Faculty Letter Bashes Greeks

By Darren Thomas | Monday, May 7, 2001

The Dartmouth Review: What is your ideal image of the Greek system?

Tom Luxon: No comment.

English Professor Luxon is one of 101 faculty members who signed a full-page open letter that appeared in the Daily Dartmouth on May 3rd condemning President Wright and the Board of Trustees for failing to achieve some of the goals of the Student Life Initiative, and particularly for not reforming the Greek system. The letter accuses the Greek system of 'institutionalized forms of discrimination and segregation that still dominate social life.' It went on to deem the houses 'antithetical to the fostering of a truly coeducational academic and residential culture.'

Ten faculty members worked to write the letter which was then distributed by blitz to all faculty members.

One of the faculty members who signed the letter told the Review that the faculty had felt frustrated at the lack of change thus far. The professor said that the Trustees have focused on building new dormitories, but 'have not addressed the problem that keeps surfacing.'

According to the letter the 'problem' is 'the Saigon Party, recurrent unruly behavior that has endangered human lives, t-shirts and jackets derogatory to Native Americans and women, racist and sexist slurs shouted at a female student, 'The Sigma Report', and now 'The Zetemouth'.' The letter alluded that these type of events happen all the time but are just not reported. One faculty member said that the recent incidents received a lot of attention because they were published. In light of these incidents, the faculty members say that they 'are teaching female students and students of color who suffer from institutionalized practices of sexist and racist humiliation that fester largely unabated within secret fraternity culture.'

It is important to put the 101 professors in perspective. There are 658 professors total at Dartmouth. This means that 15% of the faculty signed the open letter. When it is reported that the faculty voted 81-0 at a meeting last year to end the Greek system, it is probably because the vast majority of the professors did not care. Most of the faculty members who did sign the letter are perennial critics of the system, such as Thomas Luxon, Bruce Nelson, and Ivy Schweitzer. On numerous occasions Professor Schweitzer has called for President Wright to issue a statement classifying Dartmouth as 'anti-sexist, anti-racist, anti-homophobic, and anti-classist.'

Criticizing the Greek system is old hat for the faculty of Dartmouth. In 1978 Professor James Epperson put before his faculty colleagues a proposal to eliminate the Greek system at the College. This resolution passed 77-1 at the faculty meeting but the Trustees did not follow through on it. They instead announced that they hold the right to derecognize all Greek houses at any time.

In 1995, Luxon held a showing of a tape of an Alpha Chi 'Hell Night,' which is when pledges become full brothers in the house. Five minutes into the showing, however, he turned off the tape and canceled the event, saying that the students in attendance were being 'rude.' Many of the students at the showing said Luxon had come into the event with an agenda.

Last January at a faculty meeting a group of 90 faculty members called for the end of the Greek system in response to what they saw as the weak statement the SLI steering committee made. In February of that year the faculty voted 81-0 urging the administration to derecognize all Greek houses when college housing became more plentiful.

When asked by the Review if students should decide for themselves what social options they choose, one professor said, 'When students have a standard of behavior that is respectable young adult behavior, the faculty won't be up in arms about it.' The same professor offered, 'We have to question whether this is not endemic in a system which is selective in who is allowed in the organization.'

Faculty Letter Bashes Greeks

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