Private,
liberal arts college founded in
1769 and located in
Hanover,
New Hampshire. Member of the
Ivy League. Grad programs include
engineering,
business administration,
medicine and
electronic music, among others, though Dartmouth takes pains define itself as an
undergraduate college, rather than a
university.
Dartmouth was founded by evangelist Eleazar Wheelock with the aim of converting "heathen" native americans to Christianity, though there are conflicting accounts claiming he was just trying to scam some money from the second Earl of Dartmouth. King George III chartered the college and granted it two large tracts of land, which were the subject of an early Supreme Court case, Dartmouth v. Woodward, where the state of New Hampshire attempted to claim that following the American Revolution, a contract with the King of England was invalid, and it should be able to take Darmouth's land. Graduate Daniel Webster argued that, "it's a small college, but there are those who love it", and won the case, which established the sanctity contracts in US law. Today, Dartmouth is one of the largest landowners in New Hampshire.
Dartmouth remained an all-male school until 1973, and at that time had a repuation as the easiest of the Ivies. The school has spent much of the past twenty five years trying to improve that repuation. Presently, it is one of the most selective private colleges, but still has some vestiges of the older, more conservative era, such as a big Greek scene. The administration working hard to eliminate the frats, which pisses off rich alumni who have helped to create one of the largest endowments in the country on a per-student basis. Frats and binge drinking remain popular among the students, because there isn't much else to do in Hanover.
Famous Dartmouth inventions include the computer language BASIC, Dartmouth College Time-sharing System, or DCTS, and the Synclavier, an early synthesizer.
There's also a funny Dartmouth connection with children's icons: Dr. Seuss and Mr. Rogers attended, but dropped out, and Captain Kangaroo is an honorary member of the class of 1946.