News
The statements released by the Trustees and Dean of the College James Larimore were met with a lack of surprise by the leadership of the Student Assembly and members of the Student Response Task Force yesterday.
These student leaders expressed general agreement with the announcements and said that they had great hopes for improvements to the social and residential future of the College -- but many disagreed with specific changes that now will be made to the Greek system.
"Nothing's going to change unless the culture changes," Assembly President Dean Krishna '01 said, adding that he thought the decisions made by the Trustees is a step in the right direction toward making those changes.
Approval is most enthusiastic for the development of social and residential space and the reevaluation of the D-Plan.
"[D-Plan review] is something the College has needed to do for a really long time," Assembly Vice President Margaret Kuecker '01 said.
Vice presidential candidate Chance Hill '01 expressed support for the promised fair treatment of Greek houses as places with individual personalities, in which they would be given the opportunity to meet the Trustee's standards.
Task Force Member Kate Laswell '02 said, "I'm excited by the fact that the Trustees were so generous in their ability to conceive so many new parts to Dartmouth," referring to the creation of new social spaces and physical construction.
Many felt the Trustees had made many of their decisions before reading student proposals, but, as Alex Wilson '01, Assembly treasurer and presidential candidate, said, "[that is] what we were told to expect."
The biggest controversy involved the decision to place a moratorium on the formation of new single-sex residential selective organizations, which, for most, killed hopes of the creation of a seventh sorority house.
"The College needs a seventh sorority, if not an eighth or a ninth," said Molly Stutzman '02, Assembly student life chair and candidate for vice president.
She added that it is not equitable that the sorority system could not be more like the fraternity system, which has houses higher in number and smaller in size.
Moving rush to Winter term, requiring undergraduate advisors to live in Greek houses and failure to emphasize diversity also evoked criticism.
"One of my main concerns is that diversity on campus was not addressed as a main issue," presidential candidate Alex Grishman '01 said.
