To the Editor:
I am not going to write a long defense of the Greek system, both because I acknowledge it has some flaws and because, personally, I am getting sick of being called upon to do so on such a regular basis. However, I do want to ask why the Greek system has become the universal scapegoat of Dartmouth. Recently, I attended the talk in the Top of the Hop entitled "Shut the Fuck Up." It was stimulating and thought provoking, raising topics like femininity, dating and friendships. However, after reading the Nov. 13 article "Panel criticizes campus gender relations, Greeks," it seems that some of the audience may have been sleeping through these parts of the discussion, awakening only when the word "Greek" was mentioned in a negative context. Why, instead of examining the issues surrounding gender and diversity, do people decide that everything could be solved with the elimination of single sex social spaces? I guess I can probably answer my own question. It's easy and has become almost as much a part of the Dartmouth tradition as running around the bonfire.
One point raised at the talk was the make-up of the audience, which was mostly female. Perhaps this can be attributed to the fact that men may feel like they have to defend themselves at a discussion about gender and thus were less likely to want to come (although this was not the message that pervaded throughout this talk). However, I would warn that touting this event as being anti-Greek in editorials, besides being an inaccurate generalization, would serve no purpose but to discourage Greek members from attending such events and widen whatever gaps exist within the Dartmouth community.
