The College witnessed yet another significant change to the College's Greek system, but this time the student body seems all for its passing. The Class of 2005 will be the last class to have the experience of sneaking into fraternity parties.
On Monday, the Greek Leadership Council announced to the Student Assembly that the Greek system was abandoning its self-imposed rule banning freshmen from attending parties during the fall term. Despite this previous self-imposed rule, however, many Greek houses allowed first-years to enter their basements.
As word spread throughout the freshman class, none of the students who spoke with the Dartmouth were opposed to the change.
"It gives me another option on weekends," said Stephanie Dolan '05.
Others had a more pragmatic prediction of the benefits to the freshman class.
"I think it's good because it's better than having to sneak in," said Shivani Parmar '05.
Kelsey Rush '05 concurred, "Now that it's not a rule anymore, we won't have to break in and be all sneaky about it."
The difficulties of keeping freshmen out of parties was one of the reasons the GLC cited when they announced the end of the policy. This outlook is shared by many on campus, and most upperclassmen have a story or two of sneaking into parties their first fall at Dartmouth.
"I don't suppose [the rule] would make that big of a difference because people get in anyways," said one freshman, who asked to be remained anonymous.
Sometimes though, the problem was not the difficulty of enforcement but lack of it altogether. Many freshman stated that enforcement of the rules varied widely and often depended on when you arrived and who you were with.
"Sometimes there had been a considerably amount of difficulty [getting into parties], some places were pretty strict ... other times there was little or no security at all," said Charles Baron '05.
Despite the irregularities, freshmen contacted by The Dartmouth had a hard time explaining exactly why they sometimes had problems entering and not at other times. The one theory that most people held though is that it is easier for girls to get into parties.
"It may be easier to get in as a girl," said Parnar.
Dolan admitted that this was a general rule of thumb. "A lot depends on how many guys we're with. If we're with a lot of guys, we won't get in," she said. She did admit, however, that all rules had exceptions and she had seen large groups of girls get turned away from fraternities before.
While most freshmen seemed to be in favor of the change few said that it would affect their behavior in any serious way. Those who said that they had gone to parties said they would continue. Others said that they were not any more likely to go to parties than they otherwise would have been.
"I don't think I'll be more likely to, but maybe some will" go out to parties more, Rush said.
