Winter Carnival 1999 was anything but typical. Opening ceremonies for Dartmouth's 89th Carnival were held Thursday night, and 900 student protestors were ready to greet President James Wright in his first appearance before the student body since announcing a plan to severely curtail the Greek system at Dartmouth.
On Tuesday of that week, the Board of Trustees and College President James Wright announced the Social and Residential Life Initiative, commonly known as the SLI, which called for the end of the single-sex fraternity and sorority system at Dartmouth.
By Wednesday night, the Coed Fraternity Sorority Council had voted to cancel all CFSC sponsored Winter Carnival parties and events. For a great number of Dartmouth students, this Carnival seemed to signify the beginning of the end of one of Dartmouth's most prized institutions -- the Greek system.
Over the course of three days, students demonstrated their adamant disapproval of the SLI and its Five Principles.
There were bitter speeches, protests and cancelled fraternity traditions, including the annual Psi Upsilon Winter Carnival Keg Jump, which was replaced by a rally attended by over 800 students. A general wave of anger and resentment was directed towards the Trustees and Wright by an overwhelming number of students.
Greek leaders said in the weeks following Carnival '99 that their actions were both appropriate and necessary. CFSC President Jaimie Paul '00 explained, "The reason there were so many protests during Winter Carnival was because there were so many people on this campus who were so mad, and rightly so, and Winter Carnival was a good way to vent that."
According to Paul, much of the fervor on campus was in part a response to the surprising manner and timing in which the SLI was announced -- so close to a weekend that, for many students, revolved around the Greek system.
Just one year earlier, in 1998, Winter Carnival rested upon long-standing traditions, dozens of student activities, and prominent events hosted by Greek houses. It was a weekend like any other, but with many guests, more parties, plentiful traditions, and extraordinary programming. To an outside viewer, Carnivals since 1999 have been just the same. But Greek leaders and pre-SLI alumni reminisce of a time when partying at the Greeks lacked bureaucracy, red tape and a perceived sense of imminent threat from the administration.
Dean of the College James Larimore was not at Dartmouth in 1999, but nonetheless admitted that the SLI was not released in the most reasonable manner, and many of those involved have looked back with some "regret" at what "should have been announced differently."
Linda Kennedy, director of student activities since 1987, recalled the 1999 Carnival vividly. In the light of the massive protests and cancellations of 1999, Kennedy responded by "picking up the slack" with added programming, which prevented "a disaster" and instead translated into an weekend of fun and enjoyment for those not concerned by the proposed Greek changes.
"What had been going on pretty well all the sudden started going great," said Kennedy.
According to Kennedy, Winter Carnival wasn't all that different before and after the SLI, with the exception of 1999. In what he called "a big party weekend," Larimore said that "all things considered, I think most things are the same, and there are few things that I think are in fact a little better."
For Kennedy, it was when the Student Activities fee was added to tuition in the late 1980s that the tradition began its transition from a principally Greek-run weekend to one dominated by activities programming.
Kennedy said students now have a wider array of social options and are far less dependent on the Greek system as social outlets. Administrators decided to match the rate of growth of the Student Activities fee to the rate of tuition, which has left Kennedy a considerable increase in monies available for College-sanctioned programming, especially for weekends such as Winter Carnival.
Larimore said that five years after the SLI, every campus sector affected is better off.
"We're still at a point where we tend to hear more about the negative things that are happening instead of the balance of some of the good things that are happening," Larimore said.
According to Larimore, there has been vast improvement in Greek leadership development, social event management, and the level of community service and philanthropic activity.
"That's made the Greeks even more inclusive than they were five years ago," Larimore said.
Many administrators who witnessed Carnivals long before the SLI have repeatedly pointed to the fact that the SLI-provoked response may have been particularly massive, but that every generation of Dartmouth students reacts to efforts by the College to promote responsibility of alcohol use and prevent underage drinking -- the essence of every student life initiative.
According to Margaret Bonz, dean of first-year students from 1981 through 1988, "The SLI is just one in a series designed to accomplish an improved social life for Dartmouth students."
