Zete incident spurs mass faculty response

An open letter to the Board of Trustees and College President James Wright signed by 101 faculty members released early today urges the College to revisit the issue of radically reforming or abolishing the Greek system. Citing recent incidents in the Coed Fraternity Sorority system, the letter suggests the College has not adequately addressed issues of misogyny and racism many faculty say are fostered by the Greek organizations. "We ourselves have never felt more disappointed by the administration's failure to address the systemic and incalculable harm that both our students and our own pedagogical work suffer by Dartmouth's acceptance and support of structures that promote such attitudes of entitlement and disrespect," the letter says. The letter expresses frustration with what faculty perceive as the failure of the Student Life Initiative to live up to expectations of addressing "institutionalized forms of discrimination and segregation that still dominated student social life." "Two years later, we on the faculty still are teaching female students and students of color who suffer from institutionalized practices of sexist and racist humiliation that fester largely unabated within secret fraternity culture," the letter states. Declaring "solidarity" with victims of verbal and sexual abuse, the faculty members who signed the letter are seeking to work with students and College administration to create alternatives to the current system they say is based on "exclusion, self-indulgence and an arrogant sense of entitlement." "It's very important for Dartmouth at this point to re-open the issue and to really explore the very real consequences that the Greek system has for the academic life of this campus," Spanish and Comparative Literature Professor Agnes Lugo-Ortiz, one of the letter's initial sponsors, said. Lugo-Ortiz collaborated with nine other professors in the writing of the letter, which then circulated last week and was signed by many other faculty members, a significant proportion of whom were from the English Department. The letter "reiterates the faculty's feeling that this structure that dominates Dartmouth's social life is antithetical to the intellectual, moral and social life of the College," according to another sponsor, English Professor Ivy Schweitzer. Yet Schweitzer said she feels that it is important for faculty to continue to make their voices heard, especially in light of recent incidents such as "The Zetemouth," the shouting of allegedly racist and sexist slurs from the Psi Upsilon porch and the attempted arson at Chi Gamma Epsilon. Anti-Greek sentiment among the faculty is nothing new -- they have voted against the continuation of the CFS system several times over the past three decades. At a meeting in February last year, the faculty voted 81-0 to urge the administration to withdraw College recognition from all Greek organization as soon as more residential space is available. Many of the letter's sponsors and signers have long been critical of the Greeks, voicing public support for the system's abolition during faculty meetings and public forums. For example, Professor of Religion Susan Ackerman, another letter sponsor, said after last year's faculty meeting that the CFS system "stands so antithetical to our academic message of openness." While expressing support for coeducational, non-exclusive organizations, Ackerman said yesterday, "I believe that selective single sex organizations at Dartmouth need to eliminated." The letter invites members of the Board of Trustees to attend the upcoming public meeting of the general faculty, scheduled for May 14, to discuss the future of the Greek system at Dartmouth.