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This coming weekend is a Reunion weekend for Davidson alumni — a grand tradition — and like many Davidson traditions initiated by students and alumni.
The first reunions were informal gatherings at commencements as alumni returned to share in the celebration. It wasn’t long until they became a part of commencement first by sponsoring a speaker and later with a special luncheon. In 1849, the speaker was James G. Ramsay, a Davidson graduate in the class of 1841 who had gone on to be physician. Showing an early tendency towards the idea of Medical Humanities, Dr. Ramsay’s speech was on “The Duty of Literary Men to their Country.”
Alumni organized themselves into a general association with a board by the 1870s but individual classes also sponsored their own reunions. The class of 1876 held a reunion in 1916 and appointed a committee to “secure, edit, and print sketches of all the members of the class, both living and deceased.” The committee did its work well producing a 41 page booklet and initiating a tradition of reunion booklets
The alumni luncheon remained a central part of commencement activities. Activities which lasted 3 or 4 days and even when lunch (as in 1918) happened at 5pm. By 1938, the number of speeches had been reduced and alumni events were concentrated and the lunch.
Reunion remained a part of commencement until 1963, when the college experimented with moving reunions into June as Alumni Weekends that included lectures and capsule courses. Reactions varied, with some alumni expressing concern over “shattered traditions.” President Martin explained the change:
This is the way I feel about the alumni activities at Commencement. We have of course changed several things about commencement which some people might consider to be tradition shattering. I am very pleased with the elimination of class day exercises, which became a real farce and not a pleasant one and I feel that the exercises have been improved further by the elimination of the valedictory and salutatory address. We are this year combining the baccalaureate sermon with the commencement address and thereby reducing the unusual length of time which is required for a commencement exercise when you present each graduate with his diploma individually. . . . I assure you that part of our reason for this experiment with the alumni week-end is designed to make the affair more convenient for the alumni rather than to make them play second fiddle to the seniors and their families at the commencement time. This is a system which has been used over a long period of time by a number of the best colleges in America.
In 1971, the reunions moved back to May and then in 1972, they moved to April. We hope that everyone returning this coming April weekend will have a wonderful time renewing friendships, checking what changes have happened on campus, and enjoying spring in North Carolina.
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