The most recent issue of the left-wing campus publication, bug, which was delivered to my door on Wednesday, brought to light an interesting phenomenon. There are people at Dartmouth who wish the College was more like New York City. This irrational desire for a more metropolitan campus highlights the assumptions made by many in the anti-Greek "movement" about what social life on this campus would or will be like without a Greek system.
Actually, Wednesday was not the first time I had witnessed a desire to bring some of New York to the Hanover Plain. Early last term I asked Andrew Smith '94 to predict what Dartmouth would be like in ten years. He told me he wished he could say it would resemble New York with a lively club scene.
At that time I largely agreed with the comment. If one could magically transport the variety of entertainment that exists in New York to Dartmouth it would make an already great place that much greater.
Now I find not one, but two references in the latest bug to the idea of making Dartmouth more like New York City. The first reference is in a section entitled, "headlines we'd love to see in The Dartmouth." One of them reads "Dartmouth College relocates to site 15 minutes outside of NYC." Clearly, intended to be tongue in cheek.
The second reference, however, is entirely serious. In her article/editorial "Does Dartmouth Prepare You for the Real World?" Yun Chung '97 compares the New York nightspots of Club USA and the Limelight to the social scene at the College.
Chung asserts that in these clubs "homosexuals, heterosexuals, rich, poor, white, minorities..." etc. all hang out together. While here at Dartmouth we have a "monotonous 'one-type' crowd." I take her to be referring to the Greek oriented social life on campus.
I agree that any social scene should be open to all people despite their differences. However, given the context of the article and the entire publication it seems that the argument being made is that the variety of social options in New York causes the open minded social attitude. Therefore social life at Dartmouth should be made to resemble that of New York City.
The problems of social life at the College are numerous. The current system encourages animosity between the sexes and also between those who perceive themselves as "mainstream" and those who prefer to avoid that categorization.
Clearly there is a need for change. However, any changes that are made must accept certain factors about the College. The student population is small, the local population is small and the nearest metropolitan area is more than two hours away.
These factors have as much influence over social life at Dartmouth as the Greek system. If the Greek system is overhauled or removed these factors will still exist.
No matter what happens to Dartmouth the majority of the social options will always be provided by groups of students who pool their resources to create some sort of diversion. This sort of system is inherently different from city life.
Campus debate and discussion can bring about great changes in the attitudes and organization of Dartmouth. There is certainly no reason why the current flawed social structure must remain. However, many of the forces which shape that structure are outside of human control. Thankfully, those forces also guarantee that Dartmouth College will never resemble New York City.
