When your fourth grade teacher passed back a test, you always wanted to know what your classmates got. If you were canny, you tried to sneak a peak at your friend's paper. If you were blunt, you simply asked. But only if you wanted to make a spectacle out of yourself and your neighbor did you make your new information public. See where I'm going with this?
This paper reported on Friday ("Despite Objections, Greek GPAs Released," Feb. 2) that the overall grade point averages of Greek houses were publicly released against the wishes of house members and advisors. This action is wrong on its own merits. Grades are private matters. Students understand this and, to my knowledge, are quite hesitant to publicly compare grades with others. Professors understand this as well. When test results are publicly posted, the grades are never directly associated with names. Rather, students' grades will correspond to ID numbers that only they know.
What I find even more troubling than the actions of the Coed, Fraternity, Sorority system administration were the responses given by its representative when asked to explain this publication. A statement was made to the effect that the giving of information is equivalent to making this information public. This raises two issues for our current topic. First: Did members of each house willingly give their grade information to the CFS administration with the knowledge that it would be made public through a house average GPA? If not, then this was not public information given to be made public; it was private information obtained and subsequently publicized. Second: If this is the policy of the CFS administration, than how far does this logic extend? If I were to hypothetically discuss my concern that my housemate Joe College is an alcoholic with a monster adderall-blowing habit, would CFS make this information public as well? I hope not.
The CFS administration member fails to see how this is campus news. Now, I agree -- sometimes The Dartmouth publishes articles tangential at best to campus life. But making public for anyone with an Internet connection the average GPAs of houses is most certainly campus news because it has a direct effect on half of the campus. Houses now have an academic standing associated with them. This may encourage negative stereotyping, feelings of superiority and inferiority and discussions comparing houses on the basis of what should be private information. As revealed in Friday's article, the pain of this action is especially sore for organizations with three or four members. Making the average GPA of these houses freely available is tantamount to making individuals' private transcripts public knowledge.
Perhaps the most troubling statement is the rationale provided for the publicizing of these grades: that, though they may reinforce stereotypes, they may encourage underperforming houses to crack down on that brother or sister who can't quite get his or her academic affairs in order. Both parts of this statement worry me. First, if the administration of CFS even acknowledges the possibility that publishing this information has the power to reinforce stereotypes, then why publish it? Is the negative consequence of stereotyping worth the potential benefit? Furthermore, if the reason really was to achieve this academic benefit for houses, couldn't they have been spoken to privately as opposed to seeing their name at the bottom of a public list?
As a member of Panarchy undergraduate society, I have worked with CFS. I know they have good intentions and want to both promote the positive aspects of CFS life. I know that they also work to promote positive relationships between Greeks and the Dartmouth community at large. That is why I do not understand their actions and am frustrated by their explanations. If better reasons for making this information public exist, let the CFS administration publicly iterate them. If, however, this information was made public solely for a positive benefit that could be accomplished privately, then I hope that the CFS administration will consider keeping this information private in the future.
