1.) Anonymous male member of the class of 2019 from San Francisco, California. He is not affiliated yet but enjoys spending time and playing pong at fraternities.

2.) Anonymous male member of the class of 2019 from Long Island, New York. He is a varsity athlete and isn’t affiliated with a fraternity.

3.) Patrick Peterson is a 2018 from Chicago, Illinois. He is a member of Chi Heorot fraternity. Patrick is very active in Greek life and has been single for his entire time at Dartmouth.

4.) Dustin Shirley is a 2018 from Los Angeles, California. He is a member of the varsity baseball team. Dustin had a serious relationship for a year at Dartmouth but has been single his sophomore year.

5.) AnnClaire MacArt is a 2018 from San Francisco, California. She is a member of the varsity swim team and a sister at Chi Delt sorority. She has not had a serious relationship here at Dartmouth.

6.) Anonymous female member of the class of 2017. She is from New York and a member of the cheerleading team. She is affiliated with a  sorority and is currently in a serious relationship.

7.) Anonymous female member of the class of 2017. She is from Houston, Texas and is a sister at Alpha Phi sorority. She is very involved in Greek life and is currently single.

8.) Joe Purritano is a member of the class of 2016.  He is also a member of the baseball team. He is from New Jersey. Joe has been single for one year at Dartmouth and had a long-distance relationship for three years here.

9.) Duncan Robinson is a member of the class of 2016.  He is a member of Beta Alpha Omega fraternity and also a member of the baseball team.  He was single throughout his first two years at Dartmouth, and has been in a long term relationship for his junior and senior year at Dartmouth.

10.) Charles Cai is a member of the Class of 2016 at Dartmouth College and on the golf team. He is brother at the Tri Kap fraternity. He is currently in a relationship. 

Collectors’ notes: Not all informants were mentioned in our posts.  This is because many of them touched upon the same subjects and we did not want to be too repetitive in our stories.

Dartmouth’s rural setting and tight-knit community have created many unique, campus-wide relationship traditions. Through our interviews with numerous informants we were able to collect common folkloric aspects of the relationship culture at Dartmouth College. All of the items we have presented are campus wide traditions that were passed on to these students as soon as they stepped foot on campus. The widespread and salient nature of this folklore collection proves, without a doubt, that these traditions have been present at Dartmouth College long before we came to campus and will continue to be present long after we are gone. 

Dartmouth Relationship Folklore

By: Marc Bachman, Michael Danielak, Thomas Roulis

Professors Mikhail Gronas and Victoria Somoff

Why Dartmouth Relationship Folklore: In 1978, Dartmouth College began offering admission to female students, and this remote college began to develop a unique and distinct culture surrounding dating and relationships.  Unlike other campuses, at Dartmouth there is no real social scene outside of the campus because there is no club / bar life for students to interact. Due to the club / bar scene absence, fraternities and sororities have come to completely dominate the Dartmouth social experience.  As a result of this unique situation, many aspects of Dartmouth relationship and dating folklore have come to be.

Who is the folk: Our folk group is all current Dartmouth students as well as Dartmouth alumni. Anybody who has attended Dartmouth since the admission of female students has contributed to this folklore and therefore is part of our folk group. 

Informant Information: Joe Purritano is a member of the Class of 2016.  He is also a member of the baseball team and from New Jersey. Joe has been single for one year at Dartmouth and had a long-distance relationship for three years here.

Type of Folklore: Customary Folklore (Belief)

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States of America

Social / Cultural Context: The D-Plan offers great flexibility for students and very few Dartmouth students take the same path to graduation. The off-term flexibility also creates tension and difficulty for potential relationships. In addition to the D-Plan, the academic rigor and motivated student body seems to place school and their futures ahead of romantic commitments at this point in their lives. This reality has seemed to create a hookup culture at Dartmouth, where it is rare to find romantic commitment.

Associated File: 

Transcript: “The culture of romance here at Dartmouth seems to be of the hookup nature, doesn’t seem to be very relationship based. It seems to be more, I don’t want to downplay it, but one-night stands per say. Less romantic involvement because students are preoccupied with their careers, their futures, maybe not as emotionally open to certain things.”

Collector’s Comments: Joe seemed to think that fraternity parties did not foster traditional relationships, but rather an adventurous, easy-going attitude when it came to romantic engagements. He acknowledged that while many people seem to be frustrated with this, he doesn’t see it changing anytime soon.

