Correction appended
Last weekend's fourth annual Fieldstock competition saw significant changes from the past two years, as the event organizers attempted to bring the weekend up to par with the College's other "big weekends" by encouraging involvement beyond the Greek system, according to 2011 Class Council President Alex Maceda '11.
In the past, most groups competing in Fieldstock events have come from Greek houses, but this year Maceda estimated that roughly 15 of the teams in contention were fielded either by non-Greek organizations or by independent groups of interested students. These non-Greek participants included the International Students Association and the Afro-American Society, as well as various groups of house-mates, friends and a group of transfer students, she said.
"We made a concerted effort to reach out to non-Greek groups," Maceda said.
The effort to expand participation made Fieldstock a more "legitimate" event, she said.
The expanded participation also included Greek organizations. Many of the organizations decided to sponsor multiple teams, but had difficulty keeping their rosters filled.
Future Fieldstocks might limit organizations to a single team, according to Maceda.
Fieldstock began with a block party on Wednesday, which featured barbecues at several Greek houses, a mechanical bull and a band, Maceda said. The carnival was less popular than organizers had hoped, Maceda said, seeing lower levels of turnout than other events throughout the weekend. While approximately 150 students attended the block party, organizers had prepared for twice that number, she said.
"The block party the kick-off carnival left the most to be desired," she said. "I would encourage the next class [of organizers] to keep midterms in mind. There was an [organic chemistry] test on Thursday and another test on Monday and, from what we heard, it affected participation."
The Fieldstock chariot race remained the centerpiece of the weekend's events. Maceda said the point system used to determine the competition's winner heavily weighted the chariot race, allowing the weekend's ultimate winner one of Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority's two teams, "KDE Dynasty" to move ahead of its rivals following this final event.
"Both teams were really excited about the competition especially Saturday once we had the events going on all day and we were all out on the Green together," Emily Mason-Osann '11, KDE Dynasty's captain, said. "It just made it really fun."
The effort put forth by other teams was impressive, Mason-Osann said. In a heat of the chariot race, the Chi Heorot fraternity team's chariot collapsed mid-competition, she said, but the team picked up the pieces of their vehicle and finished the heat on foot.
Heorot had previously held a lead, but the collapse of their chariot allowed KDE Dynasty to pull ahead, she said.
Unlike other high-profile weekends at the College, this year's Fieldstock weekend did not see an increased number of arrests or conflict with police compared to a typical weekend, according to Hanover Police Chief Nicholas Giaccone.
"If you looked at the police log, you wouldn't even know it happened," he said, adding that this is typical for Fieldstock weekend.
