Restricting the Greeks: A History of DerecognitionBy John Kalb | Monday, May 7, 2001 While many think that the College's attack on the Greek system is a recent phenomenon, it has been going on since the 1970s. As private institutions that own their physical plants, Greek houses were for a very long time mostly beyond the reach of the College. However, starting roughly thirty years ago, the College began to tighten its grip on the Greeks.
Before the Greek system, every Dartmouth student belonged to either the United Fraternity or The Social Friends. In the fall of 1841, several members of the United Fraternity cast votes for an ineligible presidential candidate. Those who believed that the votes should be thrown out, leaving a clear majority in the election, split and formed the Zeta Chapter of Psi Upsilon on May 12, 1841. A month later, other United Fraternity members left to found the oldest local fraternity in the nation, Kappa Kappa Kappa. Both were literary societies whose meetings consisted primarily of debates until after the Civil War, when Tri-Kap moved its meetings from Friday to Wednesday, and began to incorporate music and dancing into its events. Tri-Kap was also the first house to get a meeting hall, which was located near where the Hood Museum now stands. In 1894, it became the first fraternity to own a house. During the 1920s, most houses built their current physical plants. The first serious challenge to the fraternities was in the 1930s when President Ernest Martin Hopkins demanded that they prove their value to the College. The frats responded, and after being suspended during World War II, they came back strong. In 1954, a student referendum agreed that all houses should eliminate racial discrimination, which led several houses to break from their nationals. Participation in the Greek system flourished in this period, with as many as 79% of eligible students participating at its peak in the early 1960s.
At the start of coeducation, restrictions on the Greek system were few and far between. Freshmen were not allowed in houses during the fall, and during the winter, they were not allowed to attend parties. The IFC was a self-policing organization and the sole arbiter of recognition, and the College did not have regular rights of access to the houses. The next year, during Winter Break, the fraternities were shut down due to the energy crisis by order of the Fraternity Governing Board, which consisted of four students, three house advisors, three house corporation officers, the Dean of the College, and a Vice President from the administration. During the house shutdown, four fraternities were inspected by the Student Housing Office without authorization by the houses or the Dean of the College in search of stolen dorm furniture. In response, the FGB approved a two-tiered inspection system in which there would be an annual check of all houses for fire, health and safety problems, and with advance notice, an inspector from the College could check for stolen items. Despite the lack of regulation, the Greek system prospered, with 477 people sinking their bids in spring of 1973, of whom twelve were women joining six co-ed houses. 450 rushed in the spring of 1974. The only incidents of note during this period was the theft of $170 in liquor from Phi Tau and a 'pledge march' by Beta Theta Pi through Butterfield, which was then a women's dorm, for which Beta received a month's social probation. The latter action was decried as excessively harsh by the Daily Dartmouth. In response to the Phi Tau incident, the IFC raised fines for theft. In short, during this period, the Greek system was a thriving and self-regulating organization.
While the faculty had long been an enemy of the Greek system, James Epperson, an English professor, finally summarized these complaints in an impassioned speech at a faculty meeting in early November, 1978. His five points were that- —the fraternities perpetuated racial stereotypes by discouraging minorities from joining; —destructive behavior was the norm; theft and vandalism were encouraged, and jettisoning furniture out windows was a regular Saturday night ritual; —frats are anti-intellectual, and social acceptance was formed on drinking habits, not GPAs; —heavy drinking and drunkards were not only problems in themselves, but are used to explain, even justify, other offensive behavior; —all-male institutions are sexist and hence inappropriate at a newly co-ed school. The faculty voted 77-2 in favor of the proposal, which marked the start of the College's war on fraternities.
On October 12, 1981, in response to a request by the president of the Beta Theta Pi Corporation, the College offered to lease the houses from their owners for fifty years and then sublet the houses to brothers. The rationale behind this, which became known as the Mahoney Proposal, was that the fraternities were in dire financial straits and needed to be bailed out. One of the College's stated goals in this was 'behavior modification and activity planning.' Under the proposal, the College could have used the houses for whatever purposes they wished when not being used for meetings. Decried as an attempt to turn the frats into a 'pseudo-fraternal dormitory coalition controlled by Parkhurst,' the IFC shot down the Mahoney Proposal.
The implementation of Minimum Standards coincided with the release of the Trustee Statement on Fraternities from the Minary Retreat, which stated that 'the Trustees also subscribe to the concept of imposing limitations on the number of fraternities and sororities that may exist on campus. It is evident that in the long run, fraternities will not be able to provide adequately and consistently for the safety and well being of physical facilities. The trustees are convinced that College ownership represents the only viable and strong contributions to the overall residential life of the College.' With these marching orders in hand, then Dean of the College Shanahan placed the fraternities under the Office of Residential Life's jurisdiction. In its initial incarnation, minimum standards required an audit of each house to make sure the house had safety features such as fire doors and sprinklers. Every house had to make substantial repairs and additions—repair estimates ranged from $40,000 to $119,000 (with the top figure coming from Heorot, $180,000). Other requirements included introducing a minimum membership of 35 and the registration all social events. Minimum standards also stated that 'college officers shall be given the opportunity to enter coed, fraternity, and sorority houses as necessary.' This was the first successful attempt to seriously regulate fraternities at Dartmouth.
In October of 1982, Heorot was derecognized for behavior during their annual Beowulf banquet at the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge. The banquet degenerated into a large food fight in which brothers swung from chandeliers and made a massive mess of the lodge. The brothers tried to clean up, but they dumped their garbage along the road on the way home. As a result, Heorot, then Chi Phi, was derecognized, which meant that the house lost its spot on the IFC, and could not hold official rush or use the College billing system for charging rent or dues. This eventually caused the fraternity to fall into debt and sell their house to the College. However, while derecognized, Heorot re-gained membership on the IFC. Derecognition was not as severe a punishment as it is today.
