Why Not Eliminate All Student Affiliations?
To the Editor:
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To the Editor:
"Who can forget her sharp and misty mornings,
As a part of the construction of Berry Library, the big elm tree that stood at the northeast corner of Baker was recently cut down. It was an American elm much older than Baker itself, a grand old tree that we've all walked by many times whether or not we ever noticed its existence. There was a small amount of protest from Hanover residents over the taking of the tree, but the final decision to cut was made since the tree probably would not have survived construction without library blueprints being altered. The fact that Berry was essentially designed on top of this tree got me to thinking about how we value living things in general.
This spring, a new energy conservation program called SPARC (Save Power and Reduce Costs) was implemented at Dartmouth. The purpose behind the program is simple: to give the Dartmouth student population an opportunity to actively participate in conservation and receive a tangible benefit for doing so. There is, however, more to this program than meets the eye.
Last Fall, I was square dancing at Moosilauke. Everett had the music thumping, people were in high spirits and it was a good time. During one dance, I began talking with a woman from Dartmouth. We got to the subject of DOC trips, and I mentioned that I had led the fishing trip.
Last winter I was in Kenya on the Environmental Studies FSP. The focus of the term was supposed to be community-based conservation projects. However, given the complete immersion in an economy, lifestyle and culture completely different than my own, I really felt I learned a lot more about people and the troubles of third world nations. One particular idea I gathered during the program was in regards to the sending of famine relief food to foreign nations. What struck me was that Kenyan professors told us that food aid had a very negative impact on the country.
Last December, representatives of 160 countries met in Kyoto, Japan to discuss the possibility of global climate change brought about by human activities. Their intention was to determine what the available data meant and to make recommendations for action. What ensued was an intense debate involving a bit of hard data, computer-modeled scenarios for the future climate, a lot of suppositions and fear on all sides and eventually, the formation of a treaty.
This past summer, I culminated my ROTC training at Dartmouth by completing Advanced Camp. This is really just a five-week boot camp for college kids where military skills are evaluated. The last two weeks of camp were spent in the woods of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington conducting infantry training exercises.
With the exception of six sororities, Alpha Chi and Heorot, all Coed-Fraternity and Sorority houses are privately owned. This means that the College has no legal right to monitor or dictate policy to them. The College does have a trump card, however -- derecognition. This means saying that no students are allowed to live in a CFS house, thereby destroying the house(s). This rule forces houses to accept any or all regulations put upon them. Among the new rules that College Committee on Alcohol and Other Drugs cites should be dictated to CFS houses: 1) Shut off the taps at parties by two a.m. 2) Only 24 kegs on campus at any time, and none during the summer. 3) Safety & Security can monitor parties and enter CFS houses to ensure student safety and legality of drinking.
Anyone who has ever taken Chem 5 with Professor Kull has come out of the class having learned his theories on nature. One that stood out to me particularly was a tangent regarding why people tend to hate rats, but like squirrels. The argument was something to the effect of this: Rats have hairless, scaley-looking tails, squirrels have furry tails. Perhaps, Professor Kull submitted, the naked tails of rats subconsciously remind us of snakes, and we don't like snakes because in prehistoric times we competed with them when foraging for eggs.
Dartmouth takes pride in diversity. It is a school that makes serious attempts at creating a heterogeneous atmosphere in a relatively homogeneous region. There are culture nights, clubs created along racial/ethnic lines, affinity housing, the Language Study Abroad/Foreign Study Program, and many other steps taken to try and ensure a diverse Dartmouth. There is, however, one thing the school has missed.
Despite all the warnings to the contrary, the omnipresent "let's be more intellectual" propaganda, and the personal misgivings, in the Spring of 1996 I did something I never thought I'd do-- I joined a fraternity. Now, a year and a half later, not only do I not regret joining, I am awfully glad I did. I honestly believe I have learned as much from being in a fraternity as I have from classes at Dartmouth, so I figure heck, it's time to share with you, the reader, a part of fraternity life you never see: the educational side.
To the Editor: