Intercollegiate Keys to Hospitality
If any Dartmouth man were ashed, to name the undergraduate organization of which he was proudest, TheGreen Key Society would probably be his first or secondchoice. Democratic, non-secret, a bit s-pectacular in dressand work, the members take it upon themselves to make allofficial undergraduate visitors at Dartmouth feel at home.The Green Key men actually open all the doors of theCollege to their guests. And now that the movement, whichoriginated in the far West by the way, has grown to greatproportions, the inevitable and natural consequence is anational "hook-up."
THE worries of an athletic manager are multifold. When he arrives with his team in a strange town, there are generally innumerable little details and directions to bother him and make his life a hectic existence. However, through the work of a number of student organizations throughout the country, a great deal of the worry has been removed, for colleges are more and more recognizing their roles as hosts to visiting teams and this spirit of hospitality is gradually replacing the former feeling of bitter rivalry, tinges of which all of us feel at times.
At Dartmouth the Green Key organization, serving as the official college host, has made a name for itself throughout the east for its thorough system of hospitality, and its constitution has become the basic foundation of a number of similar key bodies. Managers on teams visiting Hanover know they will have few of their customary troubles facing them, and profuse thanks testify to their appreciation of the work of the Green Key members. An organization titled "Knights of the Hook" at University of Washington was the Dartmouth model.
When a visiting team detrains at White River Junction, the men will find awaiting them two students clad in white flannels, green sweaters and green hats marked with the Key emblem. The pair will ask for the manager, introduce themselves, and direct the party to a waiting bus which has already been reserved. From this time until the team leaves for home, one of the Green Key men will be with it practically every minute. The run to Hanover is always enlivened by countless questions and jokings about Dartmouth and the relative merits of the two teams. In Hanover the party is taken to the Davis Field House, where their sleeping quarters are provided. There the Key men make certain that all sufficient provisions have been made for the visitors.
In an interview with the manager, the two Key representatives learn all his plans, arrange his meal hours and menus for him, make all necessary provisions for early practice or workouts, and in general take as much work as possible from his shoulders. The members of the team are gladly shown around the campus and helped to locate any Dartmouth acquaintances they may have. At whichever show is judged most convenient the Green Key acts as host to the whole squad. This is arranged by having one of the two Green Key men hold seats in the Nugget while the other takes charge of the team. Visiting squads always seem to get a big "kick" from the peanut fights and the absence of formality that feature the Hanover movies.
ON THE FIELD
At the meet or game the two Key men are on hand early to make sure that the team has everything it will need during the coming tussle, and when the battle is over, they help the manager collect his baggage and then send it off for him. Dartmouth Alumni who watched any of the home football games this fall will probably recall having seen two green-sweatered and green-capped students rush out on the field whenever a visiting player was seriously hurt and help him to the sidelines. During these larger athletic contests three men are generally assigned to the visiting team.
An example of the incidental work this organization can do came one weekend this winter when the Syracuse swimming team was meeting the Green natatores. About an hour before the meet a telegram came for one of the Orange swimmers with the news that his sister was dying in New York. With the railroad station five miles away, with complicated train schedules other than the two the itinerary called for, no knowledge of the bus service, the usual rush of details just before the meet, and a chap on his hands trying to keep from breaking down, such a predicament would ordinarily have driven a manager to distraction, but here all was easily arranged. One of the Green Key men obtained a time table and bus schedule and helped the player collect his luggage, accompanied him to the Junction, and left him as the train pulled out.
The Green Key performs several other functions in Dartmouth life. In the fall during the first week of college the members wear their uniforms and serve as guidebooks and fatherly advisors to woe-begone, bewildered freshmen. A little later during Delta Alpha the Key together with Palaeopitus supervises the stunts and the final grand parade between the halves of the first football game. It serves a further function in conducting the annual Red Cross drive in January, work which means the canvassing of all the dormitories and fraternity houses, work which is decidedly hard because of the proverbial hesitancy with which college students part with money, no matter how worthy the cause. For those people who look Upon Dartmouth as a rich man's college, it is recommended that they make a subscription canvass of the campus for some cause. In addition to this work the Key officiates at various class elections, parades and rushes. The final activity of the Green Key year lies in conducting the wet-down in June. Last year, after supervising the running of the gauntlet by the three lower classes, the members decided to run through themselves. All four classes were ready for them and they suffered accordingly.
AN INTERCOLLEGIATE MOVEMENT
The most important factor behind this work is the fact that the idea is rapidly spreading to colleges throughout the United States and Canada, and there are now over fifty "key" organizations in active existence. The Green Key, feeling that these separate units, many of which it has helped build up, should be more closely united, held an intercollegiate Key conference in Hanover on March 15, to which came over fifty student delegates from twenty-five colleges and universities including the following: Bowdoin, Brown, Boston College, Colby, Colgate, Cornell, Columbia, Hobart, Holy Cross, McGill, Maine, Massachusetts Agricultural College, Massachusetts Institute Technology, Middlebury, New Hampshire, Northeastern, Norwich, Penn. State, Pittsburgh, Springfield, Syracuse, U. S. Military Academy, U. S. Naval Academy, Williams and Yale.
The program of entertainment included several banquets, athletic meets, and the first Green Key Prom, but the most important work lay in the number of discussions which were held during the course of the convention relative to the various problems and manners of activity connected with these official collegewelcoming bodies. The type of organization was approached from all angles and the best elements of the different systems brought out. The final step of the Green Key was the proposal for some form of a national executive committee which would closely knit the various organizations without depriving them of any of their power. As a result the delegates voted to select a central committee of five colleges with Dartmouth as chairman whose purpose would be to maintain connections between the various key bodies throughout the country. The following five were chosen: Green Key, chairman, the Cornell Red Key, McGill Scarlet Key, Penn. State Blue Key and Williams Purple Key.
The first Green Key Prom held on the same week-end of the convention proved a great success. The Key felt that the usual Green Key Show was hardly worthy of its name and hence turned to this one day prom weekend at which the student body could entertain at a slight expense. The guests were housed in Middle Massachusetts Hall and were offered a program of en- tertainment including the Prom, "Journey's End" by the Players, and several athletic events. To the fresh- men class, which is more or less barred from other so- cial activities, the Prom was especially attractive as the absence of fraternity activities made the students feel that their guests were not missing any of the program.
THE GREEN KEY 1930 Fifth row: C. K. O'Neill, A. B. Beckwith, Jr., A. H. Spiegel, V. R. King, R. Fisher, R. N. Hatcher, L. J. Clark, W. C. Wolff, R. G. Biesel, Jr., R. S. Oelman. Fourth row: A. W. Seepe, G. M. Magee, H. W. Galley, Jr., H. B. Burroughs, H. L. Johnson, Jr., P. J. Crehan, C. S. Nims, E. B. Sutton, E. D. Gruen. Third row: W. F. Steck, A. W. Laughton, F. E. Hodson, J. H. Chamberlain, D. M. Larrabee, R. S. Wagner, C. Thorn, Jr., E. E. Wollaeger, R. T. Maynard, J. M. O'Connor. Second row: L. F. Andrews, G. O. Bliss, J. H. Reno G. N. Stevens, J. Rick, III, L. E. Myllykangas, G. C. Nickum, R. O. Nims, E. J. O'Connor. First row: R. E. Lee, C. L. Sullivan, J. R. Warwick, W. B. Minehan, J. B. Martin, K. R. Fall, H. W. Alton, Jr., C. S. Robinson, R. A. Rolfe.
