The Big Day
QUOTE/UNQUOTE "Dartmouth is a high-stress school, and boxing is a great stress reliever. Hitting that bag helps get a lot of aggression out. Plus, it gets you in great shape." -MEGAN FEHELY 03 OF THE DARTMOUTH BOXING CLUB
OF ALL THE MASS GATHERINGS AT Dartmouth each year—Convocation, Homecoming, Tubestock—perhaps none leaves as big an impression and, well, the feeling of victory, as Commencement does. "It's a happy day in the life of the College," says Ann Munves Malenka '80, director of public programs. Malenka coordinates hundreds of administrators, faculty and students to make the annual three-hour ceremony appear effortless. Oh, but there is a mighty effort indeed. Consider these facts:
SPEAKERS AND HONORARYDEGREES
• A committee of six faculty members and the senior class president solicits nominations for a working list of 100 to 150 potential honorary degree recipients, one of whom will speak. The list is whittled to 15 to 20 before being submitted to the board of trustees.
• The College president sends out letters of invitation to a select few in the fall term, hoping to net seven to nine honorees by spring. Those selected receive a large diploma, a copy of their citation, a green satin hood and a complimentary stay at the Hanover Inn.
• Speakers are announced in April or May when the whole roster is confirmed and settled. "The D starts dogging us [for the names] as soon as they come back winter term," says Cheryl Reynolds, secretary of the board of trustees. "It's worth a shot. They're hoping we'll buckle." (Note: She never buckles.) The keynote speaker for this year's June 8 ceremony, author and historian David McCullough, was announced May 8.
• In the past century, two U.S. presidents have spoken at Commencement: Dwight Eisenhower (1953) and Bill Clinton (1995).
• The valedictorian, who also speaks, isn't known until the last grades are in, but students in the running are notified by the deans office to have their pencils sharpened.
ON THE GREEN
• Facilities Operations & Management uses 1,000 yards of string to line up 10,000 chairs—put down the string, line up the rows, pull up the string. They begin this job on the Wednesday before graduation.
• Lining the Green this year were 191 flags, representing every country in the United Nations. Dartmouth buys the new flag of any new U.N. countries as they join. This year the grounds department had to buy Switzerland and Timor-Leste, two countries that joined in 2002. Other recent flag purchases include Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga and Tuvalu.
• Forty faculty or staff ushers and 25 Green Key students hand out programs and assist with last-minute needs.
• There are 27 water stations, each holding a 5-gallon jug. Last year thirsty attendees drank 600 gallons of water.
• Sign language interpreters are on call, with reserved seats for guests with hearing impairments.
• No vendors of any kind are allowed on the Green. You can't "get your hot dogs here."
THE STAGE
• Since 1998 the College has been renting the platform. The previous platform was built in 1953 for Eisenhowers visit. The "Eisenhower Platform" was periodically patched up and used until 1997.
• The main stage is 48 feet by 28 feet by 5 feet high. (There is a lift to the stage for people who can't climb the stairs.)
DIPLOMAS
• Last year 1,101 undergraduate diplomas and 479 masters and doctoral diplomas were handed out at Commencement.
• For the past five years, Barbara Stender of Hartford, Vermont, has done all the calligraphy. She needs about a month and a half to write all the undergraduate names.
• For students with "laudes," seals must be affixed by hand to each of their diplomas. The deans office does that the Friday before Commencement.
THE MARCH
• To plan the march order—alphabetical, alternating sides of the stage—the deans office needs to find out which students plan to march. They ask students to fill out a form, which is now on the Web. There are always a handful who don't comply. The dean's office then e-mails, calls or writes those students until it gets an answer.
• About 140 professors march each year. Malenka's office rents them regalia if they don't have their own.
WEATHER
• Rain last forced the ceremony into Thompson Arena back in 1994. Due to limited seating, not everyone could witness the ceremony firsthand. There were many complaints. Ever since then it's been outside, rain or shine.
• If rain is likely, diplomas won't be given out on stage so as to protect the paper and ink—graduates get nothing but a handshake when their names are called. The decision can be made as late as when the procession is coming in.
• Even when it poured in 1998, and the committee sought ways to shorten the ceremony, it was agreed that Dartmouth should announce each individual name, even if that meant 40 extra minutes in the rain.
• The week leading up to Commencement, Malenka is in touch with Mark Breen, Vermont Public Radios "Eye on the Sky" meteorologist. He takes her calls personally. (She learned from him that there is never a zero percent chance of rain; there's always at least a 15 percent chance, even without a cloud in the sky.)
• The College keeps on hand approximately 2,000 plastic ponchos, one for each graduate, faculty member and honorary degree recipient.
PROGRAMS
• Dartmouth Printing (which is not College owned) prints 12,000 programs, and turns them around in 48 hours.
• The College orders (and hopes to sell) 4,000 graduation announcements to undergraduates. It's a break-even proposition.
COST
• Try as we did to make them crack, the Colleges staff is well coached: Nobody will reveal details about the Commencement budget, so the cost of those 2,000 plastic ponchos and 12,000 programs shall remain a mystery.
CODA
• And when it's over, it begins again. Planning for the following year starts with a debrief meeting a week after Commencement.
Measuring Up A thousand yards ofstring are used to align 10,000 chairs.
Wet Weather? College officials havethousands of plastic ponchos on handjust in case it rains.
Getting It Write The task of addinggraduates' names to diplomas falls to asingle calligrapher.
QUOTE UNQUOTE "We're quite sure that there will be a significant deficit for '05. I would say a [hiring] freeze is not out of the question." -PROVOST BARRY SCHERR IN A MAY VALLEY NEWS STORY PROJECTING MORE BUDGET WOES DUE TO A 5 TO 6 PERCENT DECLINE IN DARTMOUTH'S ENDOWMENT VALUE
