Why is it that the D is willing to publish perpetrators names for all of the gossipy “crimes” that have occurred recently, but when somebody gets assaulted in a Greek basement on this campus, we’re suddenly hush hush about the violence?

I find it irresponsible and poor reporting by the D to not include why the female threw the drink. Though much of campus is aware that the drink throwing was provoked, your article did not include one mention of such provocation, which in turn makes it appear as if the girl threw the drink for no reason. It is a complete failure on the part of the D to not address the initial reasons for the situation.

it is NOT ok for the author to leave out what provoked her to throw the drink. he said something beyond rude that completely changes the way the is could be viewed.

I hope that the administration and female leaders stand behind a similar piece of legislation if proposed by the IFC.

More importantly, however, I hope that Panhellenic Council uses this measure only after serious investigation, as it could easily turn into a slippery slope by which members of the Council use their power to change an individual’s Dartmouth career.

Knowing a few more of the details than published by the Dartmouth, it appears that Panhell may have already have fallen victim to this slippery slope. Ultimately, we all must ask ourselves who can be the first to “throw a stone”. As for the case mentioned in this article, I believe that both sides are both somewhat at fault, as if it wasn’t, campus security and college officials rather than Bored at Baker jockeys would be handling the situation. I hope in the coming days that an unbiased investigation takes place and this incident is used to reshape the recently passed legislation, perhaps forcing both Panhell and The Dartmouth to reevaluate whether public discourse for the incident in question was necessary or just.

Is the expectation that fraternities should also start banning specific sororities if a member crosses the line thier house, or are men the only ones capable of violence?

“He said something beyond rude that completely changes the way the is [this] can be viewed.” – Comment 4:46 am

If we lived in a society where bad language and insults normally constitute physical violence than we wouldn’t be a civilized society and New York City wouldn’t have any cab drivers.

To the commenter who said the guy said something beyond rude, that really doesn’t matter once you’re no longer prepubescent. One isn’t allowed to answer words with violence, and throwing a drink at someone is a form of violence and is legally assault. A simple assault like throwing a drink at someone doesn’t excuse the followup of throwing a glass bottle at someone, which is assault with a deadly weapon in most if not all states, but let’s not pretend the girl in question did nothing wrong. She did. She didn’t deserve to have a bottle thrown at her or be pushed against a wall, but she did commit a criminal act too and she committed a criminal act first.

““When sorority presidents are unwilling to start a dialogue and converse with us, that contributes to the problem,” Niparko said. “We want to work with sororities to improve how sexual assault on this campus is handled.”

You have got to be KIDDING me. There has been dialogue FOR YEARS and nothings has been done. The time for “dialogue” is over and I applaud these women for the courage of their actions. Hopefully they will cause action on the part of the college and fraternities, who should be ashamed and apologetic about the way they’ve handled assault in the past.

“I hope that the administration and female leaders stand behind a similar piece of legislation if proposed by the IFC.

More importantly, however, I hope that Panhellenic Council uses this measure only after serious investigation, as it could easily turn into a slippery slope by which members of the Council use their power to change an individual’s Dartmouth career."

The point is that “serious investigations” rarely happen with assault of females on campus. More often than not they are swept under the rug. If there were “serious investigations” with real consequences, the sororities wouldn’t have to take measures on their own.

“Is the expectation that fraternities should also start banning specific sororities if a member crosses the line thier house, or are men the only ones capable of violence?”

What flawed “logic.” Dartmouth has a history of covering up sexual assault and not protecting its “cohogs.” There have been paltry and few efforts to change things both by administration and by the students. As a former female student, I felt disgust and apathy at the whole situation – feeling like there was nothing we could do to change it.

These sorority leaders should be lauded for their efforts to change things. We can only hope that the “leaders” of the college (although their inaction makes that somewhat of a misnomer), who are supposed to protect their students will finally make decisions and changes that fulfill their responsibility.

If not, it won’t just be Yale that’s dealing with a title IX case.

We applaud the efforts of Panhell in pushing these measures forward. This is a more than welcome change that we believe will enhance the rights of the females on the Dartmouth campus. We applaud the administration for standing behind these strong female leaders and look forward to a changed campus in the coming days.

-FA, SB, EC, CC, SC, MC, LD, ED, AD, AD, RG, KE, DF, JL, GJ, HK, LL, KL, KM, MM, NN, SN, KR, LS, MS, AS, ES, AT, BU

oh please. sack up Niparko. this should have been enacted years ago. kudos to the panhell sorority presidents for putting a collective foot down, and to axa and sigep for addressing assault in their constitutions. this isn’t a men vs. women issue, it’s a criminal vs. community issue.

“He then pushed her against the wall until other members of the fraternity pulled him away.” This is completely false. He was stopped by his brothers as he approached her, with no physical contact made. This fact is even more important as the comment which instigated the conflict, and The D’s neglect for both of these points is an unforgivable distortion of the story.

The policy is completely one sided. As far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t matter what was said to provoke the girl to throw the beer. For every girl, specifically the Sorority Presidents, who support this policy I encourage you to let some of the golden liquid we call Keystone into your eyes, and then ask yourself the question of why the policy lacks all attention with educating THE GIRL, THE INSTIGATOR. This isn’t a case of me ‘blaming the victim’, this is a case of a girl who didn’t walk away from a confrontation, and escalated it using violence. The boy was in the wrong for continuing the trend, but the policy is only directed at his actions.

Welcome to the real zoo that Dartmouth has become since it was merely an animal house before. Perhaps President Kim should show some real leadership and close down the frats. They belong to a time past.