1987 marked the release of the Wright Report and the derecognition of several houses at once. The key proposals of the Wright report were to- —remove taps from the houses; —seriously enforce the drinking age; —move rush period from freshman spring to sophomore spring; —require a minimum GPA to join and stay in a house; —require a licensed bartender to serve all alcohol; —eliminate the IFC and replace it with a COS-like body. The Wright report also claimed that, 'the burden of proof has been on the College, through the Minimum Standards review and other procedures, to judge whether houses merit nonrecognition. We recommend that this process be reversed.' Subsequently, Alpha Delta was derecognized for a year for 'intangible attitudinal problems.' Zeta Psi was also derecognized for its newsletter, and Bones Gate was permanently derecognized for alcohol violations during probation. BG successfully sued to have the punishment overturned, as they had been caught by an administrator who was in the basement alone searching for Zeta Psi's cable box. Beta Theta Pi was also derecognized for making sexist remarks about Sigma Kappa (now Sigma Delta) members, and despite a resolution of the conflict between the two houses, the College extended Beta's derecognition to two years. For these houses, derecognition meant loss of insurance, College billing, official rush, and connection to ORL and CFSC. Beta's president, Dick Ashnault '88, complained, 'fraternities were willing to work with the administration to institute change in the system... Handing down really severe punishments may make it more difficult for that to continue.'
After the implementation of delayed rush, which was announced on the first day of summer term because of threats by graduating seniors not to contribute to the senior gift if delayed rush was put in place, many houses suffered smaller pledge classes and lost large amounts of revenue. In response, Tri-Kap openly rushed freshmen in direct disobedience of College rules. Alpha Delta was the first house to go independent, but decided not to hold rush until sophomore fall. They felt that they had been treated unfairly by COS in the release of their Hell Night tapes. Sigma Alpha Epsilon declared independence three months later and rushed freshmen. Their primary reason for independence was a shrinking brotherhood. Sigma Phi Epsilon followed suit, also because of declining numbers. These houses were remarkably successful, as they managed to find insurance and conduct business on their own. They were so successful that Sigma Nu and Bones Gate left the College the next year. AD's corporation president, John Engelman '68, noted that the brothers were taking much better care of their house. Despite stricter enforcement by the Hanover Police for alcohol violations, the houses flourished. As a result of the houses' declaration of independence, the College moved rush back to sophomore fall and even talked of moving it back to the end of freshman spring. The keg ban was also lifted in the winter of '93. Then Dean of the College Lee Pelton complained that 'disaffiliated fraternities have created an 'unlevel playing field' because of the inequities that they have introduced into the Greek system.' In other words, Greek life is far more attractive when the College isn't involved. However, Pelton was committed to bringing the independent houses back in the College's fold, and announced that students living in independent Greek houses could no longer register for classes. This was the death knell of independence; no house can survive without brothers paying rent. Sig Ep was the first house to reaffiliate, and Sigma Nu, SAE, AD, and Bones Gate followed. All returned as strong or stronger than when they had left. The change in policy on living in derecognized houses also fundamentally changed the nature of derecognition. While in the past, a house could survive while derecognized, now there was no hope. No house can survive more than a short time without rent, which meant that while a house that was derecognized earlier might have managed to squeak by for several years, as Heorot did, now it would be impossible. Leaving the College now means death.
After a long string of incidents, Beta Theta Pi was finally derecognized permanently in 1996. They had been derecognized for a year in 1994 for violating their probation for hazing. Their troubles in '96 were started by one brother's reading an offensive poem at meetings. Then, over the summer, Beta Brothers found several Sigma Nu brothers in their basement; they responded by chasing the Sigma Nus out, across Webster Avenue, and onto Tabard's lawn, where a Beta tackled a Sigma Nu. A Tabardite intervened, asking that the fight be moved off his house's lawn, to which the Betas responded by screaming racial epithets. For this, Beta was placed on full suspension, which meant that they couldn't hold rush or have alcohol in the house. After violating their suspension, Beta was permanently derecognized.
Despite the opposition of 89% of the campus, the Trustees announced the Five Principles for a major reform of student life. College President James Wright announced that 'this is not a referendum... we are committed to doing this.' Under the five principles, the Trustees promised tens of millions of dollars to change social life at Dartmouth by making social life 'substantially coeducational.' To follow-up, the Trustees appointed a Steering Committee, which proposed a cap on the number of CFS organizations. Additionally, derecognized houses cannot be replaced by new houses. The stated reason for this was to maintain the balance between the Greeks and the rest of campus. Houses would have to open themselves as meeting spaces for other college-recognized organizations. Rush would also be pushed back to winter term. The report also states that recognition should be 'a privilege that would only be granted in return for ongoing organizational responsibility, as evidenced by compliance with the above-described standards.' It also proposed live-in UGAs for each house and a review of the 'progress' that the Initiative makes in five years.
Over winter break '99, several brothers of Phi Delta Alpha fraternity entered neighboring Chi Gamma Epsilon and set fire to a table. Prior to that, a former Phi Delt, Adam Dansiger '00, who had been seriously hurt in an accident, brought several accusations against Phi Delt at the urging of his father, alleging that Phi Delt was guilty of dirty rushing, serving alcohol to minors, drug violations, and hazing. Phi Delta Alpha will become eligible to apply for reinstatement in the fall of 2002.
Right now, two houses face possible derecognition: Chi Heorot for failing minimum standards under questionable circumstances and Zeta Psi for a sexist newsletter. Next year, Rush will be moved back to winter. Taps have already been banned from all Greek houses. Nearly all of the gains made by the houses that went independent in the early '90s have been lost. |
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