Student support for maintaining the single-sex Greek system remains overwhelmingly high and has not slipped in the month since the announcement of the monumental Board of Trustee initiative which mandates the coeducation of the College's social system, according to a poll conducted this past week by The Dartmouth.
Eighty-two percent of respondents to the poll indicated they support the continuation of the single-sex Greek system at Dartmouth, down just two percentage points from the days immediately following the bombshell announcement on February 9. Only 16 percent said they do not support the continuation of the single-sex Greek system at Dartmouth.
Before Winter Carnival, 83 percent of respondents said the single-sex Greek system should continue and 15 percent said it should be abolished.
The BlitzMail poll was sent to 4,410 students and 2,624, or 60 percent, responded -- 621 more responses than last month's poll.
The breakdown of support was roughly equal among '02s and upperclassmen. Eighty percent of sophomores, juniors and seniors support the continuation of single-sex Greek houses, as do 84 percent of freshmen.
The percentage of upperclass respondents who said they are affiliated with a single-sex Greek house also roughly equals the percentage of all upperclass students who are affiliated with Coed Fraternity and Sorority organizations. Fifty-six percent of upperclass responses were from affiliated students -- only slightly higher than the campus-wide figure of 51 percent.
Responses were spread relatively evenly throughout the four classes. Twenty-five percent of responses were from seniors and active olders, 20 percent were from juniors, 26 from sophomores and 29 from freshmen.
Unaffiliated respondents showed strong support for continuing the single-sex Greek system, but their support was not as strong as that of the overall group. Sixty-four percent of unaffiliated upperclass respondents said they are in favor of continuing single-sex houses.
The only significant shift in opinion since the days following the announcement occurred in students' opinions on the guiding principles themselves.
While still a minority, 40 percent indicated they believe the implementation of the five-point plan outlined by the Board of Trustees will improve the overall residential and social life experience at the College. Fifty-one percent said they do not believe the principles will improve the College and 10 percent are undecided.
Last month, only 22 percent of respondents indicated they believe the principles will have a positive effect on the College.
Increased confusion surrounding what the principles' effects will entail may account for some of the increase in support for the principles. Many students said they do not believe implementation of the principles will lead to an end to the single-sex Greek system, despite comments to the contrary made by College President James Wright and Trustee Chair Stephen Bosworth '61 in the past month.
That uncertainty may also account for some of the disparity between support for the principles and support for ending the Greek system.
The largest block of opposition to continuing the traditional Greek system once again came from unaffiliated upperclass students. Of the upperclass respondents who said they want the single-sex Greek system to end, 87 percent were unaffiliated.
