News
While the Class of 2004 are the first to experience freshmen-only housing experiments -- direct result of the Trustees' Student Life Initiative, introduced to the College in February 1999 -- most members of the first-year class remain in the dark about why their first year differs from those of classes already at the College.
Several members of the Class of 2004 interviewed by The Dartmouth students questioned were completely unfamiliar with the Initiative.
"We've both heard the name before, but we don't know what it is," Alice Graham '04 said, of herself and her roommate.
Others admitted to having a limited grasp of the events dominating Dartmouth news for the last 18 months.
"It sounds like its something that the administration is doing to make living at Dartmouth better, but I don't really know," Matthew Stevenson '04 said.
Most students questioned principally associated the Initiative with the Greek system.
"They're trying to phase out the frats, from what I understand," Ben Hunt '04 said.
"I know very little about the Initiative except for the fact that it delays rush for us until winter of sophomore year," Rebecca Aledort '04 said.
Some students also noted the Initiative's emphasis on socialization within residential clusters.
"I think they're trying to provide different social options to students other than drinking ... and to make different cluster-based activities," Allison Forbes '04 said.
Most freshmen questioned expressed a general apathy toward the Initiative.
"If in the future I feel like the social life on campus is in jeopardy, then I would be more concerned, but as of now I'm not really sure what's happening, so I can't really make any judgements," Mitch Ermentrout '04 explained.
"I didn't think about it that much because I didn't know that much about it," Sara Glazer '04 said.