The administration has launched its latest assault on the Greek system.
Beginning next fall, CFS houses must be occupied to a College-determined level. Failure to do so will result in members being denied dorm housing contracts and forced to live in their respective houses. It is also feared that houses unable to meet these requirements will be forced to take in boarders, even though many houses are privately owned.
Decisions of house occupancy are at the core of Greek independence. The new policy, which has no beneficial results, is the College's latest attempt to snuff out that independence.
Unlike the minimum standards requirements, this policy does nothing to promote safety. In fact it contradicts the innumerable college task forces which have ostensibly identified two serious problems with the Greek system: the isolation of its members from the diversity of campus life and their anti-intellectualism.
If the College were correct, this new policy would perpetuate both. Even more CFS members would be forced to live in houses, increasing their isolation. Furthermore, since it is easier to study while living in a dorm, academic success would be sacrificed to the College's quest for control over the Greeks.
The fact that this policy is meant as a direct attack on the freedom and viability of Greek organizations is apparent since the policy reinforces everything the College has said is bad about them. The administration's hypocrisy is unbelievable.
In addition, this policy is not an attempt to solve the housing crunch. It is simply another way to penalize students for joining a CFS organization by forcing them to live in a place where they, for legitimate reasons, do not wish to live.
The College's duplicitous nature is revealed further by the timing of this announcement. Rather than consulting the experienced outgoing house officers in the fall, the policy was sprung on the new, inexperienced presidents last week.
The only result of the new policy, and one of which the College is certainly aware, will be a marked decrease in CFS membership. Currently, there is no requirement to live in many houses. Many prospective new members will be scared away by what is an open-ended mandate requiring them to live in the house, possibly for the rest of their Dartmouth lives. This policy change will especially affect the smaller houses on campus.
This policy reveals the administration's true agenda concerning the Greek system. It is concerned not with student safety or intellectualism or diversity, but with power and control. It has cunningly increased its control in a gradual manner over the past few years. Eventually, these controls will become so onerous that houses will be unable to meet them.
The administration's hope is that with regulation piling upon regulation eventually the Greek system will be rendered impotent or ideally, will lose so many members that it must dissolve.
