The Dartmouth Coed Fraternity and Sorority Alumni Board announced this week its plans to encourage campus CFSC organizations to improve the living conditions in Greek houses and foster the board's own six principles.
The board released its plans in a letter sent to College President James Wright, Trustees Susan Dentzer '77 and Peter Fahey '68, as well as the College Relations Group of the Alumni Council.
"In order to promote and improve the facilities and programming of our organizations, we are willing, in aggregate, to spend millions of dollars," the board wrote in the letter.
Member of the CFS Alumni board John Engelman '68 said in an interview with The Dartmouth yesterday that he expects the Trustees to raise the level of minimum standards for campus housing as part of the Social and Residential Life Initiative.
Engelman, also president of the Alpha Delta Fraternity Alumni Corporation, said he believes the board is committed to improving the houses regardless of what comes out of the Initiative.
"Even if the College doesn't raise the current standards ... we are hoping that we can bring all the houses along to raise their sights and maintain the [houses] above and beyond the minimum standards," Engelman said.
Engelman said each house would be responsible for all of its fund-raising, and "the use of those funds will be determined by each organization and their Alumni board."
He believes the majority of the funds raised will be spent on house improvements, he said.
Engelman said the members of the Alumni board "take [their] responsibilities as owners of these houses seriously," though he admitted that "in some cases we have dropped the ball in the past and not maintained houses."
The CFS Alumni board has been invited to meet with both the Trustee Initiative Steering Committee and Wright in the coming months.
"In our discussions with the Trustees and Administration we will be guided by the following principles, which are consistent with the Trustee's 'five principles,'" the board said in its letter.
The principles developed by the board are:
-
"During their college careers, students should be free to choose with whom they socialize and to join organizations of their liking."
-
"Coed houses, fraternities, and sororities should (and do) play a positive role in the academic, cultural, and social development of their members, and by extension, the College as a whole."
-
"Students should have the opportunity to have independent living and social facilities. If we want students to be responsible, they should be given responsibilities."
-
"There should be a diversity within, and a diversity of, organizations. There is a place at Dartmouth for single sex, coed, and affinity houses."
-
"Education will be most successful in curbing antisocial behavior."
-
"The interaction between house corporations and Alumni/ae groups, and students presents valuable learning opportunities. Those organizations that own properties should not be coerced to sell them."
Engelman said the members of the board "don't believe the five principles preclude fraternities and sororities." This perception led it to develop its own principles to present to the College.
The board cited CFS houses as "one of the reasons why student satisfaction is so high and alumni/ae support so fierce."
Twenty-three of the College's 27 CFS organizations and their alumni organizations signed and supported the board's statement.
Two national fraternity organizations also signed the statement.
