HANOVER, N.H.--Although only ten days remained before the fabled New Hampshire primary, the upcoming presidential contest was not the most important event of the month for the Dartmouth students gathered in the flooded parking lot of the Psi Upsilon fraternity last Saturday afternoon.

For more than a decade, the fraternity has turned its parking lot into an ice rink for the much-beloved Winter Carnival Keg Jump. The well-attended event, which features students on ice skates jumping over beer kegs, typifies the spirit of celebration that characterizes Dartmouth's Winter Carnival.

The festival weekend draws alumni from all over the country and completely occupies the attention of most students in the weeks before the carnival.

Because of the carnival--as well as many other factors--many Dartmouth students are not involved with the upcoming primary.

Only those registered as Republicans in New Hampshire are eligible to vote. On a campus where some students confess they have never met anyone who legally resides in the Granite State, it is not surprising to see a low level of student involvement in this year's campaigns.

Apathy on Campus

Dartmouth students characterize the student body as generally apathetic politically, with whatever student involvement exists centered around journalistic and political organizations.

This general indifference frustrates some student leaders.

"I don't think that Dartmouth students are very political overall," says first-year Rex L. Morey, a member of the Student Assembly and Freshman Council.

Instead of being involved with outside politics, Morey says, Dartmouth students tend to be more interested in internal school affairs, which they believe they can directly influence.

"The most active groups on campus are the Student Assembly and the class councils," Morey says. "They focus on school policy and student concerns. These groups are popular because students see that they achieve things and their work has an impact."

Students questioned during last weekend's Winter Carnival demonstrated a greater interest in the festival than in the political process, confirming Morey's view of an indifferent student body.

Senior Gholson J. Lyon, a biochemistry concentrator, says some political groups on campus "sent out a mailing about trying to get people involved in the candidates."

But he says he, himself, is not active politically at Dartmouth.

"I'm a science person," he shrugs.