After three failed attempts to find a location for its winter formal, Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity secured a venue in the week before the event, social chair Andrew Roberts ’14 said. In procuring formal venues, Greek organizations report mixed results in coming to agreements with local business owners.
Alpha Chi approached Harpoon Brewery, Whaleback Mountain and the Dartmouth Outing Club House before deciding to host its formal at Everything But Anchovies. The DOC House did not have availability on the requested date, while Harpoon Brewery and Whaleback Mountain refused upon learning that the event would be for a Greek organization, Roberts said. Alpha Chi settled on EBAs the week before its formal.
Representatives from Whaleback Mountain declined to comment and representatives from Harpoon Brewery did not respond to requests for comment.
Members of other Greek organizations said they have not experienced difficulty finding venues.
Sigma Delta sorority social chair Pallavi Kuppa-Apte ’14 said that her house has not had a problem finding venues for events, as did Chi Gamma Epsilon fraternity programming chair Jordan West ’14, noting that he had not heard of venues refusing to host other organizations’ formals.
Zeta Psi fraternity social chair Stefan Deutsch ’14 said that although his house has not faced any refusals, he has heard that other Greek organizations have had trouble.
Roberts noted that the refusals began recently, as Alpha Chi hosted a formal at Whaleback Mountain last winter.
Both Roberts and Deutsch said that venues’ reticence may come from prior incidents of underage drinking and property destruction. Attendees at past Greek organization formal events have engaged in numerous antics, from vomiting on a police officer to urinating on a lawn.
Representatives of four venues interviewed said that they require Greek organizations to sign a contract that requires attendees to abide by state law and cooperate to maintain security during the events.
Hotel Coolidge innkeeper David Briggs said that, while he has seen a few incidents of property damage, the hotel’s nearly 30-year-long history of hosting formal events has been mostly positive.
From the decades of interactions with Greek organizations, he said, the hotel has learned about the Dartmouth social scene and how to best prepare for formals. Briggs said that the hotel prohibits attendees from bringing in outside beverages and will not allow visibly intoxicated students to enter.
“Things are far better today than it was 30 years ago,” he said.
Briggs added that organizations should designate a host to ensure that the hotel has a contact person in cases of emergency.
Hanover Inn catering director Paula Smith said that the hotel has had positive experiences with Greek organizations and looks forward to hosting future events.
Dowds’ Country Inn owner Tami Dowd said after an incident that occurred seven years ago, the inn decided to refrain from hosting Greek formals for at least a year. She declined to provide further detail. Since then, the inn has resumed hosting formals.
Representatives of Alpha Phi, Alpha Xi Delta, Delta Delta Delta, Epsilon Kappa Theta, Kappa Delta, Kappa Delta Epsilon and Kappa Kappa Gamma sororities did not respond to requests for comment by press time, nor did representatives of Alpha Delta, Beta Alpha Omega, Bones Gate, Chi Heorot, Gamma Delta Chi, Kappa Kappa Kappa, Phi Delta Alpha, Psi Upsilon, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Nu and Theta Delta Chi fraternities. The Common Man Inn, a popular formal venue, declined to comment.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction appended: March 1, 2014
The original version of this article misidentified the location of Alpha Chi's winter 2013 formal. It was Whaleback Mountain, not Harpoon Brewery.
