So, Green Key has finally arrived. The snow that envelops Hanover for half of the year has at last receded, along with the frigid weather and winter depression. Spring has arrived with all the beauty embodied in 8 p.m. sunsets and cloudless skies. In honor of this highly-anticipated arrival comes the weekend of mythic proportions ... (insert drum roll) Green Key.
I have to say that I am a little bit scared. I mean, yes, I successfully survived my first two big weekends at Dartmouth, Homecoming and Winter Carnival. In fact, I thoroughly enjoyed them and emerged relatively unscathed (and by relatively unscathed, I mean my legs possessed only a few black and blues). I still somewhat fear this storied Green Key, though.
I searched online to gain a better understanding of what Green Key weekend actually is, other than extreme drunken debauchery mixed with some free barbecue food. After expending a great deal of energy in my search for information, I learned that Green Key is about more than just drinking and food; it is about school spirit, as it provides the Dartmouth community with a means by which to exhibit our love for our college.
Since Green Key is such a show of school spirit, I was shocked to learn that students do not receive a day off from classes, nor a change of classes to an alternate day in honor of Green Key, as we do for Homecoming and Winter Carnival weekends. I am utterly stunned by this -- how can we be expected to attend classes on the Friday of a big weekend!?
As we finish up our Spring term midterms and our staggering workloads begin to weigh us down, nearly all other college students across the country are done with their finals and are blissfully laying in the sun, devoid of any stress in the form of schoolwork. In this unfair setting, I think it would be more than appropriate to reward Dartmouth students for our hard work with time to enjoy Hanover's beautiful weather. What better reward is there for diligence than a day off from classes to celebrate a holiday that has been our own since 1899? A day free from classes would enable Dartmouth students to unite in our unique schedule and holiday, and therefore better define our identity as a distinct intellectual community apart from all others.
In addition, cancellation of classes on the Friday of Green Key weekend would lift the Green Key holiday to a new plane of importance. Through class cancellation, the College would in effect recognize Green Key as a holiday on par with Homecoming and Winter Carnival, which, as the third big weekend of the year, it already implicitly is. Official recognition would in turn foster a greater amount of school spirit during Green Key, since it would infuse the holiday with a certain increase in significance. If everyone were free of class at the start of a holiday that has become an ingrained Dartmouth tradition, students and faculty alike would be far more excited to revel in the festivities of the holiday (and by revel, I mean eat lots of food at the free barbecues).
I mean, nearly no one to whom I have spoken plans to attend classes on Friday. Why should the school cast all of us good little Ivy League students as rule-breaking rebels by purposely scheduling classes on the drunkest Friday of the year? I would much prefer to maintain my image of a by-the-book student, but the administration may just force me to call this identity into question on Friday through its decision not to free students from classes.
The school can argue that there is no specific reason to give students a day off from classes on the Friday of Green Key weekend, despite our being free from the bondages of coursework on the Fridays of Homecoming and Winter Carnival. The administration can claim that students need to prepare for the Bonfire and for Saturday's football game during Homecoming weekend, and need to be able to participate in the polar bear swim as well as sculpture judging Friday of Winter Carnival. But this line of reasoning can easily apply to Green Key, too -- students need a day of cranial rest to prepare for the Phi Delt block party on Friday and the AD lawn party on Saturday. In reality, the true reasons for class cancellation on all big weekends are the same -- it is the administration's way to recognize holidays that are unique to Dartmouth and that prompt school unity and spirit through tradition. Why can't the administration simply admit this and cancel classes on the Friday of Green Key?
