Winter term began predictably enough, with large snowstorms and bitter cold temperatures, but the term quickly became unexpectedly eventful -- perhaps marking a pivotal turning point in Dartmouth's 230-year history.
Through a seemingly ordinary and routine letter from the administration, students and community members were officially informed of a landmark decision to dramatically alter social and residential life at the College -- and in the process force monumental changes to Dartmouth's well-known and historic Greek system.
The Board of Trustees had decided at their February meeting that the residential and social system at the College should be "substantially coeducational" -- threatening the existence of Dartmouth's traditional single-sex Greek system.
The changes would mean a whole new Dartmouth culture and College President James Wright pledged millions of dollars to allow it to happen.
While the initial letter, criticized by many as overly vague and unspecific, was sent to all students on Tuesday, February 9, most students seemed unaware of the full implications of the plan and the accompanying five guiding principles until the following morning.
Various media outlets, including The Boston Globe and the Associated Press as well as The Dartmouth, more overtly announced the impending changes to fraternity and sorority life on Wednesday.
Wright told The Dartmouth the changes would be the largest the College has seen since Coeducation in 1972 and would end the Greek system "as we know it." Wright also said the guiding principles behind the changes were nonnegotiable and not open to debate.
Despite that unequivocal assertion, reaction -- mostly negative -- was swift and equally clear. By Wednesday night, the Coed Fraternity Sorority Council had met and voted to cancel all Greek parties at that weekend's Winter Carnival.
Later that night, approximately 1,000 students protested the decision in front of College President James Wright's house by singing the alma mater and chanting their opposition to the plan -- all under the watchful eye of television camera crews and reporters who would remain in Hanover to cover the story for the next week.
On Thursday, Wright was greeted with angry silence and occasional booing at the Winter Carnival opening ceremony, an event that quickly transformed itself from a celebration to a protest rally, and set the stage for a Carnival Weekend unlike any the College had seen before. Affiliated students wore their Greek letters and many unaffiliated students wore t-shirts stating their support for the single-sex Greek system.
Nothing and nobody were exempt from the ceremony's double agenda. Men's ski team captain Andrew Pennock '99 used modified quotes from the Dartmouth College Supreme Court Case to demonstrate his desire to save single-sex Greek life like Daniel Webster saved an independent Dartmouth.
Cords member Tom Adair '99 said the group decided to sing "The Hanover Winter Song" to show what he said Winter Carnival is all about -- "fellowship and camaraderie in an atmosphere of our own choosing -- one that's not dictated to us."
In the following days the symbol changed -- to green ribbons -- but the message remained static. The Greek houses were not going down without a fight.
On Saturday, Psi Upsilon fraternity abandoned their traditional keg jumping competition for a more serious event -- a rally in support of the current Greek system with speakers from a variety of backgrounds addressing with strong rhetoric a crowded, ice-covered lawn from the Psi U porch.
In addition to circulating a petition calling for Wright's immediate resignation, the crowd cheered as Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority president Anne Mullins '00 said "we will fight tooth and nail to maintain" the current system; Alpha Theta coed fraternity president Michael Holmes '00 questioned "who among you wouldn't defend your homes and families;" and Landis Fryer '99 compared the administration and Trustees to Dr. Jack Kevorkian "assisting in a slow, calculated suicide" of the Greek system.
With student support for the plan small -- a poll conducted by The Dartmouth placed the amount of opposition at 83 percent -- and alumni opinions yet unregistered, Wright, Acting Dean of the College Dan Nelson and Trustees Kate Stith-Cabranes '73 and William King '63 fielded student questions at a quickly organized campus-televised question and answer session.
While exposure of the event was wide, new information was not. Many students said they left the session feeling even more confused than before about future changes to fraternity and sorority life.
While students remained in favor of continuing the single-sex Greek system by large numbers in a second poll by The Dartmouth, the faculty disagreed, voting 82-0 at a special meeting to support the five principles outlined in the Trustees' announcement.
A faculty poll conducted after the meeting by The Dartmouth showed similarly strong opposition to the current Greek system, with 75 percent of respondents saying the Greek system has a negative effect on Dartmouth's educational environment and 58 percent saying they support the elimination of single-sex Greek houses.
With most questions still unanswered two different groups are soliciting student input. Nelson's Residential and Social Life Task Force is acting as the College's official conduit for student ideas and is joined by student-led Working Groups -- one for each of the principles.
Both are trying to progress quickly -- with the former passing on all ideas in an unfiltered format to the administration and the latter attempting to gauge and deliver general student opinions -- as Wright has said he wants a replacement plan in place by Fall or Winter term.
