Comparing the benefits of friendship with the dangers of hazing, the value of community with the prevalence of sexual assault and rich tradition with hurtful stereotypes, students will convene at 6:30 p.m. tonight in Dartmouth Hall to debate the potential abolition of the College’s Greek system. Mathematics professor Alex Barnett and economics and public policy professor Charles Wheelan ’88 will give opening statements, and four students will then debate, answering students’ questions submitted beforehand.
After opening statements, two unaffiliated students will argue for eliminating the Greek system and two affiliated students will speak in its favor. Each team will receive time for cross-examination, answering questions from attendees and moderators and closing statements.
Aaron Colston ’14, Becca Rothfeld ’14, Holli Weed ’14 and Mark Andriola ’14, will participate in the debate, which will be moderated by Asher Mayerson ’15.
Speakers were selected based on recommendations from various student groups that the organizers are involved in, organizers said.
Georgi Klissurski ’14, an event organizer, said the format was inspired by the Oxford Union debate series, which consists of weekly formal debates. He said he wanted tonight’s event to unite people in one space to talk about an issue important to campus climate.
Those within and outside of the Greek system, though often holding strong opinions about one another, don’t share their views with one another, Klissurski said. Conversation, he said, is the first step toward change.
Rothfeld, who is arguing for the elimination of the Greek system, said she hoped the debate would encourage rational deliberation among affiliated students and perhaps dissuade some younger students from joining the Greek system.
“I think that a lot of people support the Greek system just because it’s dominant, and a lot of the support for the Greek system on campus is a function of need for acceptance of existing social instructions that people could not defend if pressed to articulate a defense,” Rothfeld said. “I hope this debate will push people to think of principled reasons for their decisions.”
Rothfeld is a member of The Dartmouth opinion staff.
Andriola, who will argue for keeping the Greek system, said he hopes the debate will foster productive dialogue and elucidate the main arguments on both sides. He added that he hopes these conversations will continue beyond the event.
The format, he said, might pose challenges to productive dialogue, as the notion of debate suggests that there will be a winner and a loser. Debate, he said, suggests competition.
“This event is more about employing a competitive lens for the sake of shared learning and open communication,” he said.
Wheelan, who was a member of Alpha Delta fraternity during his time at the College, said the debate will be constructive if it is followed by continued discussion.
“I would like to see empathy all around,” he said. “I would like people in the Greek system to recognize more forthrightly why people view them as dangerous, problematic, offensive and so on, and I would like people not in the Greek system to think about why over 50 percent of the student population chooses to join it.”
Wheelan said that discussions about the social scene in the ‘80s resembled today’s in that they were not “terribly constructive.” He said that, in his opening remarks, he intends to ask students to envision the ideal Dartmouth social environment and the role that membership organizations would play within it.
“No matter where you come down on the Greek system, I don’t think any sane person thinks it should look like it does now, in 20 years,” Wheelan said. “Once you open that door, it makes it easier to talk about it. It doesn’t make people quite so defensive because you’re talking about the future in the context of a larger discussion of the social scene which is really more important.”
Reflecting on other potential challenges, Klissurski said some students may not feel represented by the speakers or may find the opening question too polarizing.
“For us, the question is a little controversial,” Klissurski said. “But that’s obviously a way to get people in the room, because we want people to talk to each other.”
Colston, who is speaking against the Greek system, said he thinks that conversations about improving Dartmouth must address social life.
“We’re part of a national conversation, even an international conversation, on the future of higher education,” Colston said, noting that this raises the stakes in terms of conversations regarding social life. “And it’s also just great to have a space for oratory. I think oratory is an art and a science that we should have a space for.”
