When Dean of Residential Life Marty Redman announced that all permanent bars and tap systems must be removed from Greek houses by Sept. 16, the idea was not a new one to most of the assembled Greek leaders.
But the time frame for the tens of thousands of dollars of changes -- the first highly visible result of the Initiative -- was a surprise.
"I had heard earlier that the Trustees had handed down this mandate," summer president of Alpha Delta fraternity Jamie Colligan '02 said. "But I was personally both confused and irritated at the time. It seems like a pretty futile action to me."
Colligan voiced the opinion of most students who talked yesterday to The Dartmouth when he said that the removal of the bar will not remove alcohol use from this campus, nor cause marked change in the former homes of the permanent bars.
Summer president of Alpha Xi Delta sorority K.J. Hennessey '02 said her house will not be affected, as it is dry and does not have a bar. However, she pointed out that in general, "if people are going to drink alcohol, they're going to drink alcohol. It doesn't really matter how they're distributing it."
Even Redman acknowledged last week that the upcoming change to the physical plants of Greek houses will not affect the College's drinking scene.
"We're not taking your beer away," he said Wednesday. "We're taking your bar away."
Following the removal of permanent bars -- with sledgehammers and jackhammers in some cases -- the former structures be replaced by their new counterparts -- portable bars, perhaps on wheels. And kegerators, which are currently used to chill kegs of beer, may be replaced by refrigerators.
With this seemingly superficial change on deck, many Greek leaders are asking why the College is making bar removal its first priority as it works toward implementing changes.
Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity's summer president William Trepp '02 said he thought there were better ways to allocate the funds that would go towards tearing out structures that already exist in Greek houses. For example, he suggested that some of the money could go towards better alcohol and gender relations training during new member education.
"If a problem exists with alcohol on this campus, the problem runs a lot deeper than the fact that we have bars in our basements," he said.
In addition to not seeing the logic of investing a significant amount of money into the seemingly surface-level changes, many leaders who talked to The Dartmouth said they felt like changes were being imposed on them from above.
"Even though I knew it was coming, I really didn't want to hear it," summer president of Theta Delta Chi fraternity T.J. Voboril '02 said.
Voboril said the Trustees -- who he noted were not currently on campus -- did not care about student feedback.
"They're trying to lull us into a false sense of security," he said. "We're going to acquiesce little by little and then we're going to be standing there with just the frames of our houses."
Voboril said a big issue for many of his housemates and Theta Delt alumni is that the bar carries significance and years of tradition, since each graduating member etches his name into the bar's surface.
He said he was just recently talking to a Theta Delt '68 who told him about when he carved his own name into the bar.
"A lot of houses are pretty upset," Hennessey said. "A lot of bars have memories."
Those memories -- and the symbol that goes with them -- may be just what the College is attacking in this scheduled summertime destruction.
Redman told The Dartmouth last week that taking away bars would remove a strong symbol of alcohol from Greek houses -- which according to the Initiative drives away potential applicants from the College.
Maybe so. But Colligan and others pointed out that not only was eliminating bars destructive, rather than constructive, but they were not sure it would change the College's image.
"I don't think it's very true that prospective students are turning away because they are thwarted by the idea that the Greeks are too wild, to rowdy," Colligan said, adding that he considered himself to be a high-ranking candidate who chose Dartmouth for what it is.
However, although many leaders oppose the upcoming change, they also agreed that there was not much they could -- or should -- do to stop it.
"I'm not sure that picking a fight with the bars right now" is the best idea, Colligan said. He said the issue of moving rush back to Sophomore winter was much more threatening to Greeks because it would lower incomes for the houses and lessen the brothership that can be forged between members.
Although, he did say that AD would like to keep the bar structure and convert it into "something that doesn't represent alcohol" since his house spent $10,000 renovating the basement this past year -- much of it going into redoing the bar.
Summer president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity Ryan Mahoney '02 was in the vast minority of people who spoke to The Dartmouth when he said his house was not looking at the upcoming change as a negative.
"The fraternity is going to get back to its routes without a bar," he said, noting that there are some old pictures of the house when there was carpeting and leather chairs in the basement. He said he did not know if his house was going to revert to that type of atmosphere, but he said, "I don't necessarily see it as a being an entirely bad thing."
Mahoney said he was initially upset with Redman's announcement last week, but realized, after thinking about it and talking to his house's trustees, that the change might not be all negative for SAE.
He also echoed what Redman implied last week and what Colligan expressed -- that there may be bigger battles to wage as changes resulting from the Initiative pick up in volume in the coming months and years.
"I think we can survive without bars," he said.
However, he generalized, "As a Greek system, there are more important battles to fight than losing our taps and bars. I think we can survive without bars."
He referred specifically to the threat of decreased membership as a result of a possible winter rush. This has been a point of concern since the first release of the Trustee Initiative in the Winter of 1999.
Some leaders predicted that the process of defining "bars" may slow down the process of change.
Hennessey said Redman expressed confusion about the actual definition of a bar. She said she thought that could backlog the College's process of change.
Redman said the definition of a bar is not as clear cut as many may think. He said that he will consider both the use of the structure, as well as the appearance when he makes his decisions.
He also said the College would work with houses in attempts to salvage historic memorabilia that may be associated with the bar structures.
