Ever since the inimitable “Animal House” (and likely even before), Dartmouth has been associated with drinking. Our Greek life especially is linked in the public consciousness with debauchery and bacchanalia. I’m sure that some of you eagerly await the infamous parties and inebriated shenanigans of college life. Others might be dreading that part of Dartmouth.
I was part of the latter group when entering college two years ago. I never drank in high school, nor went to any “real” parties. My parties consisted of friends gathered around a YouTube screen, a once-giant and now-demolished homemade skillet cookie in front of us. It was awesome. I was looking forward to so many things about Hanover — the New England charm, the incredible classes, the fall colors, finding new friends, all of those clichés. But the alcohol? Not in a thousand years. The fraternities and sororities? Even less so.
Freshman fall passed, and while many of my friends went out on the weekends, I and some others did not. We would stay in and play video games or watch stupid movies. I cherish those memories. Freshman winter and spring passed in much of the same way. More and more of my friends started going out, but I remained steadfast. I enjoyed living my life the way I wanted to, and my convictions were set totally against having anything to do with Dartmouth’s Greek scene. I knew in the core of my being that it was not and never would be for me.
Sophomore fall rolled around, and a bunch of my friends rushed Greek houses. Many of them happily pledged. Though I didn’t and still have not participated in rush, I started hanging out at an undergraduate society called Amarna (of which I’m a member today). Friends of mine drank there, and for the first time in my college career, I started spending significant time around people who were drinking. This was a new and scary change for me, but to my pleasant surprise, nobody really changed when they drank. People don’t suddenly turn into horrendous and obnoxious characters.
Slowly but surely, my feelings about alcohol and Greek life started to change.
However, I have always been a stubborn person, and I refused to budge on my prior convictions. More and more often it felt like I was parroting what freshman Emily would say without actually believing what I said. It took me until this past winter to finally accept that my feelings had changed, and that for whatever reason the Greek scene didn’t bother me all that much anymore. In fact, I could see all of the positives (without losing sight of the negatives) that it brings to students here. I started hanging out at my friends’ fraternities (both single-sex and coed) and started talking to my friends more seriously about their sororities.
I’ve learned that Greek life isn’t some overwhelming and homogenous entity that you have to either accept or reject in entirely. Dartmouth fraternities are more than carbon copies of Animal House. They are more than sticky basement floors and more than flimsy excuses for people to get drunk. I am not eliding over some of their negative aspects or effects on Dartmouth, but denying the positives of Greek life makes it nothing more than a caricature.
Your thoughts and feelings about Dartmouth life will change and evolve over your time here. The fact that your feelings may one day change does not invalidate them in the present. It’s okay to be nervous about Greek life or about anything else here, and it’s okay to eventually change your mind about it. It’s also okay not to change your mind. Go out your freshman year, wait until sophomore year (or later) or never participate in the Greek scene here. I gave the Class of 2017 this piece of advice in last year’s issue, which I reiterate to you now; whatever you do at Dartmouth, do it for you.
