To the Editor:
John Strayer's column "A New Sorority is Not the Solution" (May 26, 1995) belittles the immediate needs of Dartmouth women in favor of an unproposed solution to a larger problem.
Adding a new sorority will not solve all of the gender problems on campus. Nor will it eliminate alcohol abuse, date rape or eradicate Dartmouth's male dominated stereotype in one stroke. It will, however, provide women who desire a social experience including a single-sex organization a better opportunity to do so.
What exactly Strayer wants the social system to be, aside from utopian, is unclear. There is no one solution to creating the best social atmosphere at Dartmouth. A drastic change imposed by the administration without student support will no doubt fail. The leaders of the sorority system, backed by many members of the CFS, have merely asked the administration to make meeting the demonstrated student social needs a priority.
The students of Dartmouth are intelligent and capable enough to take the initiative to alter the existing social system. They merely need the administration's assistance and guidance and that is what the sorority leaders are asking for.
Strayer concedes that the membership numbers point to the formation of a new sorority. It seems apparent that while the creation of another house will not solve all of the woes of social life at Dartmouth College, it is a step toward meeting the needs of Dartmouth students -- and therefore a step in the right direction.
