College President James Freedman and Dean of the College Lee Pelton answered questions on topics ranging from the coeducation of the Greek system to the value of a Dartmouth education in a fire-side chat last night at Chi Gamma Epsilon fraternity.
Chi Gam and Sigma Delta sorority co-sponsored the event in an effort to improve relations between the administration and the Greek system, Chi Gam President Kevin Fleming '95 said. About 45 members of Chi Gam and Sigma Delt attended the discussion.
Freedman said he thinks the College's Greek system will become fully coeducational within 10 years because of the increasing number of women at the College and the nation wide trend towards coeducation, specifically in other institutions' Greek systems.
"The trends really are trends of people of your generation, and they are going to come to Hanover," Freedman said.
But Freedman said a change to a fully coeducated Greek system would not come from the administration.
"I don't think the administration can impose this on the student culture," he said. "Student culture is one of the most powerful forces there is ... I think it would be very difficult for administrators to change it."
Cheryl Abbott '96, who is a transfer student from Middlebury College and member of Sigma Delt, said Middlebury's administration forced coeducation on its Greek system but did not accomplish what it had hoped.
"There are a lot of frustrated and unhappy students," she said. "The total friendship aspect in the coed system isn't there ... I don't think that [coeducation of the houses] really changed gender relations at Middlebury at all."
Former Chi Gam President John Merhige '94 asked Pelton why the College "seems to have a hidden agenda in dealing with the system, especially with the fraternities."
Merhige said the College points out problems in the system but then does not try to fix them, and then calls for the abolition of the system.
Pelton said he has no hidden agenda, and said "there are a lot of things that occur, supportive things that go unnoticed or people forget about them."
Pelton mentioned the College's changes to the alcohol policy that lifted a ban on common sources of alcohol in Greek houses and gave the system more authority in controlling alcohol use itself.
Several women said the College should increase the number of sororities. But Pelton said one of the limiting factors on the number of sororities is the lack of physical space on campus.
Pelton predicted that within the next 10 years, several fraternities will go under because of low membership and will be replaced by sororities or undergraduates societies.
Freedman also asked students several questions about the Greek system, including why there appear to be few minorities in the Greek system.
Several students said the lack of minorities in Greek houses is a result of segregation of the Dartmouth campus in general.
"I think one of the sustaining causes of this is we happen to be in Hanover, New Hampshire ... where there is no real outlet for minorities," Mike Lee '94, a member of Chi Gam, said.
At the beginning of the evening, Freedman asked students why there seems to be many "hurt feelings" coming from the Greek system. Freedman said students tell him that they lose friends because of the Greek system.
But audience members disagreed, saying that although individual students may lose friends, the system as a whole introduced them to many new people.
Fleming and Sigma Delt President Adriana McGrath '95 invited Freedman and Pelton to speak to the two houses. Freedman said he was pleased with the discussion and hopes to receive more invitations in the future.
The students "weren't slogan-eering and they weren't defensive," Freedman said. "I thought it was a very good discussion because no one was defensive. I thought a lot of listening went on."
