It is very obvious when young men join certain frats. New membership is not quite as obvious among sororities, however. Not necessarily because sororities choose not to make it so, but rather because as women, the members of these groups don't always have the choice. Since I have been spending the last couple of days locked up in my sorority between 6 p.m. and 3 a.m. (gotta love rush), I have had a lot of time to reflect upon Dartmouth's Greek system and in particular the way in which the College interfaces with Greek houses of different sexes. And it's just not fair. Sororities, both local and national, are subject to much stricter surveillance by the College than their male (local and national) counterparts.
This discrepancy in College policy is present from the very first moment a new pledge class is formed. New member initiation rituals serve as a microcosmic example of the sexism that occurs in the Greek system as a whole. Most of us are familiar with the "Psi U uni" which consists of jeans, work boots, an inside-out grey sweatshirt and a cap. The new Alpha Deltas' oxymoronic mustache-lunchbox combination is both creepy and hilarious. Alpha Chis wear those new head adornment thingies -- I mistakenly referred to them as red hats in the presence of an Alpha Chi, and was told "they are called AXA sirens, not hats," so now I'm a little confused about the terminology. All of the Theta Delt pledges "cut each other's hair to make it look as stupid as possible," as senior member of Theta Delt said, and Chi Gams wear laminated signs around their neck "proudly sporting their house's letters," as a senior member of Chi Gam explained.
In my personal opinion, there is nothing wrong with this. Theta Delts who are members of varsity athletic teams are exempt from the haircut, because many coaches believe that as a representative of a Dartmouth sports team it looks unprofessional, and that's just fine with the older brothers. "If you really don't want to do it, it wouldn't be that bad. Most people cut their hair pretty soon afterward anyways, because they look so stupid," Theta Delt's pledge chair said. Chi Gams remove their signs before entering class, as a sign of respect. I have no idea whether Alpha Chis sleep in their "sirens" -- you would have to ask them, but they probably wouldn't tell you.
These new member rituals are all in good fun. No one gets hurt and later on down the road it can make for some good old-fashioned reminiscing. A senior AD pledge trainer explained, "I'd say that the upperclassmen consider the pledge rituals a comical means of conducting rights of passage. Every house has there own spin on the pledge process and the major 'pledge events' definitely correspond to the 'flavor' of the pledge process." Not every house has their own spin on the processes, however. Not when it comes to sororities.
The contrast becomes astonishingly clear if we consider an episode that took place in the fall of 2005. Some, but not all, of the sisters of Delta Delta Delta were given signs to wear by their "big sisters," a sort of sorority mentor, that greatly resembled Chi Gam signs -- Greek letters with the pledge's name above. Other signs said things like "Happy to be a Delta" or "I'm a Delta Delta Delta" or "Delta Baby 2005."
"The sign was left for me at my door with some other flair and a note from my then-anonymous big sister which said if I wanted I could wear the flair and the sign around campus. Everything was completely voluntary and no one cared whether we participated in the new member dressing-up things or not," said a Tri Delt , now a senior at the College. "I didn't wear it to class, and put it on in the afternoon. I ran into some older sisters when I happened to not be wearing it, and it wasn't an issue." She explained to me that given the similar nature of fraternity pledge costumes, it never crossed the girls' minds that the signs would pose any sort of problem. Unfortunately for the Tri Delts, later that same day they were contacted by CFS employees who told them that they could get in major trouble for the signs, and that they had better remove them.
"We all abided by the orders because we obviously didn't want to get the house into trouble," the Tri Delt said.
Why do the College's surveillance teams feel the need to step in for sororities, but not fraternities? I sought out CFS director Deb Carney, one of the officials involved in the decision to stop Tri Delt's sign-wearing, to ask her this very question. She explained her actions by saying that she knew Tri Delt was a national sorority that holds its members to strict rules and that she didn't believe such sign-wearing would have been acceptable to the national house.
"They didn't really answer the question at all. That was the end of our dialogue with CFS about this issue," the Tri Delt said.
The College isn't quite so worried about the many national fraternities that organize visible pledging activities. The pledge trainers of Theta Delt and Psi U -- both national fraternities with hazing policies similar to Tri Delt's -- said they had never faced any administrative consequences for the public components of their pledge activities. The pledge trainers at local fraternities Alpha Chi, AD and Chi Gam reported that they'd never faced consequences, either, even though Carney said their actions violate the College's "Hidden Harm" policy. Carney explained this policy to me with the hypothetical situation of a new AXA pledge, who chose to wear his "siren," but was deep down disturbed and truly hurt by this because his brother who had died always wore red hats, and it brought up a painful memory. I'm sorry, but I find this theory to be completely ridiculous -- there is no way that work boots, Greek initials on a laminated sign, an excess or shortage of hair or a red cap can possibly offend someone in a deep-rooted, existential way. What we are talking about is harmless, fun, completely optional and involves nothing more than some sort of fashion statement.
While it is true that all Greek houses have to be careful not to attract the College's discontent, it seems that the spotlight remains disproportionately focused on sororities. It is incredible to me that at a college that claims to educate women and men equally, and train women to be leaders just like their male counterparts, there exist administrative policies that seem to be based on the belief that girls are sensitive creatures with delicate little emotions. One sorority president told me that "it's like we always have an extra eye on us." Another Tri Delt said with a shrug, "It's things like this that make Dartmouth still like an old boys' club."
How far have we really come since the days when women wore gloves to avoid hands that looked like they had actually done work and wide brimmed hats to keep the sun off their faces (because no one wants to marry a freckled girl)? I'm exaggerating. But sadly, not by that much.
One of the most astonishing things about this whole situation is the complacency with which we as Dartmouth women just accept that we will have more scrutiny and be watched more closely in our Greek institutions. We can't afford to return an empty keg a day late, or to not have someone at the pub room door during a party -- it's like we are always thisclose to losing the "privilege" to belong to a group of women that exists solely for the purpose of being a group of women. As I go through rush telling all of the sophomore girls about the bold and beautiful women of Kappa Delta Epsilon, I hope that maybe before they leave Dartmouth and sororities behind, they'll be able to give their little sisters signs (if they want) and that their little sisters will be able to wear them (if they want) without being scared of a time out. Because in the sandbox that is life, we just want to be able to play like the boys.
