Lohse: Telling the Truth
By Andrew Lohse, Contributing Columnist
Published on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
We attend a strange school where a systemic culture of abuse exists under a college president who has the power and experience to change what can only be described as a public health crisis of the utmost importance: the endemic culture of physical and psychological abuse that occupies the heart of Dartmouth’s Greek community. President Jim Yong Kim’s sterling credentials in public health are fundamentally at odds with the pervasive hazing, substance abuse and sexual assault culture that dominates campus social life.
I understand these problems because I myself have endured them. If I were to fully enumerate all of the dehumanizing experiences my friends and I have survived here — experiences that were ironically advertised to us as indispensable elements of the “Dartmouth Experience” — I would have too few words left in this column to adequately explain how the Kim administration has not done enough to address these crises. They have yet to take decisive action to diagnose and cure the abuse that plagues Dartmouth.
I was a member of a fraternity that asked pledges, in order to become a brother, to: swim in a kiddie pool full of vomit, urine, fecal matter, semen and rotten food products; eat omelets made of vomit; chug cups of vinegar, which in one case caused a pledge to vomit blood; drink beers poured down fellow pledges’ ass cracks; and vomit on other pledges, among other abuses. Certainly, pledges could have refused these orders. However, under extreme peer pressure and the desire to “be a brother,” most acquiesced. While not every pledge is asked to do these things, many are. The specific tasks vary year to year, but these are things I’ve witnessed as a member of the fraternity.
As a pledge, I ceased to be a human being; instead, I became “whale shit.” In the process, I, my fellow pledges and all pledges since, have been implicitly encouraged to treat Dartmouth women with about the same respect with which we treated each other in our social spaces: none. Fraternity life is at the core of the College’s human and cultural dysfunctions.
I have also talked with fellow brothers who have privately expressed dismay and sometimes emotional or psychological pain about their experiences but have been unable to break the cycle of abuse they had been so tortured by; they participate in the rituals year to year. It is a cycle that, as I myself have experienced, is difficult to break even after deep introspection. One of the things I’ve learned at Dartmouth — one thing that sets a psychological precedent for many Dartmouth men — is that good people can do awful things to one other for absolutely no reason. There is an intoxicating nihilism at the center of our culture that fraternities perpetuate through pathological lies while continuing the abuses. Sadly, I have learned this through my experiences dealing with my former fraternity.
The truth is that my experience is not the exception, but rather the norm. The administration is fully aware of what goes on in our basements; I know this because I have had frank conversations with several high-level administrators. This column should not be a surprise to Dr. Kim, since it was David Spalding and April Thompson with whom I initially met and shared the troubling, graphic story of my experience as a Dartmouth man, replete with related media and places and times of future acts of hazing. Not enough was done: Hanover Police and the fraternity’s national organization were alerted, but the Hanover Police Department investigation only included an event that occurred outside of the house and was inconclusive. The national organization voiced strong complaints to two members over the summer — a development in July that seemed to me to be positive — but did not follow up its words with any kind of action or investigation.
And then the College’s action ended there. The administrators with whom I spoke claimed that they could do nothing more because I had asked to remain anonymous. I find that claim hard to believe. During my pledge term, the house came under serious scrutiny for hazing due to a tip trifling in comparison to the information I had provided them: In this case, a professor overheard two pledges in his class discussing vomiting milk. That inquiry involved interviews of pledges, who, at the suggestion of the house’s officers, offered preconceived, false denials.
It is my sincere hope that the administration can summon the courage to once and for all address the hazing and attendant assault culture that define the Greek experience at Dartmouth. The Greek system cannot continue this course, at my former fraternity or at others — its culture requires extensive oversight and restructuring.
Perhaps the College could begin by finally withdrawing its recognition of fraternities that brazenly flout the law, College policy and basic human decency. Perhaps Greek life could be integrated as coeducational, if not suspended indefinitely until a suitable, positive alternative is devised. A residential college system would uphold Dartmouth’s rich social tradition while respecting the humanity of students in a way that current Greek life does not. Systems similar to these have been implemented with great success at Dartmouth’s peer institutions.
I know firsthand that we need real change that addresses the causes of our culture of disrespect; we also need to forgive each other, forgive ourselves and have courage. We can end the abuse. It is a small college, but there are those of us who feel the need to tell the truth about it.
Lohse is a hypocrite. It wasn’t okay for someone to blow the whistle on his cocaine habits, but it is okay for him to blow the whistle on his own fraternity’s hazing. The real problem is that this kid is not in jail for possesion and witness tampering (after he tried to intimidate the kid that turned him in). Then we wouldn’t have to worry about this clown.
