I, like every other student and alumnus of Dartmouth, was not asked my opinion about the elimination of single-sex social organizations on campus. But because I am a woman, and a recently graduated one at that, I feel it is a relevant one to give.
But first, let me pose a question. President Wright, did you actually ask any female students or alumnae their thoughts and opinions on how to raise their status on campus and better gender relations? I put that out there only because what I expect you would've found, is that eliminating any kind of single-sex social system on campus is actually the last thing they would advocate. Regardless of whether or not they are in a sorority. Regardless of whether they are still floating around in freshman year utopia-land or will be graduating in sixteen weeks. And, as I am evidence of, regardless of whether they are alums or students.
I tried my hand at sorority life. It wasn't for me, and I became inactive a couple of terms later. But sorority life is for a lot of women at Dartmouth, and I completely respect that. It was for four out of my five senior year housemates. One thing that I consistently heard at the sorority house meetings while I was a member, though, was how important a role an all-female space played in most sisters' Dartmouth experience-and I would bet that's not just the case for the sisters of that one sorority. I'm guessing similar sentiments resound in sorority houses across the campus: "my four years here would not have been nearly as fulfilling, as enriching, if I were not a part of this community of women." "My sorority, and the women in it, were an integral part of my Dartmouth experience." I have heard comments like these over and over.
Eradicating the "Greek system as we know it" per se is not what is so objectionable here. President Wright's methodology, for one, is more than a bit questionable. His attempt to create an egalitarian social environment by enforcing policy with an authoritarian hand rather than using a participatory process must be judged as a tremendous failure. But never mind the method; what about the effects?
Wright's proposal to eliminate single-sex social organizations on campus is arguably the most anti-women policy the administration could implement. Historically, sororities at Dartmouth have been a forum in which women have bonded together, formed coalitions, strengthened and consolidated into one voice, and become a powerful force for the administration to consider. Dissolving them would force women to disseminate across campus, thus losing their collective power.
But more importantly, it would eliminate one of the precious few legitimate women-centered institutions at the college. Many female Dartmouth students find these communities of women to be a source of strength, support, self-affirmation, and empowerment. Of course, female students find sororities such an essential source of support and strength precisely because so much of the college institution is male-centered and male-controlled. But to strip women of their only officially recognized social and support system without redressing Dartmouth's systemic problem of male-centrism which make sororities so needed in the first place is outrageous. To do so well before any of these long-term institutional changes are even on the agenda-much less underway-is absurd.
Shouldn't we also be concerned with the messages that are embedded in such a policy? Denying future female Dartmouth students the option to belong to these women-only organizations sends a clear message that the female Dartmouth experience is in no way unique; it does not come with its own set of difficulties, challenges, and joys and therefore does not need its own support system; it is not legitimate in its own right; it is not valued by the largely male administration.
With your actions, President Wright and the Board of Trustees, you are telling the women of Dartmouth: you are marginal in value, therefore we will not even seek your input in a decision that directly affects your quality of life at Dartmouth; you have no actual control over the situation, therefore we will go ahead despite your protests and make this decision regarding your future at the college for you. And we will even have the audacity to say we are doing this to achieve gender equality. I'm afraid that your actions, President Wright, have betrayed you as the very thing you are so doggedly trying to exorcise from this campus.
I will be the first to admit that there are serious gender relations problems at Dartmouth. I think that much must be done to facilitate communication and foster mutual respect and understanding between the sexes on campus. Perhaps a reexamination of the current Greek system is necessary. But completely eliminating any form of a single-sex social system, Greek or not, is a woefully misguided strategy to redress these problems. What President Wright is failing to realize is that separateness does not equal sexism. Nor does pretending men and women are the same translate into better gender relations; no credible feminist would tell you it leads to gender equality. What is necessary instead is for men and women to embrace their similarities, accept their differences, and respect each other for both.
Before we drastically and permanently alter the social construction of Dartmouth, let's stop for a moment and truly engage in an open dialogue about what this policy really means to us as students, as young women and men, and as a community. President Wright, it falls on your shoulders to open the dialogue -- and your mind. Please tell me your administration would not be so foolish as to strip the women of Dartmouth of our only formally recognized, legitimate female-only social space on campus, and in the process set back gender equality at Dartmouth by disregarding our opinions as women, as members of the Dartmouth family, and as valued contributors to the decision-making process. Please restore my faith in the college's collective vision. Convince me that you are indeed capable of leading Dartmouth into the next century. In short, earn back my trust.
Students of Dartmouth, especially her women, it falls on you now to provide the administration -- forcefully, relentlessly -- with your vision of the college's future. No student body has even been afforded the opportunity to create history like you have before you right now. You must first acknowledge that there exist gender relations problems at the college, and be open to change as you consider various courses of action to rectify this. But President Wright has it backwards: he is forcing the abolition of single-sex social space, assuming that his policy will lead to better gender relations down the line. That's quite an assumption to make. But what if you did this the other way around? Start with the vision of mutually respectful relations between men and women on campus, and work back from there. What code of ethics, behavior guidelines, and systemic policies can we all agree on to get us from here to that vision? I would truly be surprised if the answer came back that we
have to forbid Dartmouth students from having formally recognized organizations in which they can socialize with their own sex.
