Thereare certain disadvantages to having a '99 for a brother. For me, one is that for three years I was the only del Pozo on campus and now I can no longer say "just blitz del Pozo." Also, for a second time my namesake will be attached to every painful, awkward gaffe made by a freshman. However, as compensation I have the opportunity to vicariously relive my younger days through my clueless kin.
This includes a sense of bewilderment when it comes to figuring out just what to do for fun on this campus. Listening to his hallmates discuss the "mixed things" they've heard about the Greek system led me to wonder just what expectations '99s have of Dartmouth's social life.
I knocked on a few doors in the Gold Coast -- in a manner reminiscent of my ill-fated run for Student Assembly President -- and got a mixed bag of impressions. Out of the 20 randomly selected freshmen I spoke to, all of them were very noncomittal about joining the Greek system. Over half were unaware of its pervasive influence and the sheer numbers of men and women that end up joining.
As far as getting an early start on the game, most of them also told me they were not going to try to sneak into fraternity parties this fall, but I wrote that off to them mistaking me for an authority figure of some sort.
William Wong '99 came here under the impression that Dartmouth students in general are "upper-middle class athletes who drink, and who think if you don't drink, you're a loser." Wong says he does not drink.
Diane Wheeler '99, after looking around for a few days, felt that the College seemed "a little too yuppy for me. I was hoping it would be more progressive."
The truth, however, is that while almost nobody said he came to Dartmouth in spite of the Greek system, the impression I got was that when the '99s chose Dartmouth it was with the idea that fraternities and sororites are an ingrained institution within an institution -- that they were just a part of Dartmouth they would discover and explore in the same way one would the Hopkins Center.
While you can get a reasonably accurate picture of the social scene at New York, Columbia or maybe Brown Universities before you arrive on campus, with few exceptions, almost none of the '99s I spoke to had any idea of what the social scene at Dartmouth is actually like.
If they had known that every time they would be getting together with more than a hundred other students in a backround of music and drink it would be in a dirty basement and that this activity would go on to form the mainstay of their social lives, perhaps other academically comparable schools would have seemed more appealing.
Why does this ignorance prevail? It seems that in the hurry to get into a prestigious school, students don't think about the 159 hours of free time a week they are likely to have. While constructive use of free time seems merely incidental to a high school senior about to attend Darmouth College, it surely isn't incidental when you get here.
What is more, the College is not going to play up the social scene in its sales pitch, either. Dartmouth Admissions will never tell a prospective student that, "in your free time you can expect to be in dimly lit, smelly basements controlled by guys drinking the cheapest beer possible and playing an alcoholic variation of ping pong."
They do not fail to mention that Dartmouth can offer Collis, a good film series, lots of theater events and things like the Dartmouth Outing Club How people will meet and socialize at a movie or the theater, or mix it up at the D.O.C. is a puzzling question into which I have yet to gain insight.
The truth is that most students need big spaces, music and a little alcohol to be socially happy. In this regard, while some people love it and other people think of it as a losing game, the Greek system is really the only game in town.
I am a member of this system, and it has already provided me with comradeship, good times and lasting memories as well as a reliable place to live in the midst of numerous housing crises. I am uncertain, however, if joining would have been my first choice in the best of all possible worlds. In reptrospect, I think I was just looking to be where the action was, and the Greek System was the only place I could find it.
If you take any stock in the grumblings of U.S. News and World Report, you will note that while Dartmouth's student satisfaction rating was number one three years ago, it has now fallen to seventh.
I will not pretend to have a special knowledge of the situation, but we can all safely make a few logical assumptions. A high satisfation rating is an indicator of a good social life. The Greek system is the only notable source of social activity. Student satisfaction has plummeted. The conclusion is up to you.
