National politics defined Winter term, as the Dartmouth campus geared up in anticipation of the Jan. 27 Democratic primary.
All major Democratic presidential candidates visited campus to rally support in the weeks leading up to the nation's first primary, and various student-politicos worked towards organizing support for candidates and getting out the campus vote.
On Jan. 25, Democratic candidates former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich debated before a crowd in Moore Theatre at a forum sponsored by Lifetime Television and ABC's "Good Morning America."
The campus debate was later surrounded by considerable controversy, as BuzzFlood members Brent Reidy '05 and Kabir Sehgal '05 accused the Rockefeller Center of making decisions that squandered an event to which all of the major candidates, Sehgal and Reidy said, initially confirmed their attendance.
Winter term also saw the beginning of institutional change at the College, as two charter trustees were elected to Dartmouth's Board of Trustees, marking the first change in the Board's composition in over 40 years.
Charles Haldeman Jr. '70, president and chief executive offer of Putnam Investments, and Albert Mulley Jr. '70, chief of the General Medicine Division of Massachusetts General Hospital, were elected as the charter trustees and will begin their tenures in June.
The election of the charter trustees began the process of expanding the Board from 16 to 22 members, a decision made by Board vote last fall.
Dartmouth also celebrated the 100th birthday of Dr. Seuss -- Theodor Geisel '25 -- this winter.
A Seuss-themed Winter Carnival promised the rebirth of the Psi Upsilon fraternity keg jump at an off-campus location. However, dreams of the keg jump's rebirth were quashed as the weekend saw unusually warm weather.
During the festival weekend, 18 arrests were made by the Hanover Police on campus and Safety and Security apprehended 16 students for alcohol violations.
From an admission's standpoint, Dartmouth saw mixed results this college application season.
The total number of applications to the College, both regular and early-decision, were down nominally. Applications dropped less than one percent from last year's record number of applicants.
However, Dartmouth demonstrated that it would continue its trend of being increasingly selective from year to year.
Only 30 percent of the 1,278 high-school seniors who applied for admission to the Class of the 2008 under the early decision program this year were accepted. The number represents the lowest early decision acceptance rate in over five years.
