Eleven members of "Students for a United Dartmouth" led a rally in front of Collis last night to protest some of the proposals in the "Report on the First-Year Experience."
The 15-minute gathering included four speeches in opposition to the report and attracted about 15 students.
The students then went to a "town meeting" led by Dean of the College Lee Pelton to discuss the first-year report.
"We're just a bunch of concerned students who are out here to get our voices heard on this important issue," CUAD President Bill Hall '96 said.
The report's recommendations include the creation of primarily- freshman residence halls in which students would live on the same hall as other students from their freshmen seminars.
Members of Students for a United Dartmouth said they primarily object to the concept of grouping all freshmen together in residence halls.
In his speech, Hall addressed his two main objections to the report. He said the plan will divide the campus by segregating freshmen from upperclassmen and will fragment the Dartmouth community.
Hall's second objection was the "egregious waste of money" that would be spent implementing the proposals.
Class of 1998 Vice President Tom Franks focused on the plans' potential hazards to incoming freshmen.
"The proposed plan will divide the freshmen class itself," he said.
Late Wednesday night, five members of the organization sent a BlitzMail message to students criticizing the report.
"The report will fragment the Dartmouth community, segregate freshmen from upperclassmen in freshmen dorms, place faculty members with disciplinary responsibilities within these dorms, and threaten the existence of Dartmouth's Greek system," the message said.
In an interview before the rally, Brandon del Pozo '96, one of the rally's organizers, said separating freshmen from upperclassmen, who are members of the Greek system, could detract from freshmen's participation in the system.
He said the attack on the Greek system in the proposal is not direct, but the report clearly states the system goes against what the plan means to accomplish.
The plan implies the Greek system goes against the intellectualism the report intends to foster, del Pozo said.
