This fall marks the 40th anniversary of coeducation at Dartmouth. The shift to admitting women represented a major development in the history of the College and greatly impacted the dating culture on campus.
Homecoming weekend has always been a "party weekend," but the meaning of this phrase has changed over time. While most of the current festivities are oriented toward class bonding and supporting the fall sports teams, students who attended the College before the advent of coeducation looked forward to Homecoming as one of the few times that women would be on campus, according to Michael Daley '60.
"It was looked forward to a great deal and was always a fun weekend," Daley said. "There was a lot more traveling. Girls from Wellesley [College] and Smith [College] came in carloads and by train."
In the 1950s and 1960s, women from Wellesley, Smith, Mount Holyoke and Colby Sawyer Colleges, among other all-female institutions, routinely bussed or drove themselves to the College for big weekends including Homecoming. The women came either to visit boyfriends or to go on blind dates with College students, according Jane Healy, a member of the Smith class of 1955 who attended a number of Dartmouth Homecoming weekends.
"Dartmouth was a very popular place," Healy said. "It was known as a party school."
Women who came to visit for Homecoming usually stayed with their dates for most of the weekend and were essentially escorted around campus, according to Daley. Men were responsible for acting as chaperones for their female guests, he said.
"There was an unwritten word that if you had a girl with you, she had to be respected and that you had a responsibility for her well-being," Daley said.
Healy remembers that this structured arrangement could be problematic when the blind dates did not work out as well as both parties intended, she said.
"Many, many couples went as blind dates at the time," Healy said. "Especially from a girl's point of view, you can imagine what being stuck with someone you didn't like very well was like. Dartmouth men at the time had a reputation for being starved of female companionship."
Martha Hennessey '76, a member of the first coeducational class, said she remembers how for her first Homecoming, women were still being bussed to campus to offset the low female-to-male ratio of students on campus. This practice continued through the first two Homecomings following coeducation.
"It wasn't such a big deal that women were there for Homecoming," Hennessey said. "But it was one of the strangest things seeing them bus women in."
Immediately following coeducation, the dating aspect of Homecoming began to erode, Hennessey said. By her senior year, the idea of inviting a date to Homecoming already seemed antiquated.
Hennessey also said that Homecoming events were less stringently regulated during her time at the College. The bonfire in particular was more relaxed, with "no police and no ropes," she said.
To current students, the idea of inviting formal dates to Homecoming is almost unthinkable, according to Kate Healy '16, granddaughter of Jane Healy.
"It would just be weird," Kate Healy said. "There's a reason why I didn't apply to an all-girls school."
Will Baird '15 also said that past Homecoming practices have become outdated, noting that having to escort a blind date through the fraternity parties would pose a challenge.
"It would certainly change the dynamics of the party scene and might be a little more awkward," Baird said.
