Andrew Lohse's now infamous op-ed in The Dartmouth and the following Rolling Stone expose on the College's Greek life were published less than halfway through my freshman year. At the time, I couldn't have told you where Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity was, or even how to pronounce the notorious '12's last name. I didn't know anything about pledge term or how the rush process worked, and had only a vague concept of the system's structure.
But I do remember the uproar and the politics that followed. I experienced firsthand the administration's policy adaptations surrounding hazing, and like most students, I was convinced that this was a time of unprecedented controversy in the Greek system's history.
An interesting thing about college is that institutional memory is limited to the four years it takes students to graduate. So while we might want to think of our own era as the one to remember for posterity, changes have been happening on this campus long before our time and will continue to happen long after. As the central social structure on campus, fewer aspects of Dartmouth life have been surrounded by more controversy and adaptation than the Greek system.
This may surprise few readers, but 20 years ago it was the perpetual "worst class ever," i.e. freshmen, who fell in the center of controversy. While we were facing the challenge of eating with a spoon, Greek politics were already well underway, specifically regarding the inclusion of first-year students in the system.
In a 1994 op-ed in The Dartmouth, Dan Richman '95 spoke out about the benefits of holding fraternity and sorority rush during freshman spring, the norm for the classes of 1992 and earlier. The administration, however, felt it was important for students to experience a full year of college before electing to participate in Greek life. While it might seem incomprehensible now, a "freshman exclusion policy" was in place for most of the '90s, prohibiting first-year students from attending registered parties on campus.
The reality, however, is that there are probably few people on this campus more desperate to get into a frat than those who are new to the college scene.
As one anonymous freshmen told The Dartmouth in 1995, "Where there are windows, freshmen will get in."
It's unclear when exactly we started letting freshmen use doors, yet controversy surrounding Dartmouth's social scene remained heavily talked about in the '90s. In 1991, the College caused an uproar by prohibiting kegs from all Greek houses. More than 800 students held protests outside of Webster Hall, which today houses the Rauner Special Collections Library. Even the 1992 Winter Carnival sculpture of the Grinch sitting on the banned barrel became a vehicle to condemn the decision. Fourteen months after the initial decision, the ban was lifted.
Much like today, alcohol policy went through cyclical adaptation for several years. In 1998, then Dean of the College Lee Pelton finally issued what students and administrators viewed as a compromise, allowing no more than five kegs at registered social events and Safety and Security monitor teams entering houses on a regular basis.
While the alcohol policies of some decades ago might not sound drastically different from those in place now, the new millennium brought plenty of other obstacles and initiatives. A letter delivered to Hinman boxes from President Jim Wright and the Board of Trustees in February 1999 established the framework for the highly controversial "Student Life Initiative."
Key proposals in the initiative included the abolition of single-sex campus organizations and an eventual "end to the Greek system as we know it." The report also suggested that basements be transformed into study spaces and pledge term removed. While the goals of improving student residential life might have been well-intended, the response from students and alumni was dramatic and included marches on the lawn of the President's House. One sign on a Greek house window even accused the College's 16th president of treason, declaring "Judas, Brutus, Arnold, Wright!"
Within a few years, campus stakeholders generally acknowledged that both the presentation and radical approach of the Student Life Initiative were mistakes. The website for the project has not been updated since 2004, preserved as an online snapshot of the College's recent history.
The early 2000s also saw the implementation of GPA standards for Greek membership, a controversial proposal. In a 2001 report by the Greek Life Steering Committee, now defunct, a minimum 2.3 GPA was set forth for the first time in College history.
While most understood the logic of imposing academic standards on extracurricular institutions, there was a greater backlash against the Office of Residential Life's 2007 decision to release the average GPAs of all Greek organizations. Students complained to The Dartmouth that the information violated privacy rights and reinforced campus stereotypes. Several years later, this data remains readily available.
As many of us were on campus to experience, former President Jim Yong Kim's brief tenure included a significant focus on educating students about the dangers of alcohol consumption. His open approach to discussing binge drinking and sexual assault included forums with Greek organizations and collaborations with Hanover Police to reduce the number of student arrests for underage drinking.
While Greek policy adaptations of the past year, particular in regards to the broadening of the definition of "hazing," may seem drastic in the scope of our college experiences, historical records show otherwise. Pledge gear might require more caution than it used to, but changes to the system are nothing new.
Over half the students here don't actually have memories of the FoCo runway, the old Sig Ep or that room in Baker-Berry before there was KAF (who would protest KAF?). Adaptations eventually become the traditions, and if you want nostalgia and reminiscence well, that's what reunions are for.
