In contrast to the Initiative release method last February, yesterday morning saw the orderly and systematic distribution of the steering committee recommendations report through various channels.
Trustees and committee co-chairs Susan Dentzer '77 and Peter Fahey '68 officially presented the long-awaited report at an early-morning breakfast with approximately 40 students, alumni, faculty and administrators at the Hanover Inn.
Soon after the breakfast, student volunteers started handing out copies of the report in various locations across campus, and all students found brief executive summaries in their Hinman Boxes. Many parents and alumni also received their mailed copies of the summaries today.
The report was also available in its entirety on the Internet, and all students and alumni with known e-mail addresses were alerted to that fact before sunrise.
The Presentation
Amidst gushing praise for the steering committee itself, the committee process and the final product by College President James Wright and Chair of the Board of Trustees William H. King, Jr. '63, Dentzer and Fahey spoke about what they considered to be the most important part of the report.
Fahey presented the proposals on reforming the Greek system -- a system that he said "needs major improvements" -- but said that "we are committed to maintain a CFS system on this campus."
He talked about a new system for standards for the CFS system and went on to discuss how new alcohol rules would need to be "simple and fair" as well as "reasonable in modern American society."
Fahey warned that punishments for violating new alcohol rules in the plan would be "severe" and said Safety and Security would have access to all areas of the campus.
While the CFS system would remain partially residential under the plan, Fahey said that a majority of the committee did not think it should be a residential system at all.
Dentzer said the changes to the residential system at the College were "drastic" and "the centerpiece of our proposal."
She said the idea is to "take the best of the old Dartmouth" and bring it "forward into the next century" with "a system where people will feel at home in residence halls."
In addition to the 350 new beds that the committee proposes to build, it also recommends adding common houses to each cluster and adding more non-student residential staff.
Dentzer also explained about the freshman housing "experiment" which would consist of half of all incoming freshmen opting for all first-year housing in the River and the Choates. This program would be evaluated and potentially adopted for all freshmen.
She also talked about refurbishing Thayer Hall and building a new dining hall on the north end of campus.
Finally, Dentzer discussed the World Culture Initiative. She said a new task force would be needed to explore this broad goal of making greater use of the broad ethnic experiences present at Dartmouth.
King called the presentation of the report a "dramatic step" in the timeline of the Initiative and the life of the College and said that the full Board is "committed to change -- committed to responsible change."
Wright said he has been "gratified" with the past 11 months and said the Initiative is needed to keep the College on top. "I am not satisfied with this College today," Wright said.
Later in the day, Wright told The Dartmouth he did not want to talk about his opinions on specific details of the report, but did say "there is nothing in these recommendations I'm running away from."
The Report
While the steering committee report may be shorter than other recent Initiative reports, it is filled with recommendations for major change in almost every area of student life at the College.
While a single-sex Greek system will remain intact -- at least for now -- the steering committee's recommendations make good on College President James Wright's promise to end the Greek system "as we know it."
In addition to the report's demand for major changes in the Coed Fraternity Sorority Council system, it also recommends the implementation of a common house residential system, an experimental freshman-only housing option and much more stringent campus-wide alcohol regulations.
The steering committee recommends CFS houses be held to stricter facility, organizational and membership requirements -- admitting that not all houses will be able to fulfill the requirements, and therefore will be derecognized by the College.
The report states, "This reduction is desirable in order to eliminate the historical dominance by the CFS organizations of Dartmouth social life."
More immediate recommendations include the renovation of house basements into general purpose or study space, such as kitchens or computer clusters. All refrigerator units and tap systems would have to be removed prior to September 2000.
Housing in a CFS house would not be allowed during the Summer term and would be reserved only for seniors and four junior officers over the course of the rest of the year.
The report also states the majority of the committee determined that even with substantial changes, the CFS organizations "should probably not be residential over the long run."
It says single-sex organizations should develop formal affiliations with coed houses or single-sex houses of the opposite gender.
Should houses fail to meet College requirements, independently owned houses would have the option to negotiate with the College for Dartmouth's purchase of the house.
Rush would be postponed until the Winter term of sophomore year, under the committee's recommendations. There would no longer be a pledge period and stricter definitions of and penalties for hazing are called for.
The CFSC judiciary system would be eliminated, and infractions -- including those that violate the Principle of Community -- will be judged by a College judiciary system, and be grounds for derecognition.
