An unfinished document retrieved from a Student Assembly computer calling for the dissolution of the College's Greek system was leaked to The Dartmouth this weekend. The document, titled "Why the Greek System Must Go," was written by an author who identifies himself as Student Body President.
"Given my role as President of the Student Body," the author writes, "criticizing the Greek system might seem to be out of line considering that roughly 60 percent of eligible students are members of [Coed, Fraternity and Sorority system] organizations. But criticism of the system often resonates most poignantly with those who are active participants. I don't know if most of campus would support the opinions I am about to enumerate. More importantly, I don't particularly care." Current Student Body President Tim Andreadis initially said he could not identify the document.
"I do not even know what this document is," Andreadis said in an interview. "If it is from an SA computer then it's not very ethical for people to be sending anything from SA computers to The D."
Andreadis later amended this statement in an e-mail message to The Dartmouth.
"I was not sure which letter you showed me, but I was able to locate what I think you showed me on one of the SA computers," he said. "Although I can neither confirm nor deny having written that letter, I can tell you that there are a number of drafts and proposals on SA computers that are written either by me, a member of our executive board, or others outside of SA who wish for us to review a proposal."
In the document, the author points to coeducational Greek houses and non-residential Greek organizations as "the only organizations I have witnessed to have any substantial kind of values and actually [work] to uphold them," and praises minority houses for providing the majority of CFS programming.
"Make no mistake, there are many campus leaders which have emerged in Greek organizations and the efforts of these individuals have been notable and should be applauded," the author writes. "But in my four years here, I have found same-sex Greek organizations to do little more than provide a social setting for men to sexually objectify women and for women to engage in back-stabbing."
The document is unfinished, and its intended use remains unclear.
In his statement, Andreadis said he is certain that the document was not meant for publication in The Dartmouth.
"I am not afraid to send controversial opinion editorials to The D from time to time, but I can say that this is certainly not something that was prepared for submission to The Dartmouth and I do not know who submitted this to The D or what their intent was in doing so," Andreadis said.
According to Andreadis, the Assembly's Executive Board has never discussed abolishing the Greek system.
Former Student Assembly Secretary David Nachman '09, who resigned Thursday from his position, confirmed that he had previously seen the document on an Assembly computer.
"I went to the SA office to check blitz and it was just open on the computer," he said.
Nachman announced his resignation from the Assembly on Thursday afternoon after submitting a letter to Andreadis calling for Andreadis' resignation. Nachman explained that his decision to leave the Assembly was a result of Andreadis' response to information that Adam Shpeen '07 had served alcohol to minors during an Academic Affairs Committee meeting. After being asked about the event by Andreadis, Nachman told Andreadis about the meeting, but was unaware that Andreadis intended to report the information to Undergraduate Judicial Affairs.
"My decision is based almost entirely on Tim's decision to report Shpeen to Judicial Affairs. I feel that it was the wrong decision, and I feel that it is worthy of him being impeached," Nachman said.
Nachman explained that although he has disagreed with Andreadis' leadership at other points, it was only the incident with Shpeen that led him to call for impeachment. In his resignation letter, Nachman criticizes Andreadis' response to dissent within the Executive Board and credits Andreadis with a worsening of "campus tensions." Nachman told The Dartmouth that he intends to remain an active member of the Assembly and continue work on the projects begun this fall. He also said he plans to work towards Andreadis' impeachment from within the organization.
Andreadis called Nachman a productive member of the Executive Board and said his contributions will be missed. Andreadis previously told The Dartmouth that he was motivated to report the alcohol incident to UJA because of a series of events that had occurred during Shpeen's meetings.
