I am not usually a man of action. I tend to stay away from heated debates and let those who feel impassioned about what is being debated be the ones left to quarrel. However, as more and more articles in The D are written about social life on campus, as more and more blitzes circulate, as the CSLI meets more often, and as there seems to be an increasing sense of urgency around this campus, I feel it necessary for me to voice my opinion on social life at this school, and more specifically, my opinion about Greek life on campus.
I am a member of the Class of 2002. Last year, I was initially attracted to the fraternities because of the parties that they hosted. As I began to go to those fraternities that appealed to me more often, I realized that there were many positive aspects to the Greek System that are frequently overlooked. It is these positive aspects, which I will now detail, that shaped my decision to rush, and eventually pledge.
One aspect of the Greek System that became evident in my fraternity trips over the past year was the notion of "brotherhood" that I have not yet found anywhere else on this campus. Brothers very much enjoy the time they spend together, they consider one another to be their best friends, and they feel a genuine bond among them. They see their house as infinitely more than just a social space, where parties are held from time to time. They see it as home, a place to which they feel a true sense of belonging, and they see each other as brothers in the true sense of the word.
Another aspect of the Greek System that I see as truly beneficial is the notion that each member comes into it with diverse activities and interests. In my fraternity, brothers have a wide variety of interests: community service, the arts, politics, the outdoors, sports and journalism, to name a few. Each brother brings to the table his unique interests to share with all the others, and through this sharing of interests, all benefit.
I witnessed these positive aspects of the Greek System as an outsider over the past year. These aspects are what ultimately influenced my decision to pledge, and in the past weeks of my pledge term, I have had the opportunity to witness the positive aspects of the Greek System first hand.
As a pledge, I have spent even more time with the brotherhood, and a great deal of time with my fellow pledges. I have noticed not only that the brothers feel a genuine fondness for each other and a loyalty to the principles of the fraternity, but that they feel very strongly about instilling in all of us that same sense of brotherhood and loyalty. The brothers see something wonderful and positive about the notion of a fraternity, and they have begun to open my eyes to what makes the fraternity a special place.
I feel that the Greek system produces men and women with a strong commitment to the principles of brotherhood and sisterhood, loyalty, friendship and trust. It produces men and women who are good-natured, well mannered, pillars of the community. These are qualities that every college and university in the United States would like its graduates to have. To eliminate the Greek system is to eliminate that which fosters good relationships and produces fine men and women at Dartmouth. I see nowhere in the initiatives that have been put forth any mention of the creation of an institution that could hope to achieve what the Greek system achieves, but merely the elimination of something that makes this school, and the students of it, great.
