Debate on Student Life Must Not Become Personal
To the Editor:
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To the Editor:
I still remember the feeling of being relegated to the "kids' table". It seemed that now matter how grown up I looked or felt, I was always turned gently away from adult conversations, presumably about things I didn't yet understand (like car payments and job promotions), to the small table on the side where talk turned instead to the latest playground incident. I always wondered what it would feel like to become an integral part of the sophisticated mystery for which I was then too immature.
Apathetic. Is that how you would describe yourself? Is that how you would describe your fellow Dartmouth students? Whether or not your would classify your community, your college as apathetic, it was certainly a key word floating around last week's Trustee meeting. The description, however, was coming from some of this campus's most well-respected leaders, not from the mighty guardians of the college pocketbook. Evidence of said apathy was a lack of attendance at recent Working Group meetings and Task Force discussion groups. It apparently is the prevailing mood on campus.
With the unofficial requirement of pre- freshman viewing of "Animal House", the incoming classes begin their time here at Dartmouth with the impression that the Greek system is an unregulated, uncontrolled alcohol haven. It's as if they expect to walk into a Dartmouth fraternity or sorority on a given Friday night to find John Belushi in a toga downing beer by the keg-full or throwing furniture out windows. The problem isn't that students have this preconceived image but, rather, that for some students this impression isn't being refuted during their Dartmouth experience. So why is it that so many people see and remember our social alcoholic events and yet our community service, our speakers, our intercultural events remain less visible? Perhaps it is the difficulty of overturning a long-held reputation of "The Greeks," or maybe it's because we're just not doing enough! The Greek system is at a crossroads and it's time for some self-criticism, self-reflection, and move towards change. So where do we go from here?