To the Editor:
The recent proposal to make the Greek System totally coed is flawed in myriad ways. For example, there is the issue of how to implement this plan (currently some high-minded but vague statement that brushed off responsibility to the students to iron out the details). Also, there is the unmentioned status of the cultural houses. After all, if the goal is to remove vestiges of sexual discrimination and exclusivity, why not tackle race discrimination and race/ethnic housing as well? Surely, if there are not enough good reasons to choose a single-sex house, there are not enough good reasons to want to live with those of the same background or culture. All of these issues, however, are only tangents to the main flaw in this grand vision of Dartmouth's future -- this social engineering of the "ideal" community destroys the communities that already exist.
The administration has never understood, but must finally understand one fundamental fact -- the Greek houses are students' homes. We lived in our respective houses for many years. We painted the walls; We laid the tile on its floors; We emptied the boiler every week; We, like every fraternity, sorority and co-ed member, worked with our brothers and sisters to create and sustain a home that had nurtured Dartmouth men and women for many years. We worked hard to leave something to those siblings who would come after us. They are still homes we return to every time we step onto the campus.
How can President Wright dare to sweep that away from us and every member of our houses before and after us and then pretend it was done in the name of the "community!"
The Greek System has never had as its purpose isolation and exclusion of large segments of the campus. On the contrary, the reason the Greek System at Dartmouth has been so successful is that members could be in a sorority and still play in the orchestra, run for the track team, hike with the DOC and have time to have fun with anyone and everyone on campus. Thus, our homes have never and will never threaten the cohesion of the campus -- forcing them out will. Dartmouth students would never support organizations that limit their social interactions.
No force-fed social or living arrangement can afford the sense of security, safety and peace that we and our fellow siblings built in our homes. The College cannot assign each student a cadre of friends and then insist that they build a cohesive community. Dartmouth students are intelligent enough and wise enough to do that all on their own. They have done that for hundreds of years without any interference. And yet the administration believes they know better. The coed Greek System plan fails because the Trustees and Wright have, in their zeal for campus enlightenment, enshrined their own view of what is a proper community.
Imagine your neighborhood association knocking on your door and saying: "We noticed you don't associate with [women, African-Americans, Moonies] often enough. You reflect badly on us. Therefore, you will open up your home to whomever we tell you to let in. Sorry. If this is too hard for you to do, kindly sell your home and leave, so that more enlightened people can live here. And by the way, Deb Reinders will be by about your tacky curtains."
