When students descend upon Memorial Field tomorrow for the Homecoming football game, they will be greeted by members of the Student Assembly, eager to boost their school spirit.
The Assembly's Homecoming tailgate party aims to rally support and school spirit before the game. The event will feature a live band and free cookout to feed 1,000 hungry fans. Dartmouth merchandise will also be given away to energize students heading to Memorial Field.
Attendance at the Homecoming football game is usually high, with about 2,000 students attending last year. The tailgate party is therefore intended less as a catalyst for student attendance and "more for the spirit" it will generate, said Stella Treas '05, the chair of the Assembly's Student Life Committee, which organizing the event.
The tailgate party will begin at 11:30 a.m. in front of Alumni Hall and continue until the beginning of the Homecoming football game against Columbia.
The cost of the event, which is estimated at $2,500, will be paid by the Assembly and the Programming Board, as well as several fraternities and sororities who have agreed to co-sponsorship.
The tailgate party comes as part of a larger Assembly effort to publicize Dartmouth sports that have not been widely attended.
Recognizing that many Dartmouth students do not attend College athletic events, especially football games, the Assembly will attempt to promote Dartmouth sports teams this year through its Student Athletics and Recreation Initiative, the first resolution it passed this term.
"We have a big stadium, and it is discouraging when the stands are not full of fans," said James Baehr '05, chair of the Student Organizations Committee working on this project.
Though many teams do not get the support they need, not all have encountered the same difficulty in attracting fans. Attendance at hockey games is not an issue the Assembly will tackle, Baehr said, indicating that the Assembly will focus its energy on teams that need more help.
The Assembly's efforts involve making athletics more social with events like this weekend's tailgate party and publicizing games through a new BlitzMail bulletin. First-year cluster representatives will also email the residents of their clusters each week with a list of home games, Assembly communications chair Brett Martin '04 said.
"We just really want to get the student body behind the teams to really push Dartmouth athletics," Martin '04 said.