By anonymous on Jan 25 | 8:43 pm
The Real Issue Here— There’s nothing wrong with that opening sentence. It’s not difficult to read at all. If your problems with it have anything to do with its combined length and minimal punctuation, please note: you should never use a comma to separate a chain of identifying modifiers from its generic noun base! Picture a grade-school-style diagram of the offending sentence, but backwards (it’s easier). Including an appositive for the object of the prepositional phrase “of the utmost importance,” which modifies the object of the prepositional phrase modifying the main verb of the noun clause “what can only be described as a crisis,” which is the object of the infinitive modifying the object of the adjective clause helping to identify “a college president,” which is the object of the prepositional phrase modifying the main verb of the adjective clause beginning “where,” everything from “a strange school” to “community” is best thought of as the direct object of the main verb “attend.” All of these branching elements indirectly (with the exception of “where…,” which is direct) link to “school,” “attend”’s true object, which here is a generic noun with no clear antecedent. While we all know to which school he refers, in the context of the sentence these modifiers serve to identify the unnamed school “we attend” by attributing to it a certain kind of culture, a certain kind of president and a certain kind of crisis. Altogether they become the name of the object. I hope this helps!
By @ A.A. McKenzie & Chad Bro Chill on Jan 26 | 12:22 am
lohse clearly has an ulterior motive here: to prove once and for all who has the hardest pledge term. congrats sae!
By hard guy on Jan 26 | 2:01 am
Sounds like he is working on his resume! Good luck out there, Mr. Lohse! You truly belong to the generation of spoiled, entitled brats! The saddest part of this debaucle is that while our society may continue to support the ancient ritual of hazing, it concurrently supports a highly litigenous environment in which a generation of intelligent book smart kids genuinely feel validated in blaming others for the consequences of their choices and subsequent actions of stupidity!
By Ann on Jan 26 | 9:48 am
Pledging is voluntary. If you don’t like being treated like crap, don’t rush that house. If you can’t stand up for yourself and tell someone no, you don’t deserve to get a Dartmouth education. Part of growing up and being an adult, not even just being a man, is learning to stick to your values, and doing what you believe in. If you are too mentally weak to stand up for what you think is right and wrong, relying on the governing body to fix everything and make the entire world safe, then you need to take a few history classes. That’s not how things are done. If you don’t want to be initiated, don’t pledge. If you want to be a member of an organization, but only so long as it fits your comfort level, start your own group, it happens all the time. Either way, stop crying to mom every time someone tries to be mean to you. There are fraternities at Dartmouth, the one I was in, that don’t require “dehumanization”. We showed respect to our pledges, and asked for respect for our house and our fraternity in return. That works with the men we were looking for to join our fraternity. Some students wanted different things, and they joined houses where they could get that experience. Dartmouth gives you options, but don’t expect them to wipe your ass for you. At some point, you must learn to grow up.
By Realworld on Jan 26 | 4:28 pm
Typical attack-the-messenger comments from entitled assholes. Do you all think this behavior — particularly the attitudes towards women — are perfectly acceptable and should not even be questioned?
Or are you satisfied just vilifying Mr. Lohse for ruining all your fun?
By byaz on Jan 26 | 6:13 pm
Whether or not someone else endured worse rituals is of no importance. The activities described here are horrible! Yes he could have walked away, and he should have walked away, but humans do some very strange things. Think Germany and their acceptance of Hitler’s programs of genocide and Aryan purity, for example.
Lohse may have done things that do not earmark him as the world’s most credible source of information, but there’s always someone who is afraid to speak up and this may very well be a chance to help those who suffer in silence.
Quit hating on the writer and consider the harder questions he is forcing us to consider
By hatenottheplayer on Jan 26 | 8:09 pm
No person should ever be subjected to such degradation, humiliation and angst. The responsibility in my view not only belongs to the Dartmouth administration, but also to each of those ‘males’ who encourage and administer such torturous and inhumane treatment to their ‘prospective brothers’. It is noticeable that not one person commented on Andrew’s point of how pervasive the rape culture is at Dartmouth, which is well known. I applaud Andrew for coming forward and exposing the Greek fraternity for what they are: A bunch of ignorant, immature, devious, overgrown boys with strong sociopath/ psychopathic tendencies. Traits that sociopaths and psychopaths share include:
a disregard for the rights of others a failure to feel remorse or guilt a disregard for laws and social mores a tendency to display violent behavior and emotional outbursts.And they are being groomed to be tomorrow’s leaders? God help us all!
By Tacoma on Jan 26 | 8:46 pm
Yo Lohser, you missed your Harvard comma. Shouldn’t you know where to put that kind of comma since you’re such a prolific writer that you publish in the Crimson? Aren’t (pardon me—“weren’t”) you an English major? C'mon bro…you’re an embarrassment to the craft. I won’t even discuss the other ways you’re an embarrassment.
By Benjamin Driver on Jan 27 | 12:37 am
No person should be subjected to such degradation, just like no person should be subjected to the hardships of being overweight. The beautiful thing about it is that both of these hardships are entirely avoidable. You don’t even need to try particularly hard. In fact, even losing weight requires active participation. Avoiding hazing is easier than that. You don’t even have to get off the couch. Just don’t join a frat. I can’t believe we’re even having this conversation.
