To the Editor:
As a returning Keene State College student, some of the things Dan Galemba wrote resonated with what I went through when I was a student (the first time) at Keene State back in the mid-1990s.
I worked on The Equinox the two years I was at Keene State and I would often write columns touting my conservative viewpoint on the various things going on in the world and on campus. I can sympathize with not feeling comfortable on campus after a while, although I was more than proud to proclaim that I was a conservative at the time, and am still proud to be one. The executive editor that first semester loved my viewpoint; because of the fact that for some strange reason a lot of my articles involved my hatred of modern feminism, the paper was getting a lot of letters from the outraged feminists on campus who suddenly couldn't fathom that a fellow woman didn't agree with their viewpoints. Editors later on were disappointed that I decided to "tone my articles" down -- not because of any fear on my part, but because the whole topic of feminism was getting old for me and I wanted to write about different things.
I can also identify with Galemba's recent "Greekophobia" article, which prompted me to read other things that he wrote and subsequently write this letter. On campuses all over the country, people who go Greek are automatically identified as being this or that because they belong to a certain organization -- "males who are of a certain type are automatically with this organization, females who are of a certain mindset are with this organization" kind of thing. Then you have those people who are critical of the whole Greek ideal altogether -- these are the people who, from my experience, don't want to understand what it means to be Greek. For every person it's a personal choice on whether they want to go Greek or not -- if I were not already a sister in a coed fraternity at Keene State, I most likely would not even bother with the whole thing myself, at my age. But for those who choose to criticize it rather than talk with people in the different organizations to find out what it's like, I just think it's sad that these people don't even try to get to know what it's like, that they have a set stereotype in their mind on what Greeks "are" instead of trying to break those stereotypes.
Personally, I find it sad that so many people at Dartmouth are making the mistake of trying to get rid of the Greek system. I have found a lot of benefits to being Greek -- lifelong friendships and an organization that I am quite proud to be a member of being just two of the many reasons that I can think of. Just because you choose not to be part of the system does not mean you have to deprive everyone else from benefiting from it.
Finally, to Dan Galemba: keep up the great work with your articles. What every campus needs is at least one person to remind them that there are other viewpoints in the world.
