Oh wait, they never showed up! All the people who wanted to come up with a vision, who admitted change was necessary and who said they were going to commit to thinking about and really changing Dartmouth ...what happened to all of you? I guess people forgot what their homework assignment was. This article is a response to Tuesday night's SA meeting, and is directed towards Greeks and non-Greeks who didn't vote to change the status quo. To all of you, what the hell are you doing? Are you really that happy with the status quo? Over the past term and a half these types of questions have surfaced over and over again. Our expectation - and certainly the expectations of professors, administrators and staff members - was that students would have thought long and hard about how to reshape the Dartmouth community. Don't get us wrong - there have been many excellent and creative ideas dealing with all aspects of the Trustees initiative, however, the status quo still seems to be the favored option.
Tuesday night's Student Assembly meeting solidified this sentiment once and for all. The co-chairs of the Five Working Groups brought seven resolutions before the Student Assembly in hopes of garnering the support of a representative body of students before presenting their proposal to Dean Nelson's Task Force and the Trustees. In case you didn't know, the Working Groups and especially the co-chairs dedicated countless hours of their time to thinking, researching, discussing and writing their final proposal. We know - we attended many of these meetings. Five hours of debate and many amendments later, the Student Assembly endorsed six of the seven resolutions, but stripped any recommendations that would make an impact on the current Coed, Fraternity and Sorority System.
You can bet the Trustees are loving this. Supporters of the same system that continuously have to battle the stereotype of drunken frat boys who sexually assault women, voted to remove a recommendation banning membership in the system for students sanctioned at the "College Discipline" level or above. Why? What was wrong with the SA endorsing an idea about the Greek system from the Working Groups? Other proposals include much stronger recommendations about the future of the Greek system - and guess what, it no longer exists. Do the houses think they can decide everything that occurs within their confines? Probably, but the College already controls a large portion of what we do. The College currently sets a variety of standards that members of the CFS system must abide by including minimum GPA requirements, cleanliness of our physical plants and the alcohol policy. Autonomy of individual houses or the system simply does not exist. We just don't understand people's rationale three nights ago. How many times have we heard Susan Marine tell a story of a house wanting to write a letter of support for a brother after he was Parkhursted for sexual assault? Those who commit assault, do not belong in the Greek system and only bring the entire system down, yet many members of the Greek system are unable (or maybe unwilling) to make the tough decisions.
That's okay though, because the Trustees certainly will make the decisions for us. Think of the Trustee Initiative in terms of clothing. You can usually tell when it's time to do laundry or when that favorite pair of boxers gets a little too ratty and needs to be replaced. The Trustees have now told us its time to take a look in the closet and see what Dartmouth's wardrobe is going to look like as we enter the 21st century. And you know what, the status quo is no longer going to cut it - just like that pair of stone washed jeans you threw out (hopefully) in the early '90s. Who could have forgotten President Wright's proclamation of ending the Greek system "as we know it." We are not advocating the abolition of the Greek system. However, many students still refuse to realize that substantial change MUST occur and is GOING to occur. The Five Principles are not going anywhere. However, maybe it is time to sit down and reevaluate your loyalties. What is important to you now and what is going to be important in the future? What about for future Dartmouth students?
So, are you still defending the status quo? Why? The Greek system is headed towards self-destruction. If the members of the Greek system are unable to realize the flaws and propose ideas to fix them, should the Trustees take us seriously and allow our organizations to continue? The male dominance of the current system is a major problem for many, yet the Student Assembly removed the 8/8/8 clause from the resolution. When are a larger number of students going to think creatively and find ways of molding the social and residential systems at Dartmouth to fit the Trustee Initiative? Our fear is that for the most part it won't happen until November, after the initial recommendation is released and students begin to accept that significant change is unavoidable. Let's hope it is not too late.
This is our Dartmouth. Affiliated or not, we are still all members of the same community. We need to have a vision of what we want in a new Dartmouth. What would make a fellow student happier? We are all in this together and we need to work together to preserve some of the aspects we like, but also to think "outside the box." Dartmouth is a unique place with many amazing people. Dartmouth also has the potential to be an even better place. We hope that you will take the 30 minutes you should have taken to see the future of your houses as a part of the future for all Dartmouth - affiliated, unaffiliated, residential, social, physical - instead of just thinking about what you know now and what you want to keep or change. If nothing comes to mind, check out the Five Working Groups Proposal and decide for yourself what you like about it. Then do something about it before the term ends, because NOTHING was done on Tuesday night. If it's too late to do anything, at least look at yourself and your loyalties and determine if you are happy with them. Ask the Greeks and non-Greeks you know and find out what their loyalties are. Are your loyalties to making Dartmouth College a better place in this world, or are your loyalties to what you enjoy doing right here, right now, for the next few months of your lives before you graduate. Check out some of the reports groups of people came up with, and see if you can find any vision, if you feel you haven't already.
