Last Monday evening (Feb. 26), I attended the forum in Brace Commons about the Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity pledge banquet script. Like many other fed-up people on campus, I was ready to watch a fraternity finally take responsibility for its actions. I was even eager to see a lynching, and fully prepared to take part if need be.
But half an hour into the discussion, my feelings changed. While the Alpha Chi script was obviously offensive, the brothers were trying their best to handle the matter in a composed, productive fashion. A few of their answers did sound a bit politic and contrived, but we cannot blame them for wanting to cover their bottoms.
Even when members of the audience began to display, in tones strident and obstreperous, the very sentiments which I myself held, the officers tried not to succumb to the instinct to yell back, and attempted to avoid an escalation of tension.
Do not mistake me -- I do not mean to paint a portrait of Alpha Chi as the lily-white victim of campus overreaction. The script they wrote was noxious. They were caught, and they deserved to be called on the carpet for it. However, I was still taken aback by the level of acrimony in Brace Commons on Monday. I spent several hours that night pondering it.
After a week of reflection, I have reached two conclusions: I have heard many a lady exclaiming in wonder that this should happen at Alpha Chi. Beta Theta Pi fraternity we expected this from. Alpha Delta fraternity, we would not be surprised. But in the subculture of fraternity names that are written in warning on bathroom walls, Alpha Chi is not a charter member.
So Alpha Chi is now suffering from the good child fallen from grace syndrome. "If this is what a fraternity on the 'A' list is capable of, we dare not ponder what is going on in the rest of them," is a common predilection. Many students are simply disappointed in Alpha Chi for joining the ranks of their more graceless compatriots.
Women on this campus have reached the threshold beyond which they will not tolerate any more of what they have dealt with for years: any more of the rape, both psychological and actual, any more of the patriarchal system which often chooses to ignore them, any more of fraternities being treated as the last stronghold of manhood. Their emerging lack of forbearance can be seen in the recent manure dumpings, the flyers, the papers, the sorority discussions on secession from the CFSC and the latent anger aroused by the Alpha Chi Pledge Banquet Script.
So Alpha Chi, by responding to the administration's suggestion, by submitting to the forum in Brace Commons, was also unknowingly putting itself in the position of scapegoat. The students of Dartmouth were ready to make the "white male" answer for all of the recent racism and recurring sexism. Alpha Chi was in the right place at the right time to get much of the backlash. It is laudable that the campus is finally taking aim at some of the perpetuators of these problems, but unfortunately we missed the mark. Or rather, Alpha Chi was a target that needed only one bull's-eye, and we should have saved a few arrows for others.
So what is my final message? I guess it is forgive, though not forget, and give credit where credit is due: When I asked one Alpha Chi brother if things had changed as a result of this, he said he is seeing "more sensitivity." Another said that it has "made us take a step back and think and evaluate. And after we did that we realized that although we don't mean them that way, we do say some things that are offensive." Alpha Chi is trying to make up for what most of them realize was a mistake, so the campus should give them a chance to do so.
But at the same time, while we are doling out accolades and "Nice Job" stickers, we must also take a look around ourselves and correctly identify what the problems are and where they reside at Dartmouth. Beta has not fulfilled its promise to this campus. They have neither released nor sufficiently apologized for their now-notorious poem. It is time that they do so.
We should not suppress the anger that now permeates the campus. Rather, we should tap into it. It is the energy we need to finally confront the race and gender issues that continue to haunt an otherwise harmonious campus.
