There was a tragic aspect to the information session offered Tuesday night. When debating the presence of the Greek system on campus, two steering committee members spoke of the Social and Residential Life Initiative as a chance for Dartmouth to repair what they said was the College's negative media image.
Last winter when the initiative was first announced, ABC news came to Hanover to report on the change. They filmed the student demonstration, and heard the diversity of stories that the speakers told about their experiences within the Greek system. They then reported on national television exactly what their baby boomer audience wanted to hear: "Animal House is going coed." They even went so far as to occupy half the "news" piece with a clip from the movie. That is not the Dartmouth Greek system; that is the stereotype.
Now, sadly, it seems concern with this stereotyping has embedded itself in the minds of the student representatives on the steering committee. When was the last time you saw a student ride a motorcycle through the front door of a Greek house? When was the last time a dead horse was found in the dean's office? That movie was a fictional account of fraternity life, and the fact that one of the writers graduated from this college has been a monkey on the back of Dartmouth ever since.
This negative media image should not even be a concern of the steering committee. Dartmouth is supposed to teach students to do what is right -- to have strong ideals and stand by them. Planning the future of social life at the College based on how it will look on TV flies in the face of that, and it is not what Dartmouth is supposed to be about.
It is sad to see students talk about the need to change because of others' perceptions. We owe it to ourselves to fit our social lives to our needs, not succumb to the demands of the popular press. If we decide to change the Greek system, it should be based on student needs and desires and reflective of what students find important. It should not be based on any preconceptions that others have of our College, and we certainly should not be attempting to conform to what others expect of us.
If we must educate the rest of the world on the reality of life at Dartmouth, so be it, but we should certainly do that before we sell out the reality to appease those who frown on an image that does not exist as a reality.
The reality of Dartmouth's Greek system is not the image that most people imagine, and yet it is that image that the steering committee seems to be focused on. The Initiative could result in better student life on campus, but only if we focus on the reality of the situation and avoid the attention to media stereotyping that reared its ugly head at Tuesday's forum.
