This weekend, 500 families of the freshman class came up to Hanover for "Unfourgettable Weekend," this year's freshman family weekend theme, and the recent rash of chalkings on campus sidewalks put gender relations on the minds of many visitors to the campus.
"The chalkings brought an important issue to light," Ryan Bennett '04 said, adding that the First Year Family Weekend committee blitzed out to organizations on campus asking them about adding an event to the weekend for "a more constructive discussion or forum with the group involved with the chalkings."
The weekend did feature a deans' panel called "Info You Need to Know," a question and answer session led by class deans as well as the dean of residential life and the dean of the Tucker Foundation.
Held in Collis Commonground, the well-attended event gave parents a chance to ask about what their children will need to know over the remainder of their time at Dartmouth. Debate moderator Ryan Bennett '04 said the questions focused on what parents could expect in the future, notably questions of cluster housing and Greek life.
The parents wrote down questions on index cards which were read aloud to the deans. Bennett noticed several questions regarding gender issues on campus, possibly provoked by the chalkings which appeared around campus Saturday morning.
Many of the gender issues questions raised by the parents on the index cards remained unasked and unanswered as the moderator felt there were "better sources" to answer the numerous questions regarding gender issues on the campus. Bennett suggested the Women's Resource Center to many parents voicing concern.
Freshman Weekend Committee Co-Chair D. Bradley Bate '04 also pointed out that there was not enough time to answer all the questions of the freshman parents. "I was very impressed by the number of questions and concerns they had," Bate said. Several deans stayed around for an extra hour answering questions from the parents on an individual basis.
Sponsored by the 2004 class council, the weekend also featured various panels discussions, student performances, lectures and tours.
The events gave '04s the chance to introduce their parents to Dartmouth. Accordingly, one of the weekend's highlights was the "weekend warriors." Designed after the ever-popular "H-Croo" and "Lodge Croo" from freshman DOC trips, the "weekend warriors" created skits and songs to illustrate life at Dartmouth to the '04 parents.
"The H-Croo was how we were welcomed to Dartmouth, and we wanted to introduce Dartmouth to our parents in the same way" Bate explained.
The warriors gave the parents an informal introduction to the daily life of the college student through songs such as "Lazy," a song about procrastinating sung to the tune of Britney Spears' "Crazy."
Other weekend events on campus included tours, slide shows, Family Weekend Karaoke at Poison Ivy, and various movies and events designed to include the siblings of the '04s.
