To the Editor:
In response to the opinion piece that Dartmouth's Winter Carnival is in decline in The Dartmouth's Feb. 9 issue, one can only note that it is a natural cause and effect syndrome.
Celebrations are for things missed, the homecoming of a son or daughter who has been away from home being the most obvious.
"Road trips" had been easy to arrange in the fall, but the isolation of Hanover and occasionally the harsh travel conditions imposed by winter made them more difficult in winter weather. Winter Carnival used to mark a weekend celebration when the sons of Dartmouth would prepare the campus to receive women, something they had missed for seemingly endless months (though it had been only weeks). The present homogeneity of the student body has changed all of this.
So it is a natural progression that the carnival doesn't have the same meaning it once did. The decline is evolutionary. Whether that is good or bad I pass no judgement, but if you want to see the carnival rejuvenated, something that had been missing must be allowed ... maybe the right to tap a keg or two?
