Their is one Greek organization on campus that practices discrimination, Alpha Phi Alpha. This Blacks only organization is the prime example of Black Privilege on campus.

If you are White you cannot join. If any Webster Ave Fraternity had a similar they would be drummed off campus by Dean Johnson. Instead the group is given a “Free Pass” to participate in violent hazing.

Why? Because of they are black. Being black at Dartmouth gives you special rights. It lets you get a boost in the administration office, it lets you haze whoever you want without consequences, and it lets you make a Frat where you can pick members based on the color of their skin. This is Black Privilege, the special rights given to blacks on campus, and if we want these incidents to stop we must end its practice.

A wonderful, important piece for our campus. Well done.

Every day I read The D, I see countless articles detailing the failings of Dean Johnson. How much longer does this college have to endure the torment of racism and hazing that has exploded under her watch.

He propagation of Black Privilege is clear. By allowing Alpha Phi Alpha to walk on hazing charges she has unleashed unspeakable racism on this campus!

Dartmouth college WILL BE a racist place until Dean Johnson and all others who support Black Privilege are forced from campus.

Forced re-education for the Greeks. Adam wants forced empathy training and certification. It is a lie that Dartmouth College students aren’t empathetic. It is a lie that the Greek system and the students in it aren’t empathetic. It is a lie that the College rule of the students is discriminatory actions that have been occurring for years. It is the official College itself that has institutionalized discrimination. The College itself, the official College promotes discrimination, practices discrimination and protects discriminatory actions that it has been producing for years. It is the administration and the Board of Trustees that is at fault for everything that goes on at Dartmouth College. It is not the Greek system and it is not the students. Any time management blames labor for the problem, it is management that is wrong. But when management (the Dartmouth administration) blames the customers (students) it is doubly wrong and laughably so. Adam buys into the lies because he is politically motivated. He has an agenda. He should be honest and tell his readers what that agenda is. Adam wants “A required course that addresses issues of Social Justice.” That is the clue to his agenda. “Social Justice.” Adam favors theft and he wants it enforced. The students in general aren’t the problem, but attitudes like Adam’s are.

Whoa! Yet again the hatred comes out of the woodwork…

What is this “Black Privilege” you all speak of? I’m really confused, but the common sense in me says that the promise of anonymity when posting a comment on a news site speaks volumes to what people are otherwise afraid to say in public. But because of this we see that the “random” incidents that were supposedly not directed at anyone were really directed at everyone who fit the insult.

So folks, let’s take a little time to talk about perspective. When you and generations before have been at the top of the social ladder (with the exception of a few minor problems) you’ve had little to worry about since your life has otherwise been fairly stable. You haven’t had to worry about making rent, living from check to check, or people driving you into the ground because you exist. But in this position you have also taken it upon yourself to join in on the exclusion, and why? Because everyone else is doing it, setting an example that it is okay to treat someone like dirt because they never grew up walking, talking, looking, or thinking like you.

In looking at everything that has transpired, it pains me to see people deal with the rhetoric of those who have never had to suffer. Keep in mind that many of our relatives, friends, and others fought for our ability to even be in a position to fight back now; if it wasn’t for them, we would have a much harder time (if even an opportunity at all) voicing our concerns and those on behalf of our respective communities. Also, our shortcomings in our actions and foresight should in no way be used as a scapegoat to further a gross misconception.

And to specifically address your column, I want you to know that I enjoy people who at least speak to what we can be doing. In your last paragraph, I think we can go beyond just making something done in a classroom setting, which as far as I know, is being done as we speak. As a former student, I have found that the most effective ways of getting people involved are also through social activities. A classroom can be very informative, but extending this to even interacting with folks in their everyday lives is also meaningful because it emphasizes that we are also people.

Rather than waste any of my time debunking the inflammatory and wildly off base claims made by people who are only brave enough to comment anonymously (Apparently Dartmouth was an utopia of acceptance and love until Dean Johnson came and single-handedly caused people to turn into bigots and hazers), I will just state that a mandated course with the purpose of engaging the entire student body about issues involving discrimination, hazing, and sexual assault while also encouraging us to connect to the experiences of people outside of our usual social groups is starting to sound increasingly better to me. In the year I have been away from Dartmouth, I have had more time to notice the prevalence of shameful actions committed by Dartmouth students against one another and how this often results in panels and forums that, as Mehring noted, only preach to the choir and not the people who already have, or will, commit acts of bigotry and violence. If a mandated class can reach these people, then that’s an option we should all consider.

Black privilege exists. Attacking the anonymity of those who post here while posting anonymously as well is pretty disingenuous, but the idea that prior suffering justifies this kind of blatant black privilege from the administration is ludicrous.

“Kim” offered this gem:

“Any time management blames labor for the problem, it is management that is wrong. But when management (the Dartmouth administration) blames the customers (students) it is doubly wrong and laughably so.”

