Title: Changeover

Informant Info: Mene Ukueberuwa is an Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of The Dartmouth Review. He is a ’16 (formerly ’14) from Princeton, NJ. He was interviewed on May 12, 2016 at the Collis Center in Hanover, NH.

Type of Lore: Customary, Ritual

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States

Social / Cultural Context:  Winter Carnival is a larger Dartmouth tradition in the middle of winter. It is a convenient time for the Review to have changeover, as the board of directors and some alumni return for the big weekend. It is important for the organization to have leadership pass from class to class before seniors graduate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPxWY6Lo5B0&feature=youtu.be

Transcript:

So another tradition we have is our changeover dinner, that happens once a year, the weekend of Winter Carnival is when we decide who the new Editor and President are going to be, so they sit for interviews with our advisory board, and then the new Editor, President are always announced at our dinner that we have off campus, usually at a hotel, a country club, or something like that.  It gives us a chance to have a kind of formal gathering of all of the staff on campus and some of our alumni who come back to celebrate the transition … Well, it’s always a festive time for staffers. Do you want me to go into full detail here? … Yes.  There was one staffer who may have gotten a little bit carried away with the libations. I don’t think that he was particularly used to it at that point in his Dartmouth career, and he ended up actually salivating a bit, drooling on one of the members of our advisory board, but I think it was all taken in good fun, and it was a sign that the undergrads are still just as lively as when he had been here at Dartmouth.

Collector’s Comments: The Review’s annual tradition of changeover can be interpreted as a ritual in Arnold van Gennep’s framework for rites of passage. Before the event of changeover, separation occurs, as the previous leadership symbolically steps down. The event itself is transition, with the passing of the torch from the old leadership to new leadership. The incorporation phase is ongoing throughout the rest of winter and spring term as the new Editor and President grow into their roles with the mentorship of the Emeritus Editor and President. Mene was willing to share a story that demonstrated the festive atmosphere of the event, but many of the other details of event do not seem to be privy to the public.