From the Archives: Dolphy Day: A necessity to this campus

“Will the administration allow Dolphy Day this year?”

As better weather approaches, this question is going to be on the minds of a lot of people. The question is kind of silly because the administration has never “allowed” Dolphy Day, but has been forced to tolerate it because the vast majority of students went along. If students decide to continue Dolphy Day tradition, what can the administration do, arrest us all? Kick everybody off campus? Of course not.

Dolphy Day is a necessity on Le Moyne’s normally apathetic campus. It is the one day of the year where Le Moyne’s students decide to do things their way instead of following the administration’s edict. Some of the wardens, such as Dean Yost and Barb Malone, join the inmates for a drink or two. The day is marked by festivities and good times for all.

Furthermore, for one day, Le Moyne students are the envy of the town. People who normally believe Le Moyne’s student body to be quiet, conservative and studious are alerted to the truth. The whole college is allowed one workday off before serious work begins for final examinations.

Naturally Le Moyne’s administration is against Dolphy Day. They usually cite reasons such as Le Moyne’s liability insurance and the hazards to students. This year their reason for killing Dolphy Day is the recent increase imposed on New York’s 19 to 21-year-old population by Governor Cuomo and the youth-haters in the New York State Legislature. Because most of Le Moyne’s students cannot legally purchase alcohol, Dolphy Day must end, so administrators will have you believe.

The tradition simply won’t die easily because too many LeMoynites have excellent memories of Dolphy Day. Two years ago, for instance, Dolphy Day was jerked around by the administration. The Grand Wizard of Dolphy Day had decided Dolphy Day would be on a Friday because Dean Yost wanted the campus to look nice for visitors, so the story goes. Some students decided to declare Dolphy Day on Thursday anyway, and they put toilet paper through the trees early in the morning. When David Watt (then Grand Wizard) and the rest of his Seton cronies stumbled home from the Lost Horizon, they were surprised to find paper in the trees and decided to cancel Dolphy Day. For some reason, most of the students went along. (I didn’t, spending most of the day behind the Complex, drinking Pride of the Lakes Pink Catawba) and Dolphy Day was postponed. Obviously the administration hopes that influence can squelch a 15-year tradition.

Obviously they are wrong, but remember that a campus tradition is threatened. In order to save it, every student is going to get involved one sunny day in April and take orders from no one. If the administration kills Dolphy Day, there is no limit to the changes they could impose on Le Moyne students.