Thereare problems with the Greek system."I hear that sentence, or some variation of it, with a fair amount of frequency at Dartmouth.Staunch anti-Greek students insist it, administrators and faculty assert it, even members of Coed Fraternity Sorority organizations are willing to concede it.Nonetheless, we all know that the frats, sororities, and coeds thrive here -- even without freshman, about half of the student population has joined a one.
So, why aren't these perceived problems being resolved?Maybe it is because the anti-Greek side approaches the issue impractically, i.e. advocating abolishment of the system, or maybe it is because the CFS, while conceding that the system is not perfect, sometimes is too defensive to address any significant and particular problems.
So, here is a suggestion that may succeed in both discussing various problems and providing a practical solution: the College should require that CFS organizations, in order to be recognized, hold parties solely on an invitation-only basis, with very rare exceptions, perhaps on big weekends like Homecoming.
What would such a policy do?First, it would be of great benefit to members of houses that hold parties. If they were required to provide an invitation list, of limited number, to the College in order to register a party, they would choose, most likely, their friends and acquaintances. Parties of friends would be more personal and easier to contain.Friends tend to be trustworthy; they don't want to steal your things or trash your house, so CFS houses would stay more pleasant and safe.Also, friends would probably try to avoid puking on your floor, thereby keeping the residences cleaner and easier to care for.
Furthermore, smaller parties would decrease the amount of money that each CFS member has to pay for alcohol.As it stands, the Greek system bears the enormous cost of providing large quantities of alcohol for the rest of the campus.
In fact, with the money no longer needed for slush funds, CFS members might choose to take more responsibility for guests that drink to the point of danger, either by drinking too much or too often.They could create a different "Good Samaritan" policy which would consist of paying for a guest's alcohol counseling and other such costly options that might arise in the weeks following a trip to Dick's House. They might even begin to provide more than just alcohol atweekend parties.
Finally, the power not to invite would be very useful.First, badly behaved guests would not be invited again, and houses could control rowdiness more easily. And, for the uninvited, the reality of not having access to free alcohol and open parties guaranteed to them would force them to begin to create and provide a wider variety of social options on campus.For as long as everyone has the back-up of going to a frat party every night, Dartmouth students will remain without any substantial options, because no one will feel compelled to look for them.
Some may argue that this plan would prevent freshmen from getting to know about a house.The solution to that is simple: houses could plan more events to get to really know freshmen, perhaps daytime get-togethers and events; they could invite some freshmen to come to their parties, and the number would be small enough to enable real interaction; and they could encourage them to come to the rare open party during Carnival or Green Key.
Another concern might be the idea that invitation-only parties are too exclusionary.But the reality is that people who are not invited would most likely be the people whose friends are not in the CFS system.Instead of going to a CFS party, they would be forced to find other things to do. Social gatherings would become more like those of the "real world" -- based primarily on friendship.
Yes, drinking would no longer be so contained to the frat basements, and UGAs and others would have to pay more attention to drinking in dorms.But this would not be any more of a problem than the way in which alcohol is treated in the CFS houses, and the way in which people drink there.The alcohol would no longer be free and so easily accessible.In fact, student drinking would, I think, lessen.
The plan might not be perfect, but it could improve social life at Dartmouth dramatically.Everyone would benefit, both Greeks and non-Greeks. So, make it invite-only, please.
