The controversy over the Board of Trustees' historic initiative has captured not only the attention of the Dartmouth community -- the story has been thrust into the national media spotlight in the past week, mostly by newspapers, and radio and television programs drawn to the College's connection to the movie Animal House.
The movie, created by Alpha Delta alum Chris Miller '63, is based on his experiences at AD while he was at the College. Although the conception of unrestrained and barbarous revelry portrayed in the movie has separated from the reality of Dartmouth Greek life, the stereotype seems to be unshakable and has been the focus of most coverage by the national media.
ABC's World News Tonight broadcast a segment on the controversy Sunday evening. After spending two days at the College and interviewing dozens of students and College President James Wright, the 10-minute ABC segment focused on the Animal House connection and included clips from the movie and an interview with Miller.
According to Tara Connell, Managing Editor of Page 1 for USA Today, a primary reason for a front page article in the USA Today on the Dartmouth controversy was, "the Animal House connection. We assume a lot of our readers can relate to the Animal House image."
"The irony of the coed action was obviously very contrary to the Animal House image," Connell said.
According to Connell, "If Animal House had been based on a small mid-western college we probably still would have run the story ... but the fact that it's Dartmouth makes it that much better."
Others said even without the Animal House connection, Dartmouth is well-known for its Greek system, making the news of the possible elimination of the single-sex Greek system of national interest.
"Dartmouth is a well known institution, and Greek life historically has been a big part of the College, and thus it strikes us as a major change," said Ben Gose, senior editor of the Student Section of The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Gose said The Chronicle would have written a story about the Dartmouth controversy even without the Animal House angle, "although for other media, Animal House is part of the appeal."
"Forcing fraternities to go coed is a reflection for the fraternities nationally as another blow to national Greek organizations," Gose said.
"Different schools are known for different things. Fraternities are an interest to us at any school, but especially at Dartmouth," said Kate Zernike, the Boston Globe reporter who wrote the story which appeared on the front page of last Wednesday's edition, and drew criticism from College officials for incorrectly stating that the Greek system would be coed starting in the Fall of 1999.
Besides the ability to capitalize on the Animal House connection, representatives from national media sources said they have had other reasons to give attention to the controversy in Hanover during the past week.
"Maybe it's the youth in all of us ... we try to keep in touch with something that would touch our readers," Connell said. "We all remembered our own fraternity and sorority days and Animal House was definitely a boomer movie ...most of our readers are boomers."
Zernike also contended there is more to the attraction than Animal House.
"This story is multi-dimensional," Zernike said. "It's a story of culture of this campus and of colleges today and their struggles with alcohol and gender issues -- that's what touched so many nerves."
"Anytime a prominent college [makes a decision] that touches on so many themes, it attracts attention and sets the agenda for other schools," Zernike said.
While coverage was also extended to similar controversies at other colleges, Dartmouth has received significantly more attention from the national media.
"[Dartmouth is] the college with the highest profile that has done this thing. It's also known for a bigger fraternity presence than was Middlebury or Colby, for example," Gose said.
Connell also said the situation has gained attention because "It's been a pretty bleak month for news."
Just a week after the Trustees' seminal decision to overhaul social and residential options, the discussions over the fate of future campus life are only materializing. Thus, the media frenzy exposing Dartmouth to the nation in the past week is likely to continue, but probably only for major issues, or more in-depth pieces.
While the initial article in The Chronicle was small, Gose is working on a more extensive article after visiting the campus this past weekend. The Chronicle does intend to continue coverage for important future events, Gose said.
"We will watch [the situation], but we won't cover it daily or with every incremental step because we have other colleges to cover," Zernike said.
The events of the last week have also been covered by stories or segments in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and on CNN, National Public Radio, MSNBC, the British Broadcasting Corporation and in newspapers and on radio programs across the country and the world.
