Nearly 50 women crammed into Collis 101 to discuss the College's decision to re-recognize Beta Theta Pi fraternity in a forum sponsored by the Council on Women's organizations Sunday night. The chalkboard in the front of the room highlighted a "plan of attack," focused on preventing the fraternity's return to the College and emphasizing the need to address issues of gender and social space on campus.
Tyler Frisbee '08, speaking on behalf of event organizer Kate Breeding '08 who had lost her voice, emphasized that the objective of the discussion was partly to air grievances, but also to focus on creating a workable plan of response to the College's decision regarding Beta's return.
"Our hope is to be able to organize a goal for people upset about these issues," Frisbee said. "This is a channel-your-anger event."
Attendees were primarily concerned about the creation of an additional male-dominated social space.
They expressed frustration at the removal of a sorority from the "center of campus" in order to add a fraternity to a male-dominated street.
Women present also cited Dartmouth Beta's perceived history of violent, homophobic and racist behavior as top concerns, referrring to neatly stapled packets of articles about Beta's sanctions published in The Dartmouth in the 1990s.
Julia Schwartz '08, vice president of public relations for AZD, said she has been pleased with the "emotional support" much of campus has offered her sorority in the days following the announcement of the College's decision.
"I don't think there's going to be a 'gender war,'" she said in an interview with The Dartmouth, "but there are definitely some issues that I know have already been brought up by people outside of our organization, and we're part of that.
"It's not an AZD issue; it's a campus issue," Schwartz added later as she weighed the effects of Beta's return on Dartmouth women.
AZD rents its current residence, 6 Webster Ave., from the alumni of Dartmouth's Beta chapter, but will lose the lease on June 30. Though the College has obtained another house that it has designated for the organization, AZD has publicly stated that it has not officially accepted the house and is exploring other options.
The College tried to buy the house from Beta alumni "many times," Dean of Residential Life Marty Redman said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
"We can't force them to sell," he said. "The offer's been made."
Redman added that the cost of buying and renovating Beta's house -- "assuming they agreed to sell it" -- would likely be lower than the cost of buying and renovating the two houses on South Park Street the College has planned for AZD and Alpha Phi sorority.
The women at the forum ultimately decided to hold a rally on AZD's lawn, though the date of the event was not determined. The rally will march to the steps of Parkhurst Hall, where the women intend to scatter copies of a petition decrying Beta's return.
"We need to alert the administration to the fact that this is not a welcome move," Frisbee said. "They haven't followed their own rules, no student opinion was asked, and this exacerbates the huge gender equality and social space issue."
Elise Waxenberg '08 said she believes that participants in the forum should ask for the College to publicize a plan detailing efforts that will be made to balance social space on campus.
"We need to ask for X number of spaces, for parity over X number of years to say what they are doing to remedy this situation," Waxenberg said.
Waxenberg is a former executive editor of The Dartmouth.
Fouad Saleet, associate director of Coed, Fraternities and Sororities Administration, who was present to respond to questions on his department's behalf, attempted to qualm the women's fears that Beta could return as a local fraternity.
"All that's happened is that the College has reviewed a long-term petition by Beta Theta Pi to allow them to apply for re-recognition," Saleet said.
Saleet was peppered with charged and pointed questions early in the discussion as many women expressed frustration that the College appeared to be reneging on what was to be a permanent ban of the fraternity.
"As I understand it, 'permanent' means just that -- it doesn't change," said Laura Crowe '08.
Several women raised the concern that donations made by Beta alumni to the College in the past contributed to its decision to allow the fraternity to return. Beta was on campus for 106 years and has a network of 1,200 living alumni.
"It's interesting that the only fraternities that have gained recognition are the ones that were permanently de-recognized," noted one woman.
Zeta Psi, which was de-recognized in 2001, was given permission to begin recruitment in the Fall term of 2009.
Saleet explained that the College's decision to re-recognize both Beta and Zeta stems from the fact that both of the organizations own fraternity houses on campus.
As organizations not recognized by Dartmouth, operating on their own property and not subject to College policies, these potential social spaces are considered dangerous by the administration, he said.
