Becca – I’m sorry that you feel left out of the Greek system or that it saddens you because you believe it fractures our campus, but this is no argument against pledge gear from a policy standpoint. You may be appealing to the culture at large, which is great, but do you really think it makes sense to regulate an activity that you admit is harmless to the individual because it offends you? This is practically the same argument that opponents of gay marriage make.

So if you’re just appealing to campus culture, fine. I may disagree with you, but I firmly believe that the only way that things will change in a meaningful way is from within, so good on you for speaking up. However, please don’t support policies like this that are completely out of touch with reality. We as students need to stand together and tell the administration that this is our culture to shape – not theirs.

Becca. This is one of those situations where you should just choose to “be the change” instead of “whine about the problem”. Everyone understands that sirens brand a pledge with the identity of his or her new house, and that doing so can simplify or mask an individual’s personality. You really didn’t need to write a whole op-ed about something so obvious. Confidently and kindly being the kind of person who chooses to ignore Greek stereotypes and modeling that behavior for others sounds like a much better choice than wringing your hands over your keyboard. This piece made you look trivial and hung up on Greek branding, when it seems like you wanted to advocate for rising above such things.

This argument is absurd because there is no reason Greek affiliation is a uniquely detrimental form of categorization. Should teams not be allowed to wear their gear? After all I make certain assumptions when I see a group of people wearing football shirts standing before me in line in Foco. How about organizations such as DREAM? What if someone wore a T-shirt supporting a political candidate? We make assumptions about people because it is convenient – you can’t get to know everyone you meet at an extremely intimate, personal level, so the heuristic, evolutionary response is reductionist. This isn’t ideal, but it is natural and inevitable.

Of course people are more than their affiliations, and of course social typecasting is harmful, and everyone knows that pledge term is one big contest to see who can draw more attention to themselves. However, it is one term and public displays of affiliation are also meant to instill a sense of pride and solidarity within pledges. (Pre-emptively requesting that no one references Lacan, Foucault, or the term ‘the other’). The argument that the onlookers are the victims because they can’t help but be judgmental is pretty weak.

You make good points, although I disagree with them, but one point is just untrue. “What the administration has tried so inefficaciously to ban is not a piece of ribbon or a certain sort of hat but rather a cult of categorization that is harmful to us all.” The administration has stated no such aims. The administration’s banning of ribbons IS a stated response to hazing and not the framed reaction you wish it to be.

I’m not sure the fact that new members of Greek houses are often required to wear bows or sirens or whatever is really distinctly different from these same people simply wearing a shirt that you own with their Greek letters on it because they want to – or, for that matter, wearing any clothing advertising any activity you are a member of on campus. The same problems that you describe exist whether wearing the clothing is required or not, and strictly enforcing this policy against pledge gear will not remove the problems you describe. If we as a campus want to combat the underlying problem you discuss here, pledge gear – which really is harmless fun for the most part, and harmless fun that most Greek affiliates enjoy – is by no means the best way to go about it.

This article represents the worst kind of absurdist PCism on this campus. I hesitate to even call this liberalism because in your rush to not offend anyone or, god forbid, categorize anyone, you have suggested the administration take on a borderline fascist role, telling its' students what clothing to wear on a day-to-day basis.

“The divisive nature of the greek system…is a social reality,” that is “harmful to us all?” This is a contestable hypothesis that needs logical support, but you don’t have much at all. You are arguing that completely non-offensive clothing worn by others is legitimately harmful to you and to the community. Think about that for a second. Grow up.

So we should ban anything with Greek letters? Or affinity house gear? What about PRIDE shirts? Or lodj hair dying?

Basically your point is that it can hurt feelings when people are wearing an indicator they are part of something exclusive. That should not be a part of policy. Wearing things that represent your pride of being a part of a community should be encouraged, not banned by policy.

I guess you probably don’t wear a Dartmouth shirt at home then, because that might hurt the feelings of someone in your town that didn’t get in?

wow… so i’m guessing that you just want to do away with all labels? how about we make it illegal to wear team gear on campus and any clothing that marks us as dartmouth students when we’re not on campus?

that sounds perfectly reasonable to me. i don’t want anybody in my hometown to immediately judge me when they see me wearing my dartmouth clothing. i mean, it would hurt so much! i’d feel so bad when they immediately associate me with some ivy league or dartmouth stereotype.

really though, get off your high horse and just deal with it. think before you speak.

I agree with the general principles expressed here, especially the rejection of “good hazing,” but I think this piece otherwise overthinks the problem with the sirens.

The Alpha Chi sirens spark violence. The act of stealing a siren and the Alpha Chi defense regularly produces combat. Often these incidents has left participants severely injured.

Is it fair to “penalize” Alpha Chi because others steal their hat? Certainly yes if, as has been rumored, the Alpha Chi brothers encourage members of other fraternities to steal the hats so as to encourage their pledges to defend each other and to provide opportunities for hazing the pledges if the theft succeeds. But this may not be true.