By Accountability on Jan 27 | 12:41 am
Whatever Lohse’s motives, they do nothing to lessen the impact of the allegations he poses. Yes, he should have been more forthcoming in his article about his own legal troubles (I suspect, however, that he was not the only one snorting coke in a Dartmouth frat house) and active participation in hazing, but these omissions cannot blur the facts that he poses.
This behavior is disgusting and, unfortunately, seems to be quite pervasive. There’s not much more to say in judgment, except to refute the argument that pledges have a “choice” to participate (or not) in hazing and are therefore responsible for the treatment to which they are subjected. We have to remember that we are not talking about full-grown adults here. We are talking, rather, about young students joining a fraternal organization that, for them, is inextricably bound up within the social fabric of their new community. Expecting most of these students to walk away is expecting them to reject the social inclusion that they surely crave. Not a likely event.
Lohse brings up a good point: Why not ban fraternities altogether? What good do they bring to Dartmouth’s student culture when pledges are forced, year in and year out, to participate in the disgusting behavior described in this article?
At Williams, where fraternities were done away with in the mid-20th century, these issues do not exist to any extent approaching what Lohse describes at Dartmouth. There are certainly cases of sexual assault, of disgusting behavior and of mistreatment. But these cases are not systematic or institutionalized. People generally get along, respect one another and treat each other with dignity.
My alma mater is not perfect. Few examples are. But I can guarantee that no one I know ever had to swim in semen or fecal matter to gain social acceptance.
By Williams Alum on Jan 27 | 10:33 am
No person should be subjected to such degradation, just like no person should be subjected to the hardships of being in a gang. Members of frats and gangs trade personal welfare for social capital. Both frats and gangs perpetuate themselves, despite the downsides. Are the problems of frat hazing and gang violence simply an issue of personal responsibility, or are they more systemic?
By ano on Jan 27 | 4:32 pm
I wonder how many times in Dartmouth’s history there’s an exposé on what happens during Hell Nights.
There was an AXA incident, involving actual video of the 1988 hell night. Prof. Luxon’s attempt to show the video in 1995 resulted in a lot of reactionary heckling, and clearly no progress. Lohse (though he apparently does have pictures) hasn’t presented the same smoking gun, but it shouldn’t be necessary.
Whatever the details and variations between houses, we all know what happens, and we all know its completely indefensible. It’s absurd, and a little bit incredible this aspect of the culture has lasted this long.
The siege mentality of frats gives rise to these defensive, denialist, or just inane responses. But that stubborn digging-in and refusal to change will inevitably be the very thing that actually creates that siege and does them in.
By Niral Shah ‘08 on Jan 27 | 5:09 pm
go lohse go lohse go!
By anonymous on Jan 29 | 3:33 am
I feel obligated to say that joining SigEp defined my college career and shaped much of who I am today. SigEp was the best part of my college experience. Certainly we drank (merrily) too much, but drinking in college is hardly exclusive to the Greek system or Dartmouth.
What we did not do, however, was haze. Nor did most of the fraternities and sororities on campus. I hope you are lying about what happened to you. If not, I’m sorry you went through such a traumatic experience. Your blanket and bitter portrayal of the Greek system, however, is untrue and offensive to those tens-of-thousands of Dartmouth alumni who cherish the memories of their fraternities and sororities. Try to recognize that you are attempting to discredit the very institution (I’m talking about Dartmouth College here) that future employers and colleagues will use to make their oh-so-important first impression of who you are.
Look before you leap, think before you speak, and – most importantly of all – take a shower. Truth.
By David Hoftiezer, ‘04 on Feb 1 | 10:42 pm
I’m appalled that there are people on here attacking the author rather than really addressing the issue, which is hazing. I don’t care what the author did; the fact remains that pointless, nasty and dangerous forms of hazing occur and people ignore it. What decent person in their right mind thinks it’s okay to treat a potential “brother” this way:
“…in order to become a brother, to: swim in a kiddie pool full of vomit, urine, fecal matter, semen and rotten food products; eat omelets made of vomit; chug cups of vinegar, which in one case caused a pledge to vomit blood; drink beers poured down fellow pledges’ ass cracks; and vomit on other pledges, among other abuses.”
How does that mold him into a better man? What does that teach a pledge? Does it teach him to love his brother and his fraternity? It’s absolutely foolish and despicable that people are supporting this type of treatment of a fellow human being. These disgusting and perverse forms of pledging are a mockery, and need to be stopped. You can humble an individual with more intelligent practices. You can find a sophisticated way to educate a young brother. And if any frater is too dumb or barbaric to realize that, he needs to re-evaluate himself as a man. And if your only retort is “Well, the pledge should walk away”, you should feel ashamed of yourself. Don’t you have any decency or common sense?
By Appalled and Disappointed on Feb 6 | 1:23 am
Does this guy even go to Dartmouth anymore?
By Anon on Feb 7 | 9:59 am