When I walked back home from the library after studying last night, I found a living room full of women talking about Breast Cancer awareness; women who had come from Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center to talk to the college women assembled in the living room about how to perform a breast self exam and the importance of mammograms. The conversation was casual among concerned women, like so many others that I've come home to over the last three years: conversations about eating disorders, sexual assault, women in corporate America, etc. In fact, at least twice a term, my house hosts an event to talk about women's issues both specific to Dartmouth and the greater community. I bet you'd never guess that such a place existed at Dartmouth, and unless you know me or my "house," I bet that you never guess that I lived in my sorority, Sigma Delta. Yes, I am a Greek member, and the impact that my sorority has had (and all the sororities have had) on my life as well as the lives of the women of Dartmouth is one of the things that I'm most proud of after 3 and a half years here.
With the events of the last few days, everyone is in an uproar about what "the end to the Greek system as we know it" will mean for the campus "social scene." Hopefully this weekend will be a chance to show the campus how important the Greek system is to Dartmouth's "social scene," and I too feel sad that someday soon my sorority will no longer be able to open its doors to the whole campus for open parties. However, one thing that this weekend will not show the campus, the trustees, the alumni or the alumnae is how important the Greek system is for "the women of Dartmouth." In fact, after reading the quote in Thursday's D from trustee Stephen Bosworth who assured everyone that the trustees "are confident that the affections and loyalties of Dartmouth alumni rise above those of fraternities," I'm not even sure that the Trustees or the President know that there are sororities at Dartmouth College. I'm sure that Bosworth's comment is reassuring for the Financial Aid office, which
relies heavily on graduate support for their need-based scholarships to know that at least the "alumni" will come to their senses soon enough and realize that it's really the College they support and not just the Greek system. What about the alumnae? Will they come to their senses? Does it matter? I make this point, not to pick one particular comment apart, but to prove the point that with all the discussion of abolishing the Greek system, no one seems to have thought about its ramifications for the women of this campus. Or perhaps in the rush to make big changes and keep speed with the rest of the nation, Dartmouth has forgotten what's most important to them: its students, half of whom are women. As a side note, if you think that I'm just trying to make a mountain out of a molehill and that everyone here does realize that there are sororities in the Greek system, then pick up the D article from a few weeks ago that talked about the Greek response the the new alcohol policy and notice that all that is mentio
ned in it is the "fraternity presidents' responses," and what this will mean for the "fraternities" who have parties under the new policy. Not one sorority opinion was mentioned, even though there are three sororities on campus that can sponsor open parties in their own houses.
As a women's studies major at Dartmouth and someone who has been fortunate enough to be exposed to many of the opportunities that Dartmouth provides specifically for the women of this campus, I realize that discussions about Breast Cancer awareness and eating disorders might be able to take place at other locations on campus. However, the one thing that abolishing the Greek system will take away from the women of this campus that will not be easily replaced is the leadership roles that the system allows for women. As the former president of Sigma Delta, I have had the chance to spend a year as one of the "campus leaders." I got invited to dinner at the President's house and got asked to sit on a student committee to evaluate the COS policy on Sexual Assault, D reporters called me on the phone to ask me what I think about campus policies (sometimes), and I got the chance to meet with trustees, etc. All of this, because I was a leader on campus; a leader of one of the Greek orga
nizations that President Wright and the trustees plan to take away from us. I had the chance to lead 70 intelligent and strong women, and make decisions about what events we would have in our house and how we can make our house and the campus a better place for women. Because of my sorority, I've had the opportunity to be an active and important part of Dartmouth College and I feel like my opinions are heard and valued. To this point, one may argue that I'll have other opportunities to lead, that I can be the President of some other large campus organization. Is that really the case though? Has the Student Assembly ever had a women as President? How many women have been the head of the Dartmouth in the last 25 years? What about the DOC? This year is the first year that the CFSC has been led by a woman. In the last 25 years of coeducation, how many women have been leaders of the Green Key society? Casque and Gaunlet? Fire and Skoal? Yes, women can lead coeducational organizations, the country for that matter,
and they will. But here at Dartmouth in 1999, the greatest number of women leaders are the Sorority presidents. Yes, President Wright, you might increase our social options, and mix the genders up a bit, but what will you do to protect the women of this campus? We need a space where we can come together and talk about issues that are important to us, a space where we feel comfortable sharing our personal experiences with sexual assault or eating disorders. We need a house that can host the campus for open parties, a space where we know that every woman feels comfortable. A space where we are in control.
I realize that this editorial might make it seem like the only thing that I care about are the sororities of this campus and that I don't care how long the fraternities have been around or how important they are to the brothers that are members, but if you know me then you know that that is not the case at all. If you don't know me, let me now assure you that there are many things that I am upset about after yesterday's announcement and many other viewpoints to be heard. Think about the four historically black fraternities and sororities on this campus with history that goes much further back than the 25 years of co-education at Dartmouth and much further back than almost every organization at Dartmouth. Think about the new Latino fraternity that was just recognized by the college. I write about the sorority system because it's what I know, and it's one of the many things that President Wright and the trustees failed to consider when they decided to make Dartmouth a better plac
e by coeducating the Greek system. I challenge all of you Greeks and non-Greeks alike to consider what else the system means to you besides the parties it throws.