Regardless, it is also fair to ban the hats if the hats spark violent acts even if that is not what Alpha Chi intended. Even speech can be prohibited if it will trigger a fight (the so-called “fighting words” exception to the First Amendment). If the Alpha Chi sirens are, in effect, s kind of attractive nuisance in the sense that they have come to invite violence, the College as keeper of the peace and guardian of basic safety not only can but has a duty to restrict or eliminate whatever is causing this unnecessary risk of bodily harm.

After reading your article, I think I can assume you would agree with me that Dartmouth as an institution is the epitome of exclusivity and insularity.

I would then expect that you never don a Dartmouth sweater, or any other type of BIG GREEN apparel once you leave campus.

I demand that you hold your pride for your beloved institution, for you see my friend (who worked his ass off in high school and loved Dartmouth) could not attend this school given his financial situation. Hold off on sticking a bumper sticker onto your new car because if my friend happens to be driving behind you, he will feel left out. Do NOT buy your future son a cute Dartmouth bowtie for his first day of school, so that you may break this thread of exclusivity inherent in the American education system.

Maybe you won’t wear your Dartmouth gear, maybe you are not proud of your school. If that’s true, I guess you aren’t a hypocrite and you can ignore what I say.. to each their own. However, I suggest you take a look at the times you have been proud of something that not everyone else has or owns or is a part of, and then reconsider the premise of your article.

I think that this article hits upon a very important point. I feel like people are way to obsessed with labeling one another on this campus,and that Greek labeling in particular is the most prevalent. I’ve always thought it silly that somebody’s name and their Greek house are the two things often included in the most basic description of somebody (perhaps a sports team would be substituted if relevant). I’ve never heard anybody say “That’s so and so, she does DREAM.” The reduction of labeling would certainly be a positive in my book.

Having somebody wear the same thing for 6 weeks of a term is completely unnecessary and unoriginal. I don’t really have a problem with the administration not wanting people to walk around in uniforms for the entire term. It’s something that we can do without. Learn the people in your pledge class without the help of a marker. If you have pride for your house, feel free to wear a shirt now and then like affiliated upperclassmen do. Well done to the author for bringing up an interesting point.

This reeks of Orwellian fascism, shame on you. Let’s all dress in identical suits from now on. Who are you to tell me what to wear? I will continue to wear my siren on my belt with pride.

I think it’s important to recognize that everyone has a right to wear what they want at this school. I’m sure nobody would want us to live as if we were in The Giver and pretend that we were all involved in the exact same things on campus for the exact same reasons. Furthermore, I would like to point out that a lot of organizations wear clothing (i.e. sports teams, clubs, etc). I don’t hear complaints about these organizations, and I think it would be ridiculous to complain about them all the same. Your personal injury that comes from Greek gear shows inherently that you let the Greek system stand as a symbol of social status. Your perspective allows Kappa bows and Psi U sweat shirts to make you feel bad about not having them, and that’s not their fault. Lastly, I think that you have no case in terms of making the pledges the victims here. You can’t simultaneously feel bad that you are left out and feel bad for the pledges for being let in.

I agree. College should have colonial school type uniforms.

On the topic of AXA sirens – I’ve tended to notice that people get violent with me when I steal their laptops. Laptops spark violence. The act of stealing a person’s laptop and the owner’s defense regularly produces combat. Often these incidents has left participants severely injured.

Regardless, it is also fair to ban the laptops if the laptops spark violent acts even if that is not what the owners intended. Even speech can be prohibited if it will trigger a fight (the so-called “fighting words” exception to the First Amendment). If students' laptops are, in effect, a kind of attractive nuisance in the sense that they have come to invite violence, the College as keeper of the peace and guardian of basic safety not only can but has a duty to restrict or eliminate whatever is causing this unnecessary risk of bodily harm.

BAN LAPTOPS

has anyone noticed that the author does not even advocate that the administration ban sirens? none of these comments make any sense. a person can argue that something is bad without arguing that it be institutionally banned. homophobia is bad, but the government shouldn’t ban homophobic speech. that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t speak out against homophobia.

Although I disagree with Rothfeld that the administration should be banning visible pledge gear as hazing, I do think that houses themselves should be more considerate of the rest of the campus community in the aftermath of rush. People working in the library have no interest in your flair-wearing photo sessions and it’s just annoying. The rush process itself and the unhappiness it causes for so many people should be taken into consideration when houses decide their pledge policies. The comparison to college admissions is a good one. There is nothing wrong with being proud of getting into Dartmouth. You should be allowed to wear a dartmouth sweatshirt. At the same time if you and all your friends applied to Dartmouth and you and one other person get in, it’s rude to come to school decked out in all your Dartmouth gear and singing Dartmouth songs and talking endlessly about how excited you are to go to Dartmouth the day after letters are sent out. Yes it’s a boo hoo someone’s feelings are hurt argument but it’s still worth considering, even if it shouldn’t be a concern for the administration.