Traditions

Traditions

Dartmouth is well known for its fierce school spirit and many traditions. The college functions on a quarter system, and one weekend each term is set aside as a traditional celebratory event, known on campus as "big weekende or "party weekends" In the fall term, Homecoming (officially called Dartmouth Night) is marked by a bonfire on the Green constructed by the freshman class. Winter term is celebrated by Winter Carnival, a tradition started in 1911 by the Dartmouth Outing Club to promote winter sports. This tradition is the oldest in the United States, and subsequently went on to catch on at other New England colleges. In the spring, Green Key is a weekend mostly devoted to campus parties and celebration.

The summer term was formerly marked by Tubestock, an unofficial tradition in which the students used wooden rafts and inner tubes to float on the Connecticut River. Begun in 1986, Tubestock was ended in 2006 by town ordinance.The Class of 2008, during their summer term on campus in 2006, replaced the defunct Tubestock with Fieldstock. This new celebration includes a barbecue, live music, and the revival of the 1970s and 1980s tradition of racing homemade chariots around the Green. Unlike Tubestock, Fieldstock is funded and supported by the College.

Another longstanding tradition is four-day, student-run Dartmouth Outing Club trips for incoming freshmen, begun in 1935. Each trip concludes at the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge. In 2011, over 96% of freshmen elected to participate.

Dartmouth's motto, chosen by Eleazar Wheelock, is Vox clamantis in deserto. The Latin motto is literally translated as "A calling voice in the wilderness" but is more often rendered as "A voice crying out in the wilderness"The phrase appears five times in the Bible and is a reference to the college's location on what was once the frontier of European settlement. Richard Hovey's "Men of Dartmouth" was elected as the best of Dartmouth's songs in 1896, and became the school's official song in 1926.The song was retitled to "Alma Mater" in the 1980s when its lyrics were changed to refer to women as well as men.

Dartmouth's 1769 royal charter required the creation of a seal for use on official documents and diplomas.[6] The college's founder Eleazar Wheelock designed a seal for his college bearing a striking resemblance to the seal of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, a missionary society founded in London in 1701, in order to maintain the illusion that his college was more for mission work than for higher education.Engraved by a Boston silversmith, the seal was ready by commencement of 1773. The trustees officially accepted the seal on August 25, 1773, describing it as:

An Oval, circumscribed by a Line containing SIGILL: COL: DARTMUTH: NOV: HANT: IN AMERICA 1770. within projecting a Pine Grove on the Right, whence proceed Natives towards an Edifice two Storey on the left; which bears in a Label over the Grove these Words "vox clamantis in deserto" the whole supported by Religion on the Right and Justice on the Left, and bearing in a Triangle irradiate, with the Hebrew Words [El Shaddai], agreeable to the above Impression, be the common Seal under which to pass all Diplomas or Certificates of Degrees, and all other Affairs of Business of and concerning Dartmouth College.

On October 28, 1926, the trustees affirmed the charter's reservation of the seal for official corporate documents alone.The College Publications Committee commissioned noted typographer W. A. Dwiggins to create a line drawing version of the seal in 1940 that saw widespread use. Dwiggins' design was modified during 1957 to change the date from "1770" to "1769", to accord with the date of the college charter. The trustees commissioned a new set of dies with a date of "1769" to replace the old dies, now badly worn after almost two hundred years of use.The 1957 design continues to be used under trademark number 2305032.

On October 28, 1926, the trustees approved a "Dartmouth College Shield" for general use. Artist and engraver W. Parke Johnson designed this emblem on the basis of the shield that is depicted at the center of the original seal. This design does not survive. On June 9, 1944, the trustees approved another coat of arms based on the shield part of the seal, this one by Canadian artist and designer Thoreau MacDonald. That design was used widely and, like Dwiggins' seal, had its date changed from "1770" to "1769" around 1958.That version continues to be used under trademark registration number 3112676 and others.College designer John Scotford made a stylized version of the shield during the 1960s, but it did not see the success of MacDonald's design. The shield appears to have been used as the basis of the shield of Dartmouth Medical School, and it has been reproduced in sizes as small as 20 micrometers across. The design has appeared onRudolph Ruzicka's Bicentennial Medal (Philadelphia Mint, 1969) and elsewhere.

Dartmouth has never had an official mascot.The nickname "The Big Green," originating in the 1860s, is based on students' adoption of a shade of forest green ("Dartmouth Green") as the school's official color in 1866.[4][180] Beginning in the 1920s, the Dartmouth College athletic teams were known by their unofficial nickname "the Indians", a moniker that probably originated among sports journalists. This unofficial mascot and team name was used until the early 1970s, when its use came under criticism. In 1974, the Trustees declared the "use of the [Indian] symbol in any form to be inconsistent with present institutional and academic objectives of the College in advancing Native American education. Some alumni and students, as well as the conservative student newspaper, The Dartmouth Review, have sought to return the Indian symbol to prominence,but never succeeded in doing so.Various student initiatives have been undertaken to adopt a mascot, but none has become "official." One proposal devised by the college humor magazine the Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern was Keggy the Keg, an anthropomorphic beer keg who makes occasional appearances at college sporting events. Despite student enthusiasm for Keggy, the mascot has received approval from only the student government. In November 2006, student government attempted to revive the "Dartmoose" as a potential replacement amid renewed controversy surrounding the former unofficial Indian mascot.

Dartmouth's alumni are known for their devotion to the college.[187] Most start by giving to the Senior Class Gift. According to a 2008 article in The Wall Street Journal, Dartmouth graduates also earn higher median salaries at least 10 years after graduation than alumni of any other American university surveyed.

Salmon P. Chase, class of 1826, was an American politician: Senator from Ohio, Governor of Ohio, Secretary of the Treasury under Abraham Lincoln, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

By 2008, Dartmouth had graduated 238 classes of students and has over 60,000 living alumni in a variety of fields.

