To the Editor:
I would like to challenge the apparent belief of the majority of Dartmouth campus that the act of a few of the Psi U brothers on Friday night, does not reflect the prevalent attitude of the entire house. According to the woman's report, there were between seven to twelve brothers participating in the chants on Friday. They were standing on the porch of Psi U and in the lawn. No one from Psi U rushed out to stop them. No one rushed inside to tell the brothers how they were being represented on their lawn. My sorority had an hour long discussion last night about these events. People were angry. At one point though, a sister voiced a sobering point of realism -- "nothing's going to change." No gender panel, chain around Psi U, mass blitzing or apologizing by the brotherhoods is going to change the problem. The problem is pervasive and exists much deeper than what we are giving it credit for. It exists, and flourishes, when groups of men come together, close their doors, add some beer and get going. Until the internal tone of fraternities is changed to where it is "not cool" to express sexist, racist or homophobic remarks, whether publicly OR in private of the house, these mindsets are still going to be as rooted in tradition just as much as some of the brotherhoods most cherished "lore." Yes, yes, not all brothers are like this. But that's not my point. When they come together a frenzied mob results. One that perpetuates the current gender relations on this campus. And you can't deny what those are. If "anonymous" hadn't spoken up would anything have occurred internally at Psi U? And how many women have experienced events similar to this, but have been afraid to say anything? We are all anonymous and still considered "hogs" by many of the groups of "men" called fraternities. Write your apologies boys, claim that I am wrong, misled, jumping to conclusions. Fine. But we all know what happens in your meetings and within your house. We've heard. And just about every single woman on this campus who has stepped in a frat basement knows what it's like to feel like a piece of meat on parade.
