Although debate over the Board of Trustees' controversial initiative has focused on the future of Dartmouth's Greek houses, it is unclear whether the College's senior societies -- well-known for their selectivity and, in some cases, single-sex compositions -- might also be targeted in the overhaul of Dartmouth's social system.
The College has eight senior societies -- six with secret and two with open memberships. While the open societies -- Fire and Skoal and Casque and Gauntlet -- are both coed, four of the six secret societies are single-sex.
Although they were not formally targeted by the five-point Trustee initiative, senior societies are potentially implicated by the measures which call for the coeducation of single-sex houses and an attempt to eliminate exclusionary institutions.
College President James Wright pointed to the need to coeducate residential areas based on gender relations and exclusivity, "I think we tend to break up in groups that are too often divided by gender, by race or by interests," he said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
Although the only two senior societies which are residential -- Casque and Gauntlet and Fire and Skoal -- are both coed, they face the potential of being targeted because they, even more so than fraternities and sororities, are exclusive.
In his interview with The Dartmouth, Wright commented on the issue of selectivity regarding the Greek system. "By definition, a fraternity or a sorority is not inclusive of all members of the community. Finally Dartmouth needs to become a place that's more whole, where the entire community can share more fully in the life of the community."
Unlike Greek houses, senior societies do not have a rush process by which juniors can express their interest in joining. And unlike the College's sororities, interest in being a part of a senior society is no guarantee a student will receive an invitation to join.
The current membership of the societies initiate new members no earlier than the winter of their Junior year in a tapping ceremony.
Casque and Gauntlet President Cat McCarthy '99 commented on the nature of the selection to the society. Membership is "not something that you can actively seek out like you do within the Greek system [where] you have to seek membership," she said.
In the Dragon society, the members do not always even know who the other alumni members of the organization are, according to Spencer Morgan '60.
Even in Casque and Gauntlet, a society where the identity of the membership is open to the public, members are unaware of the basis for their own selection to belong to the group. "People that become members don't know why or how," McCarthy said.
She said she feels that Casque and Gauntlet is not attacked by the Trustee proposal because of the diversity of the body of people that gain membership.
"I think that is something that the Wright administration is trying to achieve," McCarthy said.
Fire and Skoal President David Lysy '99 declined to comment on the stand of the society on the issue but said that he personally felt Fire and Skoal "as a coed society would be supportive of the initiative."
Although their organizations are not residential, the four single-sex secret societies face perhaps the greatest implications of measures that would affect single-sex organizations, although Wright and members of the Board have said they expect there will still be "opportunities" for some single-sex organizations under the new social system.
Both of the all-male houses -- Sphinx and Dragon -- have their own houses, although they are used only for gatherings and not as residences.
The Sphinx physical structure located on East Wheelock Street has stood as a mystery and source of rumor for students since its construction in 1903.
The concrete building was designed by architect William Butterfield to resemble an Egyptian tomb.
The facade of the all-male Dragon society greets viewers from Lyme Road near the house of former sorority Zeta Beta Chi where Dragon has had its privately-owned social space since 1995.
The Dragon members previously had a house on Elm Street but relocated, taking the elaborate wood paneling of the structure with them for their new house, when the College revealed its proposal to expand the library system with the Berry Library project.
The other two single-sex secret societies -- Phoenix and Cobra -- are open only to women. Cobra was looking last year to move into the recently-vacated Hillel House on Summer Street across from Thompson Arena, according to an interview with The Dartmouth.
Phoenix, whose faculty advisor is Susan Wright, the wife of the College's president, has also suggested to Director of Real Estate Paul Olsen that it was interested in seeking a residential house for the women's organization.
The two newest senior societies -- Abaris and Griffin -- seem at little risk of being affected by the Trustees' initiative. Although both are secret and selective in the same way the others are, both are coed and neither own their own house.
