To the Editor:
As I passed by the Gold Coast this afternoon, I saw some words written on the pavement in chalk. They read "Women Unite," "Frats Rape," "Women are Watching" and "Think Before You Party." Then, as I passed by my fraternity, I saw the allegation that my fraternity rapes scrawled in chalk in front of the house. As I continued my travels around campus I saw similar inscriptions in front of many other houses, and on the pavements in front of Collis and Mass Row.
Whoever you are who wrote these things around our campus, do you really think you are helping women to unite by doing this? Do you think that making gross generalizations and spreading lies across our sidewalks will do anything to accomplish your objectives, if you are indeed trying to unite women and fight rape? If you have something to say to my house, to the Greek system in general, or to the Dartmouth community, then stand up in public and say it. Don't hide behind anonymous letters and chalkings made in the dead of night. Have the courage and honor to show yourselves in public (whether it be via this publication or out in the open) and stand behind your words. Your anonymous chalkings only incense the Dartmouth community and the gross generalizations give you little credibility.
One of the things the importance of which is repeatedly drilled into us here at Dartmouth is that we should not stereotype people and group people together in one way because they share some other characteristic. Yet you dare to generalize that my fraternity rapes. By writing this you essentially accuse every member of my house of rape. I have never raped anyone. No one in my house has ever raped anyone or been convicted of any kind of sexual offense whatsoever. Anyone who is friends with the 97s, 98s and 99s in my house knows that we are not rapists. You have some gall to libel my house with your chalkings.
Rape is a very wrong thing. We should all be aware of this. Women should unite to fight all its incidents on campus. We should ALL unite, males and females alike, to spread the word that rape in any form is not acceptable. However, slander is also very wrong. Spreading lies and generalizations about the fraternity system, and hiding in anonymity are not only false, malicious and cowardly approaches to rectifying the problem you perceive, but also are incredibly ineffective. Whoever you are, stand up, show yourselves and speak to Dartmouth in the open.
