I foolishly hoped that Dartmouth might rally for one more year, and that things would hold off until after I graduate. But when I read about the cutting down of the rope swing tree, I knew it was too late.
The issue with the rope swing seems to be an outbreak of the "I moved next to a train track and now I'm mad that the train whizzes by every 10 minutes" syndrome. Cutting down an entire tree seems a bit severe. I would be angry too if, at four in the morning, I were awakened by the sound of screaming kids.
But the first time I went off the rope swing it was last summer, on a lazy Saturday afternoon when my friends and I had nothing to do. Hanover certainly wasn't helping that situation until we remembered hearing something about a rope on a tree by the river. It turned out to be one of the most memorable afternoons of my sophomore summer. I met about 15 people at the swing, and, one by one, those of us who wanted to, went through what seemed to be a Dartmouth rite of passage.
No one forced me to go off the rope swing; in fact, when the crowd saw the look of utter terror on my face as I climbed the tree, they offered several times to help me back down. I sucked it up and, after my less-than-heroic swing, I received a big round of applause.
That ranks up there with some of the most innocent fun I've had at Dartmouth. I met new people, I did something I never thought I would do, and I spent a beautiful Saturday enjoying Hanover. I enjoyed myself so much that when some friends from home came to visit me, we canoed out there and had another great afternoon.
I admit it: The rope swing is not conducive to late night use -- for both safety and noise reasons. And it is disappointing that seemingly educated people don't have enough good sense and common courtesy to stay away from it during that time frame. But what about those days when gorgeous weather and a lull in peoples' workloads collide? Chances are most people would not sit around their houses on a beautiful day, so the noise would not really be a disturbance.
This mandate to get rid of the rope swing seems very much in keeping with the "new" spirit of Dartmouth. The Rope Swing used to represent everything about Dartmouth that made me choose the school three years ago. The good-natured fun of it, the slight risk in it, the chance to meet people in it. Most of these things are slowly dwindling. If, during my senior year of high school, you had told me that this is where Dartmouth would be, I would have tossed aside the application.
I truly loved the attitude of casual intelligence that used to exist on this campus. But for reasons I wish I didn't understand, the people who matter decided that this wasn't an attitude they wanted associated with Dartmouth. I understand that change has to happen. I try to remind myself that most people were this disheartened with Dartmouth's decision to become coeducational. I am attempting to keep an open mind.
Right now I don't know how I feel about the College to which I chose to give four years of my life and, perhaps more importantly, thousands of dollars. When people who are starting their college search ask me what I think about Dartmouth, I find myself shrugging and saying, "It used to be so great. Now it's so. . ."
I can't finish that sentence for people. I just don't know what to think about Dartmouth anymore.
