banker from the East coast walking on the Green?
Because that's what the current typical student would be, according to several members of the senior class.
"Everybody ends up being either I-bankers or consultants," Lukas Cadil '00 said.
For the most part, these seniors said that although groups of people on campus do display certain stereotypical traits, the stereotypes inaccurately reflect the diversity of the student population.
Brooke Nasser '00, however, said she found the misogynistic and alcoholic stereotype to be "definitely" true, and had she known that, she would have reconsidered coming to Dartmouth.
"I think people do drink a lot here, mostly because there's not much else to do," Andrew Weed '00 said.
Most agreed with him. However, others said they felt that it should not be considered a distinguishing characteristic because the situation is similar in most other schools.
Spengemann, who has noticed the large number of references to Dartmouth in newspapers and in literature, tried to produce a book on the history of the College in print references called "What's Black and White and Green All Over?"
In novels, Spengemann has seen the existence of Dartmouth students who are usually characters such as the friend of the son of the protagonist.
Eventually, he realized the author's tactic was that "if you said somebody went to Dartmouth, you didn't have to say anymore about him."
The unspoken characteristics described a man who was athletic, popular, sociable, gregarious, easygoing, attractive and not particularly intellectually demanding, he said.
According to Spengemann, the most important message the Dartmouth name sends out, is one of "undeserved privilege," meaning the College is an institution with all the perks and prestige of a school like Harvard, but unlike Harvard students, Dartmouth students "don't deserve it."
Spengemann said this is because Dartmouth students are perceived as being misbehaved and not serious about their studies.
"There is very little resemblance between the popular idea of this place and what it is like here," he said.
History professor Hans Ermarth saw a change in the perception of Dartmouth students that coincided with the first five to seven years of coeducation.
When Ermarth first arrived 29 years ago, the joke was that the College was "the doormat of the Ivy League."
Popular perceptions regarded Dartmouth as a place that was not serious about its academic pursuits, even though it had a number of distinguished departments and faculty.
"The Outing Club was much more well known than any other aspect of the institution," he said.
According to Ermarth, because of this, the stereotype of the Dartmouth man, who was rough and unsophisticated, existed.
However, when female students arrived, Dartmouth experienced what he called an "intellectual upgrade."
Different types of professors began to enter the faculty and the image of the school diversified, he said. Although the College's reputation remained, it now included a strong component of individualism.
"The presence of women had a way of making classroom pursuits and academics of the institutions a more serious matter," Ermarth said.
The female students were more studious than their male counterparts and were good writers. Even if they were not particularly vocal in class, their presence changed the atmosphere of the classroom and "improved the intellectual climate at Dartmouth," he said.
In the 1980s, the College began to enter a trend of pendulum swings in terms of going between the old view of Dartmouth as a fun-dominated school and the new view, which included more serious individualism.
According to Ermarth, episodes or institutions like the political correctness debate determined the motions of these swings.
The most important factor was the diversity of the student body chosen by the admissions office, he said. Along with increased curricular options like being able to modify a major and the larger choice of professors, Dartmouth's image improved a great deal.
Ermarth said that currently, the Dartmouth student stereotype is influenced by the movie "Animal House," which advances the notion of fraternity wildness and academic disdain, and the popularity of the Dartmouth Outing Club, which creates the "mountain man" stereotype. Also, perceptions of "the hard-driving female athlete" exists.
"Stereotypes are rather dangerous and volatile," he added, pointing out that they are hurtful and prejudicial by definition.
