I write in response to Katie Greenwood's Jan. 30 column in The Dartmouth, "System Failure." While pro- and anti-Greek sentiment graces the pages of The Dartmouth all too often, Ms. Greenwood's piece is noteworthy because of its inaccuracy, hypocrisy and vindictive tone. I hope to defend my classmates from Ms. Greenwood's attack with more respect than she offered us.
Ms. Greenwood describes the offensive behavior to which she was a witness: "I found myself confronted with three white women crammed into tiny clothing and plastered with makeup. They stared at me, in my jeans and flannel shirt, as though I had just materialized from another planet, or, perhaps, Brandeis." In her depiction of sorority women as shallow and judgmental, Ms. Greenwood is quick to make an instantaneous judgment of her own based solely on appearance, relying upon stereotypes about sorority women and her readers' ready acceptance of those stereotypes. In fact, one of the women in question is Native American, and all three were in costume.
But let us suppose that my friends are everything Ms. Greenwood crudely assumes. Let us assume that they regularly attend class and social events "crammed into tiny clothing and plastered with makeup." I am unconvinced that this detail adds anything to an argument about the exclusivity of sorority rush. Would Ms. Greenwood have us believe that minority women don't own lipstick? That lesbians never wear tight clothing? Or is the point merely to foreclose rational discussion of an important issue by activating the assumptions many already hold about the Greek system and its participants?
Closer to home, for me, is Ms. Greenwood's assessment, "they stared at me, in my jeans and flannel shirt, as though I had just materialized from another planet, or, perhaps, Brandeis." Many read this as an allegation of anti-Semitism: Brandeis is most famous for its predominantly Jewish student body. The idea that the Ms. Greenwood could have discerned such sentiment in the looks on my friends' faces reflects nothing but the writer's own insecurity, and perhaps the projection of a prejudice she has experienced at other times in her life. While the number of Jewish students on campus is around 10 percent, the number in the sorority in question is approximately 16 percent. Ms. Greenwood objects to being classified based on her appearance, yet she does not hesitate to judge the women whom she met last Wednesday night based on their attire and a "look" with which she imagines they received her.
Ms. Greenwood calls the women cowards for hiding behind "the system" in their apologies to the '04 who did not receive a bid. "You know this system," she adds, delineating its sins so elaborately that we might believe she does know it. But she does not, nor has she verified her facts. That new members not carrying specific items "must humiliate themselves in public" is certainly not a practice of the sorority in question. As for the details of deliberation and rush, the computer-generated list of women to whom each house offers bids always comes as a surprise to members of that house. My friends' assertion that they "didn't know what happened" was neither cowardly nor untrue. Nonetheless, the process of sorority rush is faulty, and I have yet to meet a single woman who finds the procedure ideal or even adequate. Currently the system is mandated by the Panhellenic Council, leaving us little to no say in the matter. Yet Greek women are working to change rush from the inside.
I would also like to remind the '04s and '05s of some events that preceded their arrival at Dartmouth. In the winter of 1999, headlines plastered across the front page of The D declared "the end of the Greek system as we know it." Students rallied for and against the mandate, protested and debated. The following fall, a record-breaking number of women registered for sorority rush. In accordance with number caps set by the college and national sororities, those who ran rush confronted the fact that they could not guarantee bids to all of the women who rushed. Approximately 30 women -- an entire pledge class -- would be left unaffiliated after completing the rush process. In response, a petition was circulated to ascertain whether enough women were interested in forming a seventh sorority; over 40 signed.
The administration promptly turned down the petition. They opposed new Greek houses because the Greek system is too exclusive. Given the opportunity to create enough spaces in sororities for all women who rushed, rendering the system far less exclusive, those in a position to do so ironically refused in the name of anti-exclusivity. Much of the frustration Greek members often feel in the midst of the debate stems from this kind of circular, counterproductive thinking on the part of the administration.
Ms. Greenwood, the system you think "reeks of exclusion" is no more exclusive than virtually any other extracurricular activity on this campus. A student who wishes to join a literary magazine, participate in a service organization, become a Presidential Scholar, serve on a committee, join a team or write a thesis, might also be turned down. And while we would welcome more minority women in Greek houses, we cannot force more to rush, and the statistics with which you characterize the system do not suffice to prove us racist, anti-Semitic or discriminatory.
In conclusion, Ms. Greenwood, I respect your argument that sororities are not diverse enough and I admire your loyalty in standing up for a friend. What I don't admire is the way in which you publicly denigrate other women in the process, proving your own assertion that "we women will take care of oppressing ourselves." The "cattiness and jealousy" that you find "downright putrid" in sororities is far more discernible in your column than it is within my sisterhood and your allegations and accusations seem based not upon rational logic, but upon insecurity and unfounded assumptions. I hope that in future we are able to separate the real problems of this campus' social organizations from the personal baggage that sometimes accompanies their articulation.
