Last week, Gawker published the latest in its series of (mostly successful) attempts to smear the Dartmouth Greek system: this summer, the blog lambasted Alpha Delta fraternity for its ill-conceived "Bloods and Crips"-themed party, and, more recently, the publication leaked a set of internal documents from Beta Alpha Omega fraternity's Google group.
The documents' contents were exactly what one might expect from Beta, Dartmouth's wholesome, all-American fraternity a list of the pledges' favorite types of porn, protocol outlining hazing procedures and a well of degrading and chauvinistic terminology. The College's response is equally typical. Beta is suspended until the administration launches an investigation.
Neither students nor anyone who has been following coverage of Dartmouth's Greek system is the least bit surprised by this latest revelation. Beta's public humiliation confirms what we all already knew: that Dartmouth's Greek system is a hotbed of hazing, heteronormativity and misogyny.
At this point, the whole charade has become routine. Once again, the nation is confronted with the mind-boggling failures of our Greek system. Once again, potential applicants are off-put enough to rethink their college options. And once again, the administration has punished the specific organization or students implicated in the scandal without interrogating the underlying structures that made it all possible. Beta was this week's sacrificial lamb, and its members took the blow while the Dartmouth administration preserved its representation as a hard-hitting opponent of hazing and underage drinking.
I'll spare you the article that everyone thought I would write. Beta's behavior is inexcusable, but one more op-ed denouncing hazing and heteromasculinity would be a massive strain on our collective patience. By now, it's clear to everybody that the world at large frowns upon the culture promoted by Beta and other Dartmouth fraternities, and we all know, even if we're loath to admit it, that most houses submit their new members to initiation rites far more dehumanizing than the ones outlined in Beta's Google group.
But Dartmouth and Gawker are going about this all wrong. By all means, throw Beta as an institution under the proverbial bus, but how helpful is it to punish a bunch of 19-year-olds for making stupid decisions in the interest of fitting in? In a vacuum, Beta's behavior is shocking. When viewed against the backdrop of Dartmouth's social scene, however, it isn't so surprising.
No matter how much the administration yearns for a fat, ripe scapegoat, it doesn't seem fair to condemn Beta's members for participating in activities so normalized that they've become standard fare. It would be fabulous if college students, newly uprooted from their families, homes and childhood friends, could somehow find it in themselves to reject the most dominant social scene on campus and thereby risk total isolation. But that is an unrealistic and unfair expectation.
In some sense, Beta is comprised of individuals who are culpable for their actions. But in some more important sense, Beta is part of a system that wields massive amounts of social force on campus. And in the context of Dartmouth's Greek system, Beta's choices make sense. As long as there is overwhelming social incentive for fraternity members to engage in destructive behaviors, they will find their way around restrictions on hazing, and the College will find itself in the unethical and uncomfortable position of having to punish its students for participating in a system that it condones and even endorses.
Which is why it's time for the Greek system to go. The administration needs to bite the bullet, risk alienating a few wealthy alumni and eliminate the system that endangers both the wellbeing of our student body and our reputation as a top-tier school. There is no need for this absurd witch-hunt when the perpetrator is clear. The Greek system is responsible for Beta's failings, for creating a toxic environment where hazing is not only tolerated but actively encouraged and for exerting the social pressures that are so difficult to resist. If Dartmouth cared as much about its students as it did about preserving its public image, it would have eliminated Greek life long ago.