Does that sound anything like the way the world actually works?

Every individual has responsibility for their actions, especially college students. Your attitude, “Kim,” is in fact the real problem. It seems from the tone of your comment that you are simply upset, and don’t want to accept that any of the fault in this situation lies with the students at all. But the truth is, everyone has an equal part to play. Did the Board of Trustees get together, drive up to Dartmouth, and go write hateful things on dorm walls? Please stop blaming solely them for everything that goes on on our campus. Realize that those people have myriad other goals, like keeping the college afloat financially, keeping the academics strong, keeping up students' high quality of living, and virtually all other things Dartmouth students are lucky enough to enjoy. Do you really think it’s only, and completely, their fault, that some students on campus are culturally uninformed and make poor decisions hurtful to others?

If you had responded with your brain, and not your feelings, you would have realized that Adam is actually not “blaming” anyone for this problem, let alone the students, or “customers” (as if that is even an apt comparison). Likewise, he didn’t say all Dartmouth students are unsympathetic jerks, as you made it seem. He said they have little reason to look outside of their own interests. Which is true, and it’s just the way it is—not because of anyone’s “fault.” For example, I am not going to get very involved in issues of racism or other problems on campus because they don’t affect me on an immediate level, and I learned at Dartmouth—again, not because anyone forced me to, but because that’s what naturally happens in that community—to just not think very much about these problems, or try to change my community to help fix them. If you ask me about it I will give my opinion, but like most students, I am just naturally not going to focus very much on these issues. We’re not jerks, we just think we don’t have any reason to get involved, really.

I think everybody should think about the ideas in this article. It’s very well-thought and informed.

I would suggest doing more thorough research, Alpha Phi Alpha is inclusive of all people regardless of race. It is a historically black fraternity because it was founded by African Americans, but there is no law in place that prohibits whites, asians, hispanics, etc.

Nic ‘12 would rather not know what the administration and Trustees do, because if he knew the lies they tell about those who don’t toe the line and lift that bale, Nic would realize the depths to which they will happily go to destroy those who won’t act in the nasty, fraudulent PC manner that they do. The administration and Board are full of hypocrites who use dirty tactics against alums, professors, other Trustees, students, frats, trustee candidates and anyone who gets in their way. The last 40 years of Dartmouth College history is replete with examples so numerous that if Nic '12 doesn’t know what they are, he doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about and evidently he doesn’t. Let’s look at the “Way the world actually works.” If management blames their workers for the company’s problems, what does that say about management? It is self-evident that they are poor managers. Are all companies failing? No. Are some companies doing phenomenally well? Yes. Can all employees do a much better job than they are doing when they have good or great leadership? Yes. The students are the customers Nic. What do you think they are? The customers are not the problem, although failing companies always blame them and the employees. Dartmouth College isn’t having the least bit of an institutional problem because someone wrote on a dorm wall. You don’t even know if it was done by someone who would benefit from making it appear that Dartmouth is a racist institution, with racist students in order to run exactly this kind of program to force students to take their medicine for something for which they are being told they are collectively responsible. Students are not collectively responsible. Each student is responsible for their actions. But college students are NOT especially responsible for their actions, they are not running anything of consequence at the College and are unfortunately at the whim of the administration, professors and Board of Trustees. They aren’t being given a gift to attend, they earned their way. The only people who don’t belong there are those who have been given preferences based on other than merit. And there are hundreds of them in every class. Who is responsible for that? Where is the discussion of that problem? Why is the College recruiting students who do not qualify competitively, academically? Why have the previous several presidents of Dartmouth College made it their focus to “make the College especially welcoming to women and minorities”? Why wouldn’t the goal of the College be to make it especially welcoming to every student. If you were a customer of a business that told you that they wanted to make their customer experience especially nice for certain groups of people and not treat everyone equally, is that fair? Would you appreciate the fact that the business discriminates among it’s customers in this way? If it is not right…and it is not right. What should be done about it? Your answer is to submit to the discrimination in admission, submit to the discrimination during residence, submit to the discrimination as an alum and not only submit, but join in the discrimination yourself to be told and forced to do it yourself and then pat yourself on the back for being such a good toad. Oh yes and attack those who don’t submit to the injustice using ridiculous examples of the Board driving up to the College and writing on dorm walls. The College discriminates politically, racially, sexually and by sexual preference. Check it out. You might learn something.

@timetoendracism:

I’m not a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, but the Dartmouth chapter has had prominent members who were Indian, Latino, or Asian. That speaks to diversity and inclusion. They don’t discriminate in the way that you specified.

Historically speaking, I’d be willing to bet that the percentage of members of other races in that predominantly black Greek organization is on par or greater than the percentage of members of other races in predominantly-white Greek organizations.