Maybe it's because Zeta Psi Summer President Ryan Carey '96 is called a "progressive Greek leader" that he felt compelled to voluntarily explain why a picture of a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model was on his wall.
"That was bequeathed to me by my older brother," Carey said matter-of-factly.
But these are the days when Greek and non-Greek imply pro-Greek and anti-Greek. And the only happy medium seems to be in the label, "progressive Greek."
Assistant Dean of Residential Life Deb Reinders recently characterized Carey as "a progressive Greek leader" in a meeting with an editor from The Dartmouth.
Dean of the College Lee Pelton said he does not know what the term universally means but he agrees with others in that the label seemingly implies a willingness to move the Greek system beyond its simple social capacities.
When asked, Carey hesitantly agreed with Reinders' comment: "Yeah, I suppose … I mean, I guess I am on a relative scale."
Much of that relativity can be seen in how the 6-foot, 180-pound, red-bearded history major from Oregon is trying to determine what his role is in the Greek system.
Carey, who lives in Zete, can be one of the system's staunchest defenders.
"The anti-intellectualism [criticism] that's seen at the party. Dancing around drinking beer, fine, that's not intellectualism, but that happens on a Friday and Saturday night and that's what everyone sees because that is what everyone goes to.
"But what they don't see are the professors coming over to read poetry or Gabrielle Lucke coming over to give us a talk on alcohol prevention and how to safely and effectively intervene with our friends when we think they have a problem. These are the things that you can't really advertise, but they're there every week and we have minimum standards set up for them. A lot of stuff that we do just aren't as high profiled as our parties so it's very difficult to combat stereotypes, especially the anti-intellectual one," Carey said.
He is currently working on setting up a forum composed of students in Greek houses and professors to discuss the curriculum changes. Next week, French Professor John Rassias will come to the house to have dinner.
And after sitting on Pelton's Committee on the First-Year Experience, Carey said he wanted to become Zete's president "to change the attitude of those outside and inside the house."
"I want to show those in the organization that the house doesn't have to be an escape from intellectualism," said Carey, who sat on the intellectual life subcommittee. "It can also be a center of intellectual life."
Although Carey has not dramatically changed his house in terms of policy or practice, brothers say Carey is progressive when it comes to Greek issues.
"Progressive in the Greek system sense means advocating intelligent change within the existing guidelines. In that sense, Ryan is progressive &emdash; he supports Zete's effort to make people feel welcome here regardless of their sex. He's very receptive to change and new ideas," Zete brother Jorge Motoshige '96 said in an electronic mail message.
His sister Kristen Carey '93, a sister in Sigma Delta sorority, said in a telephone interview that her brother is interested in integrating social and intellectual life.
"Ryan is very committed to academics and the discovery of new ideas and he doesn't think that intellectualism should be checked at the fraternity or sorority door, and that's progress.
"I think he's probably interested in using the existing forum, the Greek house &emdash; where people have the opportunity to get to know one another, to trust one another and to talk to one another &emdash; to use that as a forum for discussion of really important ideas," she added.
Looking a little like a lumberjack, the San Francisco-born Carey embodies his house's "nice guy image." But he said he firmly believes, as do most of the brothers interviewed, that the house has a wide-spectrum of personalities.
"Houses do not make you conform … who is to say that people don't go to the houses that suit them rather then come to the houses and become a type of the person the house embodies," Carey said.
