To the Editor,
I am writing to express my support for Janna Berke '02 and Samantha Burdman '02's insightful column, "A Matter of Choice" in the April 15 issue of The Dartmouth. The existence of secret/senior societies at Dartmouth has plagued me all year, but to be honest, I have been too afraid to say anything about it.
It is unbelievable to me that the administration fully "supports and protects" these organizations, though they do not allow the majority of Dartmouth students to take part. Could you imagine if Dartmouth decided not to take applications for the Class of 2007; rather, the admissions office would just offer admission to the 1,100 or so students it found most desirable in the country? What if all Greek houses at Dartmouth decided to cancel rush and simply offered bids to the sophomores they felt would be the best members of their houses? I'm sure the campus would be up in arms. The administration would probably shut down all Greek houses, claiming they were detrimental to the atmosphere of "community." It is thus shocking that the administration actually "supports and protects" this type of exclusion.
The "opportunity of entry" that Berke and Burdman suggested is an important characteristic of any organization at Dartmouth; I am disappointed in my fellow students and administrators for failing to recognize the alienating nature of senior societies. I've especially disliked the elitism created by these organizations' admissions policies. I came to Dartmouth because I thought it was not as "elitist" as many of our peer institutions, but I have been proven wrong. I hope that in the future Dartmouth students will find ways of contributing to the community that do not exclude and alienate fellow students, and I hope the administration begins to recognize its own hypocrisy in supporting a system that, as Berke and Burdman point out, "thrives on exclusivity."
