To the Editor:
I read the trustees report and was very upset. The report says something to the effect of "not all fraternities will be able to meet these requirements and so some will have to go." I'm tired of discussion about the Greek system. This report threatens MY house, and I'd like to respond to it by telling the community about my house and what it has done for me.
My house has benefited me in more ways then I would have ever imagined it could. My freshman year I was lonely and depressed. I had few social skills and fewer friends. I drank often and slept away my time. Once, during my freshman fall, I wanted to get alcohol and because I felt unwelcome at fraternity parties (because of college policy, no joke) I asked an upper classman who I knew from high school to buy me rum at the liquor store. Through this connection I could have bought whatever I wanted. I bought two handles (1.75 liter bottles) over a week or two and I drank alone. My roommates, who, of course, I had been assigned to live with, carried me into my bed. I missed my classes the next day, as I often did. I was too shy to talk with woman and I never dated.
Then I found my house. I do respect other houses but I strongly feel that my house is not like the others and if I did not think so, I would not have joined it. I am sure there are many other fraternity members out there who will say the same of their house, but I will speak only for myself.
I have best friends I am certain I would never have even met were it not for my house. I have more close friends then I ever had before and it is because of my house. I am well acquainted with many Dartmouth alums and with students not in my class because of my house.
My house has never forced me into drinking when I did not want to. I have learned how to lead others because I have been elected to do so by my brothers. I am now an outgoing and confident individual. I have been taught how to manage my time. I exercise regularly, I work on campus, I have an AM radio show, I do the readings for my classes. There is no question in my mind that I could not have done all these things my freshman year. My house is what is different about me. My grades are better than they were before I joined. I meet girls I would have never had the courage to speak to through planned events with my house. Last term, I can't think of a single time I slept through a class because I was hungover.
Yes, I drink. I drink with my brothers, in my house. It does not effect my academic performance. It is not a detriment to my interactions with the opposite sex. I do not get women drunk and then take advantage of them, nor do I allow my brothers to. I have shown girls, too drunk to continue with their evenings, upstairs in my house and given them a safe place to sleep. I have forced my brothers to stop drinking when it was obvious they had had to much. I have had my brothers stop me from drinking and have been helped home by them
I have taken classes because brothers in classes above me have taken and recommended them. I have recommended classes to younger brothers. I have tutored my brothers in classes I had taken in which they needed help. I have learned about philosophy, education, and studio art, from my brothers, and have never taken a course in those departments.
I can't imagine what my four year Dartmouth experience would have been like without my house. All I have to go by is what my freshman year was like, and as I have said, it was lonely and miserable. When my house is gone, I will contribute less to Dartmouth in both involvement and in funds, and I will return with less frequency. I am a senior and a Bones Gate. I love my house. Please, do not take it from me.