Due to the committee's concern for the widespread acceptance of "booting and rallying" and games such as "beer pong," the committee recommends much stricter alcohol policies than what is currently in place.
Registered parties will have to be served by non-student bartenders, and are restricted to the first floor of fraternity houses.
Detailed house budgets recording purchase of alcohol will be given to the College to end the "undesirable and hypocritical" practice of off-the-books purchases.
The committee suggests academic measures -- such as Thursday morning exams and more demanding course requirements -- be implemented by Dartmouth's faculty to cut down on recreational drinking.
The system is subject to complete review in 2005 -- as are all the implemented changes that result from the Initiative -- and Dean of the College James Larimore has the authority to recommend the removal of the entire Greek system at any point over the next five years, should he view the system as failing to meet new requirements.
Under the recommendations, included in a house's membership must be sexual and alcohol abuse peer advisors, a Tucker foundation liaison and a student devoted to diversity and leadership training. Also living in a CFS house would be a non-member UGA.
Residential life
While the CFSC system is fundamentally changed, other aspects of the report focus on improving ideas that are already in existence at the College, although steering committee co-chair Trustee Susan Dentzer '77 called the residential life changes "the centerpiece of our proposal."
The committee recommends at least 350 new beds, two new clusters and expanded social space and decompressed rooms in existing clusters.
New cluster organizations would include more UGAs and student-run Cluster Council governing boards, as well as additional non-student staff.
Freshmen, whether they live in experimental freshman-only housing in the River and Choates, or the mixed-class residence halls, would be affiliated with a cluster upon matriculation.
Students should have the opportunity to live in their cluster throughout the end of junior year, and special housing for seniors -- such as Maxwell/Channing Cox apartments or new town houses -- would be available.
Recognizing the importance of centralized dining to the College culture, the report recommends the expansion of Thayer Dining Hall and licensed alcohol vendors to cut down on the need for students to drink in CFS houses.
The report calls for new arts and recreation space as well as graduate student housing and a graduate student center.
The report also calls for a review of senior societies and affinity house programs.
A World Cultures Initiative would be created and represent "a commitment by the College in the form of permanent staffing, funding and space to continuously provide enriching programming for the benefit of the entire community."
Views on the College
While the bulk of the report is specific recommendations for change, the document includes an introduction summarizing the steering committee's values and vision for the College, as well as Dartmouth's current strengths and weaknesses.
Calling its new vision "idealistic but achievable," the steering committee said it asked itself what defines the "Dartmouth Way."
Above all, the College "should be a place where learning is paramount," diversity is stressed and students are offered broad freedom in social and residential options.
While the committee admits surveys elicit high response levels of student satisfaction, it says a significant number of students find the College uncongenial and "extremely intolerant of pluralism."
Social life worries -- especially over the Greek system -- keep highly qualified admitted candidates from selecting Dartmouth, the report states, and negative perceptions about the College discourage minority applicants.
Especially in the case of the CFS recommendations, the report lists the more extreme views on change that did not explicitly become recommendations. The report does say that some members of the steering committee questioned the need to keep any vestiges of the current Greek system.
The Greek system's dominance "creates a psychic divide and a pervasive sense of two cultures at Dartmouth: the affiliated and unaffiliated," the report states.
The steering committee worries both about polarizing incidents like Fall 1998's "Ghetto Party" and that because of the CFS system's dominance on the campus, it stifles more creative social options that better fit with Dartmouth's academic values.
Inside the committee
In an interview with The Dartmouth yesterday, Fahey said undesirable incidents involving the Greek system "did have some influence" on the committee.
He also said that the members "came into the committee with their own assumptions" and "remained a diverse committee going out."
He said that no one member would have written the report as it is, but that all could agree on its final outcome.
There is therefore compromises in the report between different groups on the committee.
Fahey said one example of this was the recommendation that the Greek system remain residential for now -- at least in a modified form -- but must demonstrate its positive attributes or face the more drastic options recommended by some members of the committee.
Projected timeline
While King said the timetable for the full Board's votes on the recommendations will be determined by the amount of discussion the report generates, Wright said he still hopes some decisions will be reached this Spring term.
The steering committee included an ambitious sample timeline in its full report.
The "annual progress checklist" includes such goals as having an initial housing continuity plan implemented, the River Cluster as first-year housing and new alcohol rules all in place before the Class of 2001 graduates.
Construction projects would continue through June 2004 under the sample timeline provided.
The steering committee is formally known as the Committee on the Student Life Initiative.