Informant Information: Patrick Peterson is a member of the class of 2018.  He is also a member of the baseball team and the Chi Hereot fraternity.

Type of Folklore: Customary Folklore (Game)

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States of America

Social / Cultural Context: This is one of the newest aspects of Dartmouth relationship folklore. This is a way for students who are less outgoing to explore potential crushes they may have. The anonymous nature of the game creates low risk scenarios for all parties involved. Beginning each spring term there is a buzz about campus around when the Last Chance app will be released and once it is students immediately share the link with all their friends.

Transcript: “Well recently the Last Chances Website was released. This is where I can go and put in the name of a girl and if she anonymously puts in my name it will notify us of the match so we can have a chance to hook up before the year ends. The small rural campus allows that to be successful at Dartmouth”

Collector’s Comments: Patrick and his friends are all fans of this app. It is very exciting to see if somebody has mutual feelings for you but because the app is anonymous, there is no feeling of embarrassment or rejection if they do not feel the same way. Pat said this is not the most prevalent game on campus, as he did not hear about it until his freshman spring, but he believes that the app will continue to grow in popularity just like other dating apps.

Informant Information: Anonymous female member of the Class of 2017 from Houston, Texas.  She is also a member of Alpha Phi sorority.  

Type of Folklore: Customary Folklore – Belief

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States of America

Social / Cultural Context: This is referring to the level of attraction for males and females throughout their tenure at Dartmouth.  It is the belief that female attractiveness decreases throughout their time at Dartmouth while the male attractiveness increases.  Males and females are at the same level of attractiveness over sophomore summer, signaling the middle of the X.

Associated File:

Transcript: “Are there certain trends or things that people do together whether they’re boyfriend/girlfriend or whether they’re in that hookup culture?”

“You hear about the Dartmouth X, which don’t know if I totally believe it. I believe it on the guys side, because I feel like senior guys are obsessed with freshman girls. On the girls side, I don’t really think that senior girls are willing to jump at freshman guys. Like, it’s kind of a one sided x.”

“But there’s definitely that stigma there on campus?”

“Yeah, that once you’re a senior girl you are kind of like unworthy and everyone wants the freshmen. And for the guys, nobody really wants freshmen guys, everybody wants senior guys.”

“Right, so as you move up if you’re a male, you get higher up on that list and it’s a downword spiral for the girls, that’s what I’ve been hearing.”

“Yeah, and the only time that you’re equal is sophomore summer.”

Collector’s Comments: We have heard this belief from a number of informants.  Some students strongly believed in the Dartmouth X, while others believe in only one side of the X and others viewed it as a total myth. Girls seem to be more reluctant to believe that their social status on campus slowly diminishes as they get older, so most of the female informant believe that the Dartmouth X is a myth. 

Informant Information: Chales Cai is a member of the Class of 2016 at Dartmouth.  He is also a member of the golf team and the fraternity Kappa Kappa Kappa.  He has had a girlfriend for one of his four years at Dartmouth.

Type of Folklore: Customary (festival) / Material (clothing)

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States of America

Social / Cultural Context: Formal is major dating event at Dartmouth.  Inviting a person to formal is a great way to meet someone.  Formals vary from fraternity to fraternity and sorority to sorority.  Inviting a date to formal is widely thought as a much more serious step in a relationship than asking them to play a pong game. While pong is a game used to get to know people, students usually ask people to formal who they definitely have feelings for. 

Associated File:

Transcript: “So you have formals, like fraternities and sororities have formals, all different types of clubs, so asking a girl to formal is a good way to meet them.”

“Are there any traditions in these formals or semi formals?”

“I guess it depends on each fraternity or sorority. Beta always has boat formal where they go out on a boat. Typically they are either around campus or at venues around the upper valley.”

“Do you have to wear anything special to these formals?”

“I mean people dress up, usually girls wear dresses, guys wear a suit and tie. I guess it’s a chance to look good and dress up, whereas most of the time you’re hanging out with a girl in the basement or playing pong.”

Informants Comments: Charles Cai discusses the boat formal that Beta Alpha Omega has every year.  He also notes that formals vary from house to house, but that the traditions of folklore are very much alive.

Collector’s Comments:A second informant also discussed semi-formals.  This informant told us that semi-formals are much more casual and involve certain themes often accompanied by wearing costumes.  Semi-formals involve bringing a date as well.