College: Greeks' Future Bleak

by Matthew Tokson

Dartmouth College sponsored its first “Greek Leaders Retreat” this summer in East Wheelock’s Brace Commons—an appropriately antiseptic environment for a day-long meeting that began by focusing on the “marketing” of a tamer Greek system. Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman, saddled with much of the responsibility for implementing the Student Life Initiative’s changes, arranged the meeting to “communicate and develop some common themes to guide the Greek community over the next several years.”

Redman and a small army of ORL staffers led the presidents and advisors of each Greek house, the CFSC, and the Judiciary Committee through their vision of the future. They stressed the importance of advertising the Greek system to the Dartmouth community by emphasizing service and leadership rather than the social aspects of Greek life. The leaders were then divided into groups to discuss and then present their “personal visions for the Greek system.”

To the disappointment of the ORL staff, the visions articulated by the leaders were very similar to the old Greek system, with many calling for an expansion of the sorority system to promote inclusiveness. The ORL staff prodded participants to be more “creative” and “open-minded.”

But the real work of the Greek Leaders Retreat was accomplished when Redman took control of the meeting and discussed the specifics of implementing Dartmouth’s Student Life Initiative. He said that Greek houses should expect the College to force them to upgrade their facilities, which may mean anything from the installation of ceiling-mounted sprinkler systems to regulations governing “the height of the grass in the front lawn.” The houses may also have to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. In that case, explained Redman, the College would most likely assist the houses with low interest loans to cover the considerable costs of installing ramps and elevators (!) in the houses. Grants will not be given. The interest rate at which the houses would need to repay the College was not known.

Redman also promised that he would allow portable bars in all houses and would not mandate further basement renovations unless the Trustees force him to do so.

The Trustees, said Redman, have decided to prepare for eliminating Greek rush next fall; the Class of 2004 will not be permitted to rush until next winter. The objections to this move—both from Greek leaders and Redman himself—were seemingly endless.

Greek presidents most feared the debilitating loss of revenue that their houses would experience as a result of a winter term rush. The loss, calculated by one group at roughly $7,000 per year, would hit houses just as their expenses for facility improvement are skyrocketing. Many of the smaller houses would not be able to fill all of their housing space, forcing them to take in boarders (an option that the College is currently debating whether or not to allow).

Any national fraternities or sororities whose charters prohibit boarders would lose College recognition if they failed to fulfill their housing requirement. Alpha Phi Alpha expressed concern over being expelled from their national organization for violating national rush rules. The smaller Greek houses worried that they may be forced to disband due to excessively low budgets or memberships.

Greek leaders further objected that some social disconnection would result from the increased absence of sophomore members during the spring term, when most of the junior brothers return from their winter off-term. Undue stress would be placed on the seniors, they argued, who would already be busy with corporate recruiting or thesis writing.

Dean Redman noted that winter rush has been implemented once before in the early 90’s and was scrapped the next year due to its adverse effects. He cited the winter housing crunch, decreased off-campus program participation, huge spring term “dirty rushing,” and increased pressure on Greeks with financial aid, academic major, or athletic commitments.

The CFS Alumni Board, said several alumni advisors, will present a letter to the Trustees demanding the restoration of fall rush. Due to be presented early in the fall term, the letter, obtained by The Dartmouth Review, lists several problems with a winter rush. “The movement of rush to sophomore winter,” writes the Board, “will have the unintended consequence of forcing some students to choose between the quality of their academic experience and the quality of their extracurricular experience.” The full text of the letter is available on The Dartmouth Review’s website.

Redman agreed that winter rush is a terrible idea. He predicts that the Trustees will reinstate fall rush prior to next fall. Still, Redman will continue preparations for winter rush without official notice from the Trustees.

The retreat also examined the importance of advisors to Greek societies. Advisors are crucial, explained the ORL staff, in “marketing” the Greek system to a hostile faculty. Tri-Kap president William Trepp said that when he contacted a young faculty member about advising his house, the professor laughed and told him that it would be career suicide for an untenured professor to take such an unpopular position.

Redman notified the group of New Hampshire’s recently adopted Cleary Act, which requires all college employees to reveal the crimes of those they advise—including underage drinking—to their college under penalty of law. The few faculty advisors present were visibly upset at this announcement, and the debate over the desirability of faculty advisors abruptly ended.

House advisors protested that the Greek houses’ futures remain uncertain even if the houses comply with all of the College’s new regulations. Fraternity and sorority presidents chafed at the possibility that the College would force them to pour money into house renovations, only to eliminate the Greek system outright and purchase the newly refurbished buildings. It’s also difficult, they explained, to raise funds from alumni who don’t believe that the Greek system will exist in five years.

Dean Redman replied that, although he didn’t think that the Trustees would ever abolish the Greek system, he did not have the authority to guarantee the houses’ continued existence.

So the future of the Greek system remains unclear, and—despite overwhelming student and alumni support for the system—subject to the Trustees’ whims. The immediate question of whether rush will be moved to winter next year is crucial for the Greek houses. If a winter rush does occur, the loss of revenue along with the increase in mandated expenditures (including debt to the College) will almost certainly cause some houses to become insolvent—especially the smaller houses, the co-ed houses among them.

This, of course, is the Trustees’ intent. Last year’s Committee on the Student Life Initiative proposed a massive increase in the College’s regulatory authority over Greek houses, concluding that “It is unlikely that all current CFS houses will be able to meet the higher standards, with the result that the number of organizations will probably be reduced. This reduction is desirable in order to eliminate the historical dominance by the CFS organizations of Dartmouth social life.”

If the College follows through on its current Greek housing policy, houses will eventually be derecognized, and many (especially those who receive loans from the College) would likely be bought out by Dartmouth.

While the Greeks have the support of the CFS alumni board and, it seems, Dean Redman, Greek morale may be too low for an organized campaign against winter rush to take place. Most students remain discouraged by what is seen as a lack of an institutional voice for students at Dartmouth.

This defeatist attitude was quietly summed up by one Greek leader who asked not to be named: “Whatever, as long as I graduate before all this happens.”