Sororities joined forces on Friday night in an effort to get the women of Dartmouth to take a stand and enjoy a "Frat Free Friday."
Hoping to make a statement about the importance and influence of females on the social scene on campus, the Panhellenic Council sent out messages via BlitzMail encouraging women to participate in alternative sorority-sponsored events, including a sorority pong tournament at Epsilon Kappa Theta sorority, dinner at Delta Delta Delta sorority and a party at Sigma Delta sorority.
An event in the making since Fall term, "Frat Free Friday" was publicized to sorority members, but the Council chose to refrain from more widespread advertising about the event to minimize any potential reactions, Christina Jimenez '06, one of the event organizers, said.
"We decided early on that we would not publicize it to the entire campus because we knew it would incite some retaliation from the fraternities," Jimenez said.
The night away from fraternities was aimed to encourage women to explore other social options that they may not be aware of, as well as to promote female bonding, Jimenez explained. She went on to say that misunderstanding about the goals of the event triggered negative responses from some members of the fraternity community.
"Men may have felt threatened by the idea of women abstaining from attending their houses. It also showed that some fraternity men thought that this was all about them, when in fact, Friday night was about women," Jimenez said.
Citing positive feedback from first-year women as well as dialogue between men and women about gender and social life in the Greek scene, Jimenez felt that the event had multiple positive consequences.
Many men on campus were less enthusiastic about Friday night's festivities, suggesting that "Frat Free Friday" had little legitimate purpose and that it was a backdoor maneuver to promote a party at Sigma Delt.
"It was poorly publicized, lacked any discernible ethos, was based on threats, bribes and peer pressure, and seemed to be simply an avenue for promoting a party," Andrew Bailey '06, the president of Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity, said.
Bailey went on to criticize the effort for resenting fraternities without mentioning any mistreatment or misconduct committed by fraternities.
Other fraternity brothers found the event counterproductive, calling the endeavor sensationalist and unnecessary.
"Not a single person understood the point throughout [Alpha Delta Fraternity], besides that women would rather pay for their own drinks," Griffin Gordon '06, president of AD, said.
Another fraternity member said that the boycott made women appear to be desperate and in an impossible situation, although women are not forced to go to fraternities and already know of alternative social options.
Many women who participated in the night's festivities enjoyed the activities, but saw the event as more an opportunity to support their sororities than the women of Dartmouth in general, Victoria Glazer '06, a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, said.
Glazer said that it was an interesting way to get people talking, but that the message should have been made more clear to avoid misunderstandings.
There also needed to be a greater emphasis on the fact that all of the activities at the sororities were open to men as an opportunity for them to enter female spaces, Lauren Burrows '06, a member of Tri-Delt, said.
