While I commend Josh Green's efforts to be honest with himself and the rest of the campus, I feel that he has fallen into the trap of only being able to read facts and see things from one side, but this time it is the side of the Trustees.
When I applied to Dartmouth I was aware of the Greek social scene and I would guess many of my peers were as well. I think it is obvious that in choosing colleges, students choose a place that will not only provide them with the education they want, but that will also surround them with an environment in which they can grow and have fun in.
The one that the Trustees envision, is in my mind, quite limiting. If I wanted that type of social place I would have chosen a school other than Dartmouth. I don't feel I need to imagine "if each cluster has a social space where the residents can throw parties" because I feel the East Wheelock cluster has attempted to create a place with a similar goal, albeit the goal of the East Wheelock cluster is more academic, but I feel it is a waste. What are people getting out of this programming exactly? I did not choose this cluster freshman year because I did not want to be separated at that early point in my time at Dartmouth. But, nonetheless, I have not felt the need to voice my concerns on this issue prior to right now, hence, I cannot complain too much.
I agree with Green that we should not be happy with a "happiness percentage" on campus of 80 percent with regard to this issue. But, where is this 20 percent that is so unhappy? Twenty percent is a hefty percentage -- should we ignore the fact that they have not presented a coherent voice?
There are problems with the Greek system. This is agreed to by everyone. Green mentioned that the "Greek System is overwhelmingly white," however, from my understanding of the Trustee initiative, the Trustees plan to leave the historically African American fraternities and sororities, for example, alone. Hence, while these individuals will be living in the so-called "coed residential social space," will social life at Dartmouth be anymore integrated? Quite possibly the part of Dartmouth that shocked me freshman year was the separation of people into different groups on campus.
However, I can understand this because Freshman year is a time when you need to meet new people and, very often, people choose those people that they feel most comfortable with. For whatever reasons this leads very often to whites hanging out with whites, blacks hanging out with blacks and so forth. I do not think we should say this is "bad," rather we should look to how we can use this fact to our benefit. For example, this past summer my predominately white sorority planned a barbecue with a predominantly black sorority and it was awesome and we hope to do something similar again this term. Not only did I individually have so much fun meeting and talking to these women, but I feel that it brought our houses as whole entities closer to each other, thus fostering a grander sense of community on campus.
While I agree with Green that there are parts of the "Greek System [that], directly and indirectly, demeans women," I think that the Greek system is also the leading support system for women. The idea that women can choose to host "themed parties" in their own houses, in which they can choose whether they want to run around in nothing but a leopard print dress barely covering their buttocks or a fully clothed pajama suit with feet is outstanding. Seriously, at what other college or university can women responsibly run and host a party such as the one this past weekend when there is a fraternity five minutes away hosting a party and have the sorority party filled beyond capacity and the fraternity party virtually empty?
While the ratio of houses is 14:6, such a ratio is useless. If you compare numbers in each house I surmise you would see a more even playing field. Yes, it would be nice to see more sororities come about, but honestly, I like that there are so many women in my house. It provides for more social options and more people to meet. The men seem to like having smaller houses. Should I condemn them for this difference? How about asking women if they would prefer 8 more houses so that there is a 14:14 ratio or asking the men if they would like more people in each of their houses and eventually cut the number of houses on campus?
Again, there are problems with the Greek system. Maybe it does tolerate alcohol abuse, although I am not sure how it "rewards" it. But, the way to make a system better is to propose new standards such as the party standards that were implemented this summer or the new programming standards currently being implemented.
If you think back to preschool or elementary school, one of the biggest lessons they try to teach you is that being a bully is mean and that, while you might get your way sometimes, it is not the way you should approach things. Teachers constantly try to drive into you that you need to talk to those around you with your words as well as listen to the words of others, and that you need to try to be patient. Well, the Trustees right now are trying to bully the students. Obviously, their low blow of announcing their proposal as they did was childish. But, if we all take sides of "I support" or "I am against" the Trustee initiative then at some point we stop listening and communicating. Whether we like it or not, the issue of the Greek system is now at the forefront of campus news and the only way to find solutions to the problems so that nearly 100 percent of both students and others are happy is to work each problem as it exists in the current system one step at time.
