Despite the recent release of the Social and Residential Life Task Force Report and the continuing work of the steering committee, the College's summer admissions tours still do not cover the Initiative in detail -- and most prospective students on the tours attended by a reporter for The Dartmouth seemed more interested in the dormitories' lack of air conditioning than in the Initiative.
"It's a sticky subject," tour guide Jessica Grabarz '01 said. "Nothing [Initiative-related] is happening right now, and I don't feel there is a need to mention it."
While Grabarz -- who is a member of Epsilon Kappa Theta sorority -- did not discuss the Trustee Initiative on her tour attended by The Dartmouth, she did discuss the current Greek system.
She told her tour members that the Greek system includes students who are not affiliated by opening parties to all College students.
Wyoming high-school senior Mike Pryor and his father attended Grabarz's tour and said they were "a bit surprised" that Grabarz did not discuss the Initiative in more detail.
"She didn't cover Greek life all that much," Pryor said. He added Dartmouth's Greek life is not a big factor in his college decision.
"I'm not compelled to go to a College just for its Greek life, but it's a nice addition," Pryor said.
Pryor's father, a 1967 Dartmouth alumnus, said he has been disappointed with the Board of Trustees' lack of specificity about the Initiative.
"They're going to have to come up with something a heck of a lot better," Pryor's father said. "If they're out there just swinging a wrecking ball, the hell with them."
He said that when he attended Dartmouth, while the Greek system was a large part of social life, everyone felt more allegiance to the College than their fraternities.
"When the chips were down, everyone was a member of Dartmouth," he said.
After being asked by a tour member about the Trustee Initiative, guide Jim McNicholas '01 said the Greek system at the College is "highly social but not very residential." He also emphasized the inclusiveness of the Greek system and said he thinks the Greek system is a healthy part of the College's social system "and will be for awhile to come."
McNicholas told his prospective students that although he is not a member of a fraternity, he thinks the Greek system is a "wonderful way to meet people" and that "for most people, it's just one thing [of many] to be involved in."
He said the Greek system constantly changes to meet student needs and explained that the Trustees recently began an Initiative to investigate the social life at the College.
He said the Trustees actually have been doing such an investigation for the past 10 years.
He said "students will be the ones deciding how [the Greek system] changes" through steering committee input, and while no one knows how the system will be changed, "it will be changed significantly."
Prospective student Kristin Koernig, from Basking Ridge, N.J., who attended McNicholas's tour, said she was surprised to discover that the Greek system "didn't sound as if it was that big of a deal."
She also said the Initiative and the existence of the Greek system probably would not affect her College decision.
"It's not going to pull me in and it's not something I'm going to shy away from," she said.
Tour guide Alex Kramer '01, a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority, said she usually discusses the Initiative when people on her tours ask about it.
She said she explains the possibility of a new gymnasium, a new dining hall and expanded social options.
She said, "No one is really sure [about the Initiative] until a plan is formalized."
Prospective student Alexine Cassanova, from Hamden, Conn., who attended Kramer's tour, also said the Greek system did not factor in to her College decision.
"I'm not interested in the Greek system," she said. "It never attracted me."
