The Beta Theta Pi fraternity poem and the Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity pledge script are evidence of serious flaws in Dartmouth's fraternities: students must stop playing games and discuss the grave issues of racism and sexism that the writings raise.
While the contents of the Alpha Chi pledge script are deplorable, last night's open discussion about the script organized by the fraternity is encouraging. At least Alpha Chi is willing to admit to its culpability and examine the issues raised by the script.
Beta, on the other hand, promised to address issues raised by its poem last summer, when it was discovered. But since that time, Beta has made only minimal overtures to compensate for the poem and none to address its contents or important implications -- the fraternity has only danced around the issues.
Last week, an anonymous group left piles of manure on the lawns of Alpha Chi and Beta, with signs demanding the writings be released. A member of the group said it acted to provoke campus reaction.
Two nights ago, the same group distributed fliers around campus, which contained an alleged copy of the Beta poem and made several allegations of sexism, assault and harassment against individual students and campus organizations.
While the issues this group wants the community to address are important, the guerrilla tactics it adopted to bring these issues to light are not admirable. The group is simply using shock tactics to provoke student response, instead of providing a forum for the community to express its feelings constructively. The group called for campus reaction, but provided no outlet for the discourse it incited.
It is a sad indicator of the level of dialogue in our community that the anonymous members of the group cannot attach their names to their actions and cannot engage in an intellectual level of discourse instead of resorting to immature pranks.
The release of the poem is the first step in creating useful dialogue about issues of racism and sexism both inside and outside the Greek system. Hopefully, the poem's release will encourage Beta to take responsibility for its members actions.
The issues raised by the Beta poem and the Alpha Chi pledge script and the issues raised by the authors of the flier are important for our community to address. However, it is important that they are addressed in a constructive, rather than destructive manner.
Students must initiate progressive discourse to address racism and sexism on campus, instead of reverting to adolescent antics.
