Should Greek houses go local? If so, should the College mandate it?
I do not think all Greek houses should go local. While there are certain advantages to localizing, being national has its own advantages. Alumni relations, fundraising en masse for one important cause and the history and traditions that come with a national identity are appealing to many students. We should not forget these benefits, among others, when we discuss the problems that come with national Greek chapters. I also believe that meaningful social change on campus will not depend on the distinction between local and national Greek houses. We already have both options on campus, yet the problems persist.
— Reem Chamseddine ’17
If sororities are to become viable social spaces on campus, then they must go local. National regulations keep the doors of many sororities closed to other students and create barriers to sisters from hosting social events — even from inviting non-members to the house. If female-dominated social spaces are to be as viable as the existing male-dominated ones, we need to make our sororities local. If the College wants a truly inclusive social scene with safe spaces for all, local sororities are a step in the right direction.
— Jessica Lu ’18
The College should not mandate that houses go local. This undermines the freedom of the students to determine how they would like to run their houses on their own. Being part of a national network provides many benefits, including a strong alumni network and a long institutional history, which would not exist to the same extent in a local house. If the College mandates that all house much be local, they are forcing students to forsake these benefits.
— Jon Miller ’15
As a member of Epsilon Kappa Theta sorority, I love being in a local sorority because of the flexibility, autonomy and empowerment that comes with not having to listen to national organizations — and being able to hold your own pong table.
Presently, male-dominated fraternities hold hegemony over nightlife at the College. As a consequence, students who want to engage in the mainstream social scene are left with few, if any, alternatives to fraternities. Localizing sororities will level the playing field between the sexes by providing legitimate female-dominated social spaces to counterbalance fraternities. This reversal of power dynamics can even potentially lower the risk of sexual assault by giving students, especially females and self-identified women, more spaces where they can feel comfortable and safe.
Though going local has its benefits, no Greek house should ever be mandated to go local. Some students enjoy having access to a national organization and all the benefits that includes, such as a national network of alumni. Likewise, not all Greek affiliates want to have an open house or take on the risk of what that means, including the possibility of dealing with a dirty basement and drunk strangers. The wish to remain a national should be respected. At the same time, the College should help Greek houses — especially sororities — that want to go local by making that possibility a financially feasible reality.
— Nicole Simineri ’17
Local sororities do everyone in the Dartmouth community a favor. Because they do not have to answer to national organizations — almost all of which limit the serving of alcohol in chapter houses — local sororities can claim a bigger stake in the campus social scene. This benefits fraternities, too, since spreading the scene means spreading the risks and costs associated with it. More importantly, a vibrant and inclusive sorority scene gives all students — affiliated or not — more options on Friday and Saturday nights. While the College should not mandate that sororities go local — we’ve surely experienced enough administrative meddling in student social life recently — it should make the transition as attractive as possible by absorbing the financial risk involved. Such an investment would be well worth making.
— Jon Vandermause ’16
For reasons very well-known, there are significant advantages provided — particularly to sororities — by being a local versus a national organization. More autonomy, less stringent social and recruitment policies and the ability to host all-campus parties and alcoholic events are just a few. Certainly such advantages indicate that it may be in the College’s best interest to economically incentivize “going local” for those Greek organizations on campus that remain tied to a national. This is especially salient in light of the ongoing quest for more female-dominated social spaces to parallel traditional fraternities. Having more local sororities may very well be a mechanism to balance a party scene that disproportionately occurs in fraternity basements. That being said, there is no need for the College to mandate organizations to go local. The decision to shift away from a national is weighty one, and should not be dictated by an external actor — whether a fraternity or sorority would rather prioritize more alcoholic and social freedoms over, say, an affiliation with a national network of alumni, is completely that organization’s prerogative.
— Aylin Woodward ’15
I think that it would be great for the College to support the localization of Greek houses, particularly sororities, whose national rules often curtail their social activities. This would allow them to hold open events with alcohol, making them more viable social spaces for their own members and the larger community. This is important for a number of reasons, primarily that putting sororities on an equal playing ground with fraternities may be a key to reducing the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses. Allowing women to host more open social events would also help equalize the distribution of control of the College’s social scene. With only three coed houses and three sororities with open basements — as compared to 15 all-male fraternities with the same — social spaces at Dartmouth are overwhelmingly male-dominated. This means that women are often guests at — rather than owners of — the social spaces they occupy on weekends. Fraternities’ dominance also makes it easier for first-year men to find upperclassmen friends and role models, when in comparison, first-year women have less access to members of sororities that do not have regularly open basements.
— Lorelei Yang ’15
