A group of about 35 unidentified students delivered a flyer to residence halls Sunday night, which made allegations against fraternities and individual students for allegedly racist, sexist and violent behavior.
The double-sided one-page flyer, titled "The Shit You Don't Hear About," included the text of an allegedly racist and sexist poem read at Beta Theta Pi fraternity during Summer term.
One of the group's members, a female '97 who asked to remain anonymous, said the group is composed of the same students who dumped manure on the lawns of Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity and Beta last week. She said the group was not responsible for posters pinned-up around campus over the weekend that said "Frats assault, frats rape, frats suck."
Another member of the group, a female '96 who also wished to remain anonymous, said the flyer describe "upsetting material that has been suppressed by the administration and by the student body." She said it was distributed anonymously because the group feared social and physical retaliation.
A woman, who asked to remain anonymous and who met with members of Beta during the summer to discuss the poem after it was discovered, identified the poem reproduced in the leaflet as the one written by a Beta brother.
The leaflet omits the names of students mentioned in the poem.
The poem describes a brother, who, after being rejected by a woman, has sex with a Native American woman.
"I was right, there's my squaw, one FEMALE 2," the leaflet states. "Off to the NAD house, following the trail of tears."
The poem quotes the Native American woman as saying, "Hey, wanna come back to the NAD house and eat all my lice," and, "Come back, smoke a peace pipe, we'll do it again."
James Lipscomb '97 said he could not identify the poem as the one that was read aloud at a Summer term house meeting.
Jason Fanuele '96, former president of Beta, said the poem does not represent the attitudes of the house. He said its author was subsequently punished by Beta.
Fanuele said he objects to the way the poem was distributed in the flyer.
"I am personally outraged at the cowardice displayed in distributing this leaflet. In no way does the leaflet facilitate the cultural harmony and racial Shangri-La that it insinuates Beta violated," he wrote in an electronic-mail message.
Dean of the College Lee Pelton said he is glad the poem is in the open.
"What is regrettable is that early in the Fall term when I spoke with the then-president of Beta, he made many promises about following up to the recitation of this poem, which have until recently remained unfulfilled," Pelton said.
The flyer also alleges that an African-American woman "was slapped by an African-American male in the basement of Cutter-Shabazz Hall during Fall term." The woman was "knocked over several chairs," the flyer states.
The men in the room hid the perpetrator, "so that Safety and Security would not find him," the flyer alleges. "The young woman did not press charges for fear of 'bringing down the black community,'" it says.
A female member of the AAm, who asked to remain anonymous, said the information in the leaflet is correct, although she was not present at the time of the incident. The woman said she was not involved in creating or distributing the flyer.
"There were a lot of people there. Everybody knows about it," she said.
President of the Afro-American Society John Barros '96 said he is unaware of the incident.
The flyer also alleges that "the men of Shabazz Hall created a 'White List' which named individuals who were not welcome on the second floor of the building ... With only one exception, all individuals on the list were black women and homosexual men."
"The meeting to draw up the list was supposedly presided over by Barros" the flyer alleges.
Barros said the "white list" had "nothing to do with women or gays. It talked about people who disrespected the residential space of Cutter-Shabazz in the form of noise in particular."
The leaflet contains allegations that members of Alpha Delta fraternity harassed Miranda Johnson '97 after she was quoted in The Dartmouth. Johnson's quote said, "I think it's a real irony that someone [Kansas Sen. Bob Dole] that claims to promote family values and wants to make America a better place is speaking at a house [AD] known for raping women, for drunken debauchery, and for drinking until you're sick."
The article alleges Johnson was approached by a number of members of AD who asked her to retract her statement.
Johnson "felt sufficiently threatened... to report the incident to Safety and Security," the leaflet alleges.
AD President Andrew Bernasconi declined to comment on the flyer.
In a different article, the flyer alleges that Jim Brennan '96 is a "renowned sex offender," and states that his acceptance to law school will put him on the "wrong side of the bench."
Brennan was unavailable for comment.
The anonymous female '97 said the group did not use his name for "fear of legal ramifications."
The anonymous '97 said that students should expect to receive similar flyers in the future.
Pelton said he is unsure whether the anonymous flyer is a productive way of responding to the alleged incidents.
"It seems to me that ... some segment of the community will have to make judgment about whether this is useful and productive," he said.
