When '04 Class Council President John "Doc" Kupiec's sent out his letter encouraging students to "demonstrate that we can be responsible adults" and thus ensure that Tubestock does not go the way of the Winter Carnival keg jump (gone, but far from forgotten), he intended to help save a tradition fighting for its very survival. The means by which Kupiec wishes to keep Tubestock up and running, however, threaten to alter the core character of the event.
In a letter arriving in Hinman boxes yesterday written on Kupiec's own behalf (Tubestock's unsanctioned nature blocks any "official" promotion from Class Council) Kupiec maintains that in order to preserve the 16-year-old tradition, certain things have to change-- namely, trash, trespassing and the presence of alcohol, nudity and unregistered rafts.
Some of these restrictions indisputably should be implemented. Polluting the river and nearby property, for example, shows egregious disregard for our surrounding environment and neighbors in Hanover and Norwich. If anyone wants to assure that Tubestock will eventually be brought to an abrupt halt by law enforcement officials from one state or the other, surely the best way to do that would be to continue leaving excesses of debris and damage in our wake.
Yet the "Disney-fication" of Tubestock likely to occur via many of Kupiec's proposed restrictions conflicts with the event's liberal nature. Tubestock is not a cute, tidy event; it is at base a scene of debauchery that has historically never received -- or, until recently, even sought -- College recognition, and in present form it probably never should.
Underage drinking, nudity, and unregistered rafts are undeniably illegal -- but so are any number of activities that shape and define the social scene at Dartmouth.
Kupiec's vision of a calmer, safer Tubestock may be inevitable, but it is also one that makes us yearn for a time when fun was not so serious. The stuff of Tubestock legends is headed the way of Green Key -- in the past few years, we have seen the once-thriving weekend wane in popularity due to increased restrictions on social events.
Because Tubestock is an event that most students will only participate in once -- in the summer of their sophomore year -- '04s will be able to draw no comparisons between their experiences and the word-of-mouth that tells them what Tubestock should be. Whatever Tubestock will become will be all that really exists.
Maybe the worst part of the potential tragedy of Tubestock is that it is unlikely to be remembered, at least as anything close to its original incarnation.
Robinson Hall is the byline of The Dartmouth's Summer Editorial Board.
