Like many other people on this campus, I have been following the Hell Night tapes controversy. I am neither a "flaming liberal" that Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity President Jeff Botelho could threaten to stigmatize, nor a member of the Greek system, wearing my "agenda" on my head. However, I do recognize a bit of the hypocrisy and blatant irresponsibility that is being ignored in all the name-calling hoopla that has surrounded the issue of who was right last Wednesday night, the offended Professor Luxon, or the irritated audience members.
Those Hell Night tapes are shown and heard every year at Dartmouth. We should all recognize that some people consider the tapes an inaccurate and unfair representation of them and their social activities; of course members of Alpha Chi Alpha and Alpha Delta fraternities will be dismayed and upset at such a showing. However, we should also be able to admit that what is shown on the tapes is disturbing, and even eight years later it should not be taken lightly. The question is not whether AXA, AD, or even a sorority, like Tri-Delt, has a Hell Night like the ones depicted in the tapes, but whether the attitudes which led to those Hell Night activities persist today within the Greek system.
We do not have very far to look before we find the answer. We need only remind ourselves of the oh-so-quickly-forgotten poem read at Beta Theta Pi fraternity this past summer. We know that the answer is, yes, these attitudes do persist. This summer, as some people might know, a "brother" at Beta wrote a misogynistic and racist poem, which was then copied and distributed at meetings. It was not until a friend of one of the members of the fraternity accidentally found the poem that it became the subject of some (albeit limited) discussion on campus.
Beta did not officially admit to the existence of the poem until a while after it had been discovered. The summer president of Beta also consistently referred to the event as "an isolated incident," while making still-unfulfilled promises about having Beta bring the issue of gender relations to the forefront of campus discussion.
What, sexism? And secrecy?
Not so surprising. Eight years is not a very long time.
Beta has shown that it still harbors racist and sexist values, and that expressions of them go ignored, silently condoned. I find it difficult to believe that Beta's poetry recital is truly an isolated incident, that Beta's meetings are the only ones in which such reprehensible behavior sneaks through the cracks. And I find it offensive that members of the Greek system refuse to face up to their organizational traditions and the respective repercussions that exist today. I frequently hear admissions from affiliated students that there are problems with the system, but I never hear the details. It's rare that someone really seems to want to eradicate the lingering problems with the institutions.
I suspect the reason for that is the unspoken knowledge that the divisions between the sexes at Dartmouth can only truly be overcome when we live together, work together, plan parties together, pay slush funds together and -- as Jeff Botelho might say -- "develop friendships that last a lifetime" together. You need not be a "flaming liberal" to know that it does not take open encouragement for a fraternity member to be "misogynistic or insensitive to the community;" it only takes a bad attitude and the knowledge that the only friends looking on are of the same sex and, frequently, race, often feeling unaffected by bigotry.
Problems with Greek life and institutions exist. Dartmouth is just waiting for people who have the courage to admit it. I thought Beta might, when they promised the Dartmouth community a series of panel discussions and perhaps a few letters in the newspaper, but they are still shirking from their responsibility. Things might have to go more slowly, as each class becomes less and less satisfied with traditional Greek life and its impact on the social scene and every scene. We already read in The Dartmouth that '99s are having very mixed feelings about the "[dominance] of alcohol and frats." It won't be too long before the Greek system, too, has to acknowledge its faults in order to survive.
So, we should not be so surprised by the Hell Night tapes, and Professor Luxon had reason to show concern, even if he was too insensitive to the audience's feelings. The tapes might be old, but with things like Beta's poetry reading still occurring, we are regularly reminded that the issues of the tapes are contemporary and relevant.
