Last Spring, Stephen Schmidt'97 wrote a column titled, "A Voice for the Greek System" [May 17, 1996] in which he urged every member of the Class of 1999 to rush a Greek house, no matter what their personal opinions may be. I disagree with that advice.
Schmidt said that it is no secret the administration would like to get rid of the Greek system or mold it into something he seems to find contemptible: all co-ed houses striving for intellectualism alone. No wonder that behind closed doors fraternities are probably not a favorite of Dartmouth administrators.
Yet it is really not appropriate to lump all the fraternities together for any kind of joint condemnation or praise. On this campus, there are fraternities where I have had compelling conversations and fraternities where I have watched the brothers grunt at one another; fraternities where as a female I feel welcome and safe, and fraternities I will not set foot in without a posse comitatus of sober friends.
Schmidt argued that joining a house will "keep the beer flowing and the administration off our backs." Perhaps I am being too much of an idealist here, but I always thought the reason for joining a house was to gain sisterhood or brotherhood and social space. Beer is certainly a rather pervasive part of the social life here at Dartmouth, but it does not have to be a synonym for it. If you are willing to join a house and pay between $200 and $300 in dues each term just to keep yourself and your fellow students good and liquored up, maybe you should be seeking the brotherhood/sisterhood of an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting instead of communing with mung.
I am sick of hearing frat brothers gripe about how threatened they are by the administration. The need to keep the administration off our backs is the longest-standing, self-perpetuating, self-serving myth of victimization on this campus. Good, bad, or ugly, the Greek system, and especially the fraternities, are like ticks, too deeply imbedded in the epidermis of Dartmouth life to be removed without much pain. Give me a break boys, we all know you are not being hounded into extinction.
As they exist now, houses are simply not for everyone. "When you come back for your tenth reunion, where will you go on campus?" Schmidt asked in his column last Spring, intending to put all of you on the defensive. "I do not know how I will find my 'GDI' friends, but they should know that they will be able to find me in my house," he crowed, attempting to trigger the insecurities in each of us. No one wants to picture themselves eleven ... or twelve ... or fourteen years from now as a big ol' loser wandering around the Green in search of any familiar face (while each and every Greek alum basks in hearty hellos and has a full weekend datebook, like so many sought-after debutantes at a dance). As one "Goddamn Independent," I am not impressed with his bravado.
I will not cry if the day ever comes when the Dartmouth Greek system goes up in flames, but I am also not waiting for it to spontaneously combust. At their best, Greek houses do form an important part of Dartmouth's social life and provide necessary services to the community. I have seen friends join houses and create the perfect balance in their lives, putting just enough in and getting just enough out to make their sorority or fraternity a worthwhile addendum to their existence here. I have also seen friends sucked into their fraternity basements (like so many Millennium Falcons into the Death Star) never to reappear in another social setting again. And friends who seem to get nothing but unhappiness and a feeling of inferiority from their sororities, yet feel trapped in their memberships.
Membership in a Greek organization is not de rigeur for a fulfilling social life. Though Schmidt encouraged everyone to join a Greek house, this idea is clearly unrealistic. Schmidt's implication that Greek membership is necessary for success both at Dartmouth and after graduation should be dismissed as bombast.
Schmidt accurately points out that whether or not to join a house is an important decision in every student's Dartmouth career. We each have only four undergraduate years at Dartmouth and, whether students like it or not, affiliation or independence affects how people perceive each other and, if they let it, can affect how they react to campus issues. So sign up for the new sorority, partake of traditional rush, join an undergraduate society, or even dirty rush. Or don't.
