Quick Takes
The Dartmouth asked campus an open-ended question: “What do you want the world to know about Dartmouth Greek life?” Their written responses follow:
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The Dartmouth asked campus an open-ended question: “What do you want the world to know about Dartmouth Greek life?” Their written responses follow:
Leslie Gordon ’79 founded the College’s first sorority — Sigma Kappa sorority, now Sigma Delta sorority — during her sophomore year in 1977, only four years after Dartmouth started admitting women.
As alumni flock back to the College this Homecoming weekend, the bonfire will not be their only destination — many will return to the Greek houses they spent countless hours in as students. These organizations, they recall, provided tight-knit groups of friends that last to this day.
In May 1992, the local sisterhood Epsilon Kappa Theta was born.
This fall, average dues for men are $342 and average dues for women are $308, not including additional new member dues, national dues or social dues, according to the Greek Leadership Organizations and Societies website.
With all of the passion, history and testosterone that come with the fraternity debate at Dartmouth, it’s hard to remain impartial and not be swept up in the issue’s politics and intricacies. Although for me, I suppose it’s a little easier not to generate too many opinions when I’m not actually allowed in.
Panhellenic Council president Rachel Funk ’15 has taken her position at a time marked by significant changes to Dartmouth’s sorority system, as well as to the Greek system as a whole.
The Greek system undeniably enables and institutionalizes harmful behaviors.
Every Friday, The Dartmouth editorial board prints a weekly column — our Verbum Ultimum — on page four. Today, we changed things up.
I entered my first Greek house at Dartmouth as a junior in high school. I was up at Dartmouth visiting my older brother, a member of the Class of 2013, who was currently relishing in sophomore summer. That night, I ventured out into the great unknown. Greek life was perhaps one of the main factors on my mind in considering whether Dartmouth would be right for me. I held a range of both fears and questions about the system, ranging from the trivial (do they actually throw toga parties?) to the more serious. My most serious fear was about exclusivity of the Greek life. Would my social life at Dartmouth be dictated by the whims of these fraternities and their brothers, whoever they were?
I remember that day during spring 2013 when classes were cancelled and we had speakers talk to us about the problems at Dartmouth. One of them said that there are a few bad eggs out there screwing it up for everyone else with bias incidents, sexual misconduct, and hate. This puts the blame on a handful of people, reassuringly, but is ultimately untrue. The blame for these behaviors falls on everyone who fails to step in when the roots of these behaviors are displayed.
I am sick of your abuse. You make me need you, you hurt my friends and I keep coming back.
The current outlook on Dartmouth’s Greek system has led to a vicious cycle of negative media coverage, and Greek organizations are increasingly portrayed as corrupting influences, bastions of classism and hotbeds of sexual assault. Fueled by horror stories and a lack of understanding, critics are putting fraternities and sororities on the whipping post for a host of higher education’s ills. These are dangerously uninformed assessments.
When I was asked to recount my experience editing and publishing “Telling the Truth” (Jan. 25, 2012), the opinion column that sparked much of the current discussion about hazing and the value of Dartmouth’s Greek system, I was lukewarm about the idea. The column, by Andrew Lohse ’12, was one of the most important pieces published during my tenure as the 2012 editor-in-chief of The Dartmouth, but I had largely put my role in editing the piece behind me, and I prefer to focus on the conversations that have taken place since.
Say what you will about us, we have a flair for the irreverent.
Change is happening at Dartmouth. We all know it. On a campus of 4,000 driven and proactive undergrads, it’s hard not to recognize the transformations that occur each day. Many of these changes revolve around the Greek system and its role on campus.
After the first round of Panhellenic Council sorority recruitment ended last Tuesday, Panhell executives said they spent hours calling sorority presidents, asking them to invite more women to their second round. This followed a guarantee announced in May that all potential new members would receive invitations to round two parties at four houses.