To the Editor:
I write in response to Jon Sussman's Letter to the Editor, Oct. 16, claiming that Greeks are inconsistent when asking the community to recognize good things about the "System" when there are such pains made by Greek houses to distance themselves from incidents involving particular houses or individuals.
In fact, there is no inconsistency in the above position. The idea of "Greek Week" is to dispel many of the ugly generalizations attributed to the organizations that, like it or not, are made up some of the most interesting, diverse, intelligent, and community-oriented people Dartmouth has to offer. These same people can and will continue to justifiably distance themselves from campus incidents attributed to the oft-scapegoated system-at-large. Critics of the Greek system may be loath to admit it, but these people are Dartmouth students, trying to prove to other members of the Dartmouth community that a Greek affiliation does not nullify one's matriculation or contributions to the Dartmouth Community.
There is a subtle but important difference between a propaganda campaign and simply lobbying for one's footing. Granted, publishing an "all-Greek GPA" lobbies against the idea that non-Greeks are more studious than affiliated students. In fact, the similarity between Greek and non-Greek GPA merely reinforces the idea that, affiliated or not, all are Dartmouth students.
So, although I have not studied the advertisement to which Mr. Sussman refers, I would remind him that such advertisements are only necessary as a complaint to the generalizations that have plagued members of the Greek System for as long as this recent graduate cares to remember.
