Greek culture at Dartmouth is currently at its most positive juncture of the last 40 years, history professor and Greek alumnus Jere Daniell '55 said Friday night in a speech he gave about the history of Greek life at the College at Sigma Nu fraternity.
"Right now there is a great balance between the social units at Dartmouth," Daniell said. "I can't remember a recent time when things were this good."
Daniell, however, was not always so optimistic about the state of the Greek system. From the 1960s until the 1980s, Daniell had doubts about the future of fraternities at Dartmouth.
"Bones Gate was the drug distribution center of the entire Upper Valley," Daniell said. "To be honest I wasn't sure if fraternities would survive."
According to Daniell, fraternity culture took a turn for the worse in the 1960s as part of the general anti-establishment movement of the time. This resulted in a separation of the fraternity system from the larger Dartmouth community and an emphasis on debauchery rather than service.
In response to what Daniell referred to as the "animal house" culture in the late 1960s, an increasing feeling of disgust began to develop among students and the College administration. This came to a head in 1979 with the passage of the Epperson Resolution, a faculty initiative that set out to abolish Greek life at Dartmouth.
Although the resolution never actually materialized, each new presidency since then has had its own program to engender good behavior from Greek houses. Former College President David McLaughlin introduced the Minimum Standards Resolution and President James Wright devised the controversial Student Life Initiative.
While there has not been a grave threat to the Greek system as a whole since the Epperson Resolution, specific Greek organizations have still had their problems.
"One of the greatest wonders of Dartmouth is the survival of Theta Delt. You could write a whole volume about that," Daniell said. "Phi Delt has always been on the edge also."
Daniell said that it would be difficult to get rid of the entire Greek system because of the simple reality of housing needs.
"The College has always been dependent on fraternities for housing," he said. "After fraternities had been closed during World War II, the College thought about not opening them up again. They really had no option, though."
According to Daniell, the single most crucial incident in the history of Greek life at Dartmouth was the Serotta Case, in which a student was killed in Richardson dormitory in 1951. Daniell said several Greek brothers encountered a male wearing fraternity letters that he had not earned, and, after they proceeded to push him around, the student died from hitting his head on a radiator.
"President John Dickey used the Serotta Case to force all males into a pattern of accountability," Daniell said. "I was certainly a product of that process."
This pattern of responsibility entailed an increased emphasis on the Student Assembly and the Inter-Fraternity Council. Dickey also used the incident as opportunity to abolish any rules in fraternity charters that entailed racial or religious discrimination.
Daniell also addressed the underlying issue of alcohol consumption that seems to go hand in hand with the issue of the Greek system and its relation to the Dartmouth community.
According to Daniell, binge drinking developed in the 1960s. He said that in the 1920s there was almost no drinking, while in the 1950s there was drinking but not on the scale of what takes place today.
"The only place I remember being drunk is at a Dartmouth fraternity," Daniell said. "But I never once blacked out during my college years."
Fraternities in the 1950s were very different from what they are now, Daniell said. The entire Greek system regularly participated in competitions that involved singing, drama, sports and debate.
"Fraternities were at the core of John Dickey's vision of community," Daniell said. "He believed it was a type of community that you could not replicate in dorms or classrooms."
Daniell said that fraternities are once again beginning to serve in multiple roles as they did during the 1950s, but that they still have some work ahead of them.
Daniell suggested that Greek houses hold debates during election years in an effort to challenge uniformity among the faculty. He specifically said that last year would have been a great opportunity to challenge the pervasive anti-Bush sentiment among faculty.
"Faculty have their views, and often they coerce the students into the same thing," Daniell said. "I think fraternities would be a great place to challenge this phenomena among faculty."