Nelson A. Rockefeller, 41st Vice President of the United States and 49th Governor of New York, graduated cum laude from Dartmouth with a degree in economics in 1930. Over 164 Dartmouth graduates have served in the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives, such as Massachusetts statesman Daniel Webster. Cabinet members of American presidents include Attorney General Amos T. Akerman, Secretary of Defense James V. Forrestal, Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, former Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson, and former Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner. C. Everett Koop was the Surgeon General of the United States under President Ronald Reagan. Two Dartmouth alumni have served as justices on the Supreme Court of the United States:Salmon P. Chase and Levi Woodbury. Eugene Norman Veasey (class of 1954) served as the Chief Justice of Delaware. The 46th and current Governor of Pennsylvania Tom Wolf is also a Dartmouth alumnus.

In literature and journalism, Dartmouth has produced thirteen Pulitzer Prize winners: Thomas M. Burton, Richard Eberhart, Dan Fagin, Robert Frost,[200] Paul Gigot, Frank Gilroy, Jake Hooker, Nigel Jaquiss, Joseph Rago,Martin J. Sherwin, David K. Shipler, David Shribman, and Justin Harvey Smith.

Other authors and media personalities include ABC Senior White House correspondent Jake Tapper, novelist and founding editor of The Believer Heidi Julavits, "Dean of rock critics" Robert Christgau, National Book Award winner Louise Erdrich, novelist/screenwriter Budd Schulberg, political analyst Dinesh D'Souza,radio talk show host Laura Ingraham, commentator Mort Kondracke, and journalist James Panero. Norman Maclean, a former professor at the University of Chicago and author of A River Runs Through It and Other Stories, graduated from Dartmouth in 1924 Theodor Geisel, better known as children's author Dr. Seuss, was a member of the class of 1997

In the area of religion and theology, Dartmouth alumni include priests and ministers Ebenezer Porter, Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs, Caleb Sprague Henry, Arthur Whipple Jenks,Solomon Spalding, and Joseph Tracy; and rabbis Marshall Meyer, Arnold Resnicoff, and David E. Stern. Hyrum Smith, brother of Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith, attended the college in his teens. He was Patriarch of the LDS Church.

Dartmouth alumni in academia include Stuart Kauffman and Jeffrey Weeks, both recipients of MacArthur Fellowships (commonly called "genius grants"). Dartmouth has also graduated three Nobel Prize winners: Owen Chamberlain (Physics, 1959), K. Barry Sharpless (Chemistry, 2001),and George Davis Snell (Physiology or Medicine, 1980).Educators include founder and first president of Bates College, Oren Burbank Cheney (1839),the current chancellor of the University of California, San Diego,Marye Anne Fox (PhD. in Chemistry, 1974), founding president of Vassar College Milo Parker Jewett,[226] founder and first president of Kenyon College Philander Chase,first professor of Wabash College Caleb Mills, and former president of Union College Charles Augustus Aiken.Nine of Dartmouth's 17 presidents were alumni of the College.Timothy Geithner, class of 1983, is a former United States Secretary of the Treasury.

Dartmouth alumni serving as CEOs or company presidents and executives include Charles Alfred Pillsbury, founder of the Pillsbury Company and patriarch of the Pillsbury family, Sandy Alderson (San Diego Padres), John Donahoe (eBay), Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. (IBM), Charles E. Haldeman (Putnam Investments), Donald J. Hall, Sr. (Hallmark Cards), Jeffrey R. Immelt (General Electric), Gail Koziara Boudreaux(United Health Care),[237] Grant Tinker (NBC), and Brian Goldner (Hasbro).In film, entertainment, and television, Dartmouth is represented by Budd Schulberg, Academy Award-winning screenwriter of On the Waterfront,Michael Phillips, who won the Academy Award for best picture as co-producer of The Sting, Rachel Dratch, a cast member of Saturday Night Live, Shonda Rhimes creator of Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice and Scandal, Chris Meledandri Executive Producer of Ice Age, Horton Hears a Who!, and Despicable Me, and the titular character of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Fred Rogers. Other notable film and television figures include Sarah Wayne Callies (Prison Break) Emmy Award winner Michael Moriarty Andrew Shue of Melrose Place,Aisha Tyler of Friends and 24,Connie Britton of Spin City, The West Wing and Friday Night Lights, and Mindy Kaling of The Office and The Mindy Project.

A baseball player standing at first base with his glove, wearing a red jersey with the word "Astros" in front .A number of Dartmouth alumni have found success in professional sports. In baseball, Dartmouth alumni include All-Star and three-time Gold Glove winner and manager Brad Ausmus and All-Star Mike Remlinger. Professional football players include former Miami Dolphins quarterback Jay Fiedler, linebacker Reggie Williams, three-time Pro Bowler Nick Lowery, quarterback Jeff Kemp, and Tennessee Titans tight end Casey Cramer. Dartmouth has also produced a number of Olympic competitors. Adam Nelson won the silver medal in the shotput in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics to go along with his gold medal in the 2005 World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki. Kristin King and Sarah Parsons were members of the United States' 2006 bronze medal-winning ice hockey team. Cherie Piper, Gillian Apps, and Katie Weatherston were among Canada's ice hockey gold medalists in 2006.

Dick Durrance and Tim Caldwell competed for the United States in skiing in the 1936 and 1976 Winter Olympics, respectively.Arthur Shaw, Earl Thomson, Edwin Myers, Marc Wright, Adam Nelson,Gerry Ashworth, and Vilhjálmur Einarsson have all won medals in track and field events. Former heavyweight rower Dominic Seiterle is a member of the Canadian national rowing team and won a gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the men's 8+ event.