Following a general decline in the visibility of the Senior Symposium, Dartmouth will see a considerably scaled-back version of the 23-year-old tradition this winter and spring, according to 2003 Class President Timothy Jason Ortiz.
Sponsored annually by the senior class councils, the Symposiums have traditionally brought prominent speakers to campus for a Spring term series of lectures intended as the seniors' gift to the College.
Among the nationally-known speakers brought to campus by recent Symposiums, Wendy Wasserstein, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning play "The Heidi Chronicles," highlighted the 2000 Symposium. Newt Gingrich, who was then Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, gave the keynote speech in 1998.
This year, though, the '03 Class Council plans to focus on organizing a number of "intimate, timely and discussion-oriented events," according to John Robinson '03, the vice president of the senior class.
"Senior Symposium has been over-ambitious in past years," Robinson said, citing an unsuccessful attempt to bring the well-known talk show hostess and magazine publisher Oprah Winfrey to campus in 1999.
Both Ortiz and Robinson noted that the Symposium has gradually decreased in prominence. Ortiz said the Senior Symposium proved too difficult for the Class of 2002 to organize.
Last year's program involved just one day of events featuring Oberlin College Director of Environmental Studies David Orr.
Given the Symposium's decreasingly prominent role, Robinson said that the class dean's office has encourage the council to discontinue the Symposium, but Robinson stressed that the senior council wanted to find a happy medium between the "grandiose" events of past years and holding no events at all.
Teoby Gomez, the dean of the Class of 2003, could not be reached for comment.
As an example of such a compromise, Robinson suggested holding a discussion with a professor about the current events in the Middle East after an appearance by a speaker sponsored by another organization.
Similarly, Ortiz said that the Council was considering inviting professors to speak about themes in Dartmouth history or about their own experiences at the College. "These things are directly applicable to students' experiences," he said.
Neither Ortiz nor Robinson expressed disappointment about the Symposium's decline in visibility.
"I don't think the old Senior Symposium will be greatly missed," Ortiz said.
He listed several prominent people that have appeared at the College through other programs during his time here, including Sheryl Crow, Desmond Tutu and Cornel West.
Ortiz noted that the Senior Symposium was originally founded as a way for seniors to "give an intellectual gift to the campus," something he said they can accomplish as well or better in intimate settings with less famous speakers.
