As the Summer term's police arrest and Greek house investigation list begins to resemble a life-time criminal's rap sheet, members of the Greek system are upset at what they see as a planned attack on their houses.
Over the past nine weeks four arrests of College students, the fingerprinting and interviewing of members of Theta Delta Chi fraternity in connection with a robbery and a number of other houses under police investigation have fraternity and sorority members saying that they feel the police are out to get them.
"I have the impression that they are targeting my sorority or the two fraternities across the street," Sigma Delta sorority Summer President Lauren Currie '96 said.
But Hanover Police Chief Nick Giaccone said he has made no plans for targeting the College's Greek houses.
"There has been no written directives, no police policy of increased enforcement regarding fraternities or sororities," he said.
Currie said the police park outside of Sigma Delt on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights waiting to bust students.
Her sorority recently was under investigation in connection with the arrest of three underage, non-Dartmouth students in the early morning hours of July 21.
"We are the safest block in town because there is always at least one car circling," said Matt Miller '96, the summer president of Alpha Delta fraternity.
Miller said Hanover Police cars regularly park in front of AD weekend nights. He said recently a police officer stood on the sidewalk and "reminded me that I had one minute before the music had to be turned off" because of College regulations.
"He said to me, 'If I pick someone up, I am going to hold you responsible …' " Miller said. "I definitely came away with the impression they were out to get us."
Sergeant Chris O'Connor said Giaccone, who took over in January after the sudden death of former Police Chief Kurt Schimke, has made "no formal address" to the police officers regarding the College's Greek system.
But even meetings between house presidents, Coed Fraternity Sorority Council Summer President Matt McGill '96 and Giaccone have failed to convince Greek members that they are not operating under a microscope.
Ryan Carey '96, summer president of Zeta Psi fraternity, said relations between the Greek system and the police have been strained because Giaccone "has been really cracking down."
Greek members say the arrests and investigation of Theta Delt for the July 28 robbery of Thayer Dining Hall are the best examples of a police crack-down.
The police are investigating the robbery, where beverages and snack food were taken.
In earlier interviews police said they are fingerprinting and interviewing fraternity brothers because the thieves ran in the direction of Theta Delt and the house's party ended around the time of the break-in.
"There are using wholly unjustified investigative tactics that are overly intrusive into the brothers' lives," McGill said. "In their boundless zeal to bring the evil snack-food thieves to justice they are willing to give an introduction to the criminal justice system to thirty students that [the students] don't want or deserve."
"We are being treated like public enemy number one," Miller added. He said that relations between the police are "going downhill fast."
McGill, who has met with Giaccone, suggested writing a letter to the American Civil Liberty Union last week to a meeting of Greek house advisors.
Jen Main '95, last summer's CFSC president, said the Greek houses and the police had nothing to do with each other.
"We had absolutely no interaction with the Hanover Police," she said in a telephone interview from Hartford, Ct. "Nothing happened at all. It was a really quiet summer."
