College President James Wright and other senior College officials shed little new light onto the ever-expanding controversy surrounding the Trustees' landmark social and residential life initiative and even raised some new questions at an information session last night broadcast throughout the campus.
Wright, along with Trustees Kate Stith-Cabranes '73 and William King '63 and Acting Dean of the College Dan Nelson answered a range of questions -- mostly on how the Trustees' five guiding principles will affect the Greek system-- with vague generalizations and seeming contradictions, leaving more clouds of confusion in their wake than before the meeting.
The officials did not define what was meant by the most controversial element of this principle -- the Trustees' desire that social and residential options be "substantially coed" and declined opportunities to give definitive responses to questions related to the Greek system -- all while renewing Wright's earlier assertions of an end to the system "as we know it."
King said it was impossible to put a precise numerical value on the ambiguous term, only that the Trustees "believe in the concept." Wright said "I don't think there's anything in the Trustees' statement that says there won't be single-sex organizations" but did not say if that included Greek houses.
Stith-Cabranes said the complete elimination of the Greek system was not something "the five principles in any way require" although she added the system may have many new features and a very new role in Dartmouth's future.
In response to a question about the possibility of expanding social options instead of replacing current Greek options, King said, "the suggestion that there may be a parallel system is worthy of discussion ... I don't want to close the door to that."
However, despite the campus rallies and protests that occurred last week and a poll by The Dartmouth showing 83 percent of over 2,000 responding students support single-sex houses, the Trustees made it clear they were seeking student input only on how to change the current system -- not on the principles themselves.
"We're not interested in a referendum on these principles," Stith-Cabranes said. "Referendums on the status quo ... is not responsive to what we've asked for."
Stith-Cabranes said changes will occur, regardless of student thought. "Even if [the current system] is satisfactory we want something better," she said adding the current system "falls short" of each of the Trustees' principles.
Wright refined his earlier statements about the College's desire to purchase privately-owned Greek property by saying he only meant the College would stand ready to buy those parcels as he said it always has, not that it will actively pursue that as a goal.
The Trustees did more clearly define why they are pursuing these changes -- principles they said they have been considering for over a decade.
King said he hoped a coeducational Greek system would better prepare students for a coeducational world after college. He and Stith-Cabranes said they felt this would mean less exclusion for members of the Dartmouth community.
"There'll be at least as much fun and probably more people will be having fun," Stith-Cabranes said of the envisioned new social system.
Looking beyond the Greek system, the officials discussed the continued existence of the D-plan. While the panelists said they recognized there were advantages and disadvantages to year-round operation as part of the principles' continuity plank, Stith-Cabranes said faculty and physical plant concerns need to be considered along with student opinions.
It was also restated that students will not be required to live on-campus under these new guidelines. Students "should be able to live off-campus," Nelson said.
Nelson said he hopes his recently assembled task force will present a report of their findings by the end of Spring term or beginning of Summer term.
He also addressed concerns about the lack of Greek and freshman representation on the task force, saying the group will self-examine its size and make-up at its first meeting. Nelson said the lack of first-year students was something that would need to be corrected.
The question and answer session was organized by a group of self-selected students, including many members of the Student Assembly and Coed Fraternity Sorority Council. Assembly Student Life Committee chair Teresa Knoedler '00 and former Interfraternity Council President Jonah Sonnenborn '99 moderated the session.