This new policy doesn’t discourage sororities from censuring their own members for violence, perhaps through internal policy. Someone please explain to me how having a policy against male perpetrators precludes having a policy against female perpetrators. Several commenters seem to think it does, but I don’t see it.

I think this is a great idea. While the sorority presidents' response to this specific incident may have been an overreaction, the general idea is that STUDENTS need to take the initiative to prevent physical and sexual assault by boycotting Greek houses that protect the perpetrators. Everyone’s always complaining about the administration doing nothing, but there’s only so much they can do when student organizations ignore the problem. Props to the sorority presidents.

“Perhaps President Kim should show some real leadership and close down the frats. They belong to a time past.”

Why kill a tradition that has existed for so long? I agree, the situation at hand would have been adjudicated differently had it not happened within a fraternity, but that is certainly not a reason to abolish the fraternity system outright. Find some actual supporting evidence for your argument. Explain why they belong to a time past. Tell me what values that fraternities have no longer apply. Brotherhood? No. surely that isn’t needed in today’s cutthroat society. A network of friends and business contacts? No certainly not needed. A place where you can truly feel comfortable among your peers? Why would you ever want that?

On a more pertinent note: I agree with the sororities' decision to boycott. One person’s decisions should not reflect the attitude of a house, but by the same token, the house must be responsible for that member’s decisions. Membership is a two-way street. Until the house in question can take care of its internal affairs, boycotting is an acceptable show of force on the part of the sororities. I do not expect this to change anyone’s awareness of assault, for i hope that the majority of you are aware of its existence and know that it is unacceptable. What this action truly seeks to do is to show the campus that assault won’t be swept under the rug. By that logic, however, I do believe that action should be taken against the girl as well, though not so severe, for the infraction was not as severe. I would push for some form of punishment for her actions are also unacceptable.

Remember when H-Po came up with their new policy on alcohol and the Greek System? A policy made in secret and suddenly announced? The campus was in uproar, yet even they gave warning as to the policies start and opened for forum with the school. The Sorority Presidents enacted policy and enforced it in one motion. Even though they were undoubtedly against H-Po’s tactics. The maturity of the ways feminists bring attention to themselves has been appalling for years. Littering frat yards with signs and panties? Distributing songs denouncing all fraternity brothers? Both sides need to do a lot of growing up.

To everyone who is arguing about this decision using the circumstances of this ONE incident: this is not about this one incident. This is about INNUMERABLE instances of violence that happen in fraternities, committed by brothers, that go unpunished. I applaud and fully support the Panhellenic presidents' decision to take action to hold the organizations accountable, because how else will these issues be dealt with? Fraternities are supposed to be about brotherhood and being proud to be part of that brotherhood, not just hushing up brothers' misbehaviors and condoning violence. Regardless of how this one incident went down, this is not about men vs. women—it is an effort to encourage organizations to take accountability for their members' actions. If the fraternity takes appropriate action to deal with an instance of violence—through a house discussion of some sort, at the very least—then it shouldn’t be a problem. Stop complaining and throwing up defenses, embrace the chance to demonstrate your organization is responsible and respectable, and prove it.

Bravo, presidents and sorority women of Dartmouth. I’m proud to be one of you.

I agree that in this particular instance the assault in question was not completely one-sided, and the new policy being enacted in response to this incident may for that reason seem like an overreaction. However, I think it’s a generally accepted fact that assault and sexual assault toward women on this campus has not been addressed effectively in the past, and that a fundamental change in both mentality and policy is necessary. I think this policy is a great step in that direction. Social pressure against the use of violence toward women, in the form of a formal and united response and demand for action against it by the social student organizations on campus (the perpetrator/s peers), will do as much (and maybe more) to change the mentality toward assault at Dartmouth when used to augment administrative action. It also opens the possibility of educating and appropriately punishing the perpetrator/s without completely ruining their futures (by expelling them, for example), which I think in milder cases is often a concern of the victim and witnesses.

My understanding is that the sorority presidents are more than willing to further discuss and improve this policy as we go forward, and I applaud them for their courage in enacting real changes with great potential for improving a widely acknowledged pro

“Remember when H-Po came up with their new policy on alcohol and the Greek System? A policy made in secret and suddenly announced? The campus was in uproar, yet even they gave warning as to the policies start and opened for forum with the school. The Sorority Presidents enacted policy and enforced it in one motion. Even though they were undoubtedly against H-Po’s tactics. The maturity of the ways feminists bring attention to themselves has been appalling for years. Littering frat yards with signs and panties? Distributing songs denouncing all fraternity brothers? Both sides need to do a lot of growing up.”

You’re off on both points. First of all, this isn’t a school policy. This is merely the sororities saying they will decline to have joint events with a fraternity that fails to deal with an instance of violence. They don’t NEED to announce or discuss this policy with anyone else, because it’s the sororities' decision. Also, unlike HPo, this isn’t a sneaky tactic, it isn’t going to screw anyone over or get them arrested, and it isn’t in violation of the school’s usual attitude towards drinking. This is a completely open, peaceful, and unimposing action that actually is trying to make Dartmouth a better, stronger, and less violent community. So, I don’t really know why you’re whining so much about it.

As far as feminists “drawing attention to themselves”—women who take a stand against violence and seek to hold their fellow Dartmouth students to a standard of respect and accountability aren’t exactly trying to draw attention to themselves. They’re drawing attention to the issue. It’s you, and those who have made similar critiques, who refuse to have the balls to examine the actual issue and instead complain about those mean old feminists. If the Dartmouth community (and you, Anonymous) doesn’t have a problem with violence, then it’s you who needs to grow up.