Original Article: http://dartreview.com/archives/2001/06/11/dartmouth_derecognizes_zeta_psi.php
Monday, June 11, 2001
Dean Martin Redman of the Office of Residential Life announced today that Zeta Psi fraternity has been permanently derecognized and will no longer exist at Dartmouth. The derecognition comes in response to Zeta Psi's publishing of an internal newsletter, the Sigma Report, which contained tasteless jokes about specific female Dartmouth students. Dean Redman found that this newsletter, though intended to be humorous and meant only for brothers of the house, constituted harassment towards women on the part of the fraternity.
According to Dean of the College James Larimore's letter to the Dartmouth community, Zeta Psi was also found to have violated two Minimum Standards requirements. How these standards were officially violated is unclear, as Zeta Psi had already passed minimum standards for the term.
In his letter, Larimore refers to Zeta Psi's 1987 derecognition, when the College suspended the house for a year as punishment for the publication of a similar newsletter. The repetition of the offense may have been a factor in the College's decision to permanently expel the house from campus.
Larimore also directly addresses the issue of Zeta Psi's rights to free expression, acknowledging the campus-wide debate on offensive speech sparked by the Zeta Psi incident. He asserts the primacy of the Dartmouth community's standards over the principles of free expression, disagreeing with those who 'argue that anything that an organization can characterize as expressive conduct must be tolerated even though it violates the rules and standards of our community.' Larimore rejects this idea as 'corrosive of the very idea of a residential college'. He asserts that Dartmouth's reliance on learning 'outside the classroom' forces it to punish extracurricular organizations that violate the rules and values of the Dartmouth community.
Dartmouth College President James Wright wrote similarly in his own letter, also distributed to the Dartmouth community. He stresses the college's goal of ensuring 'healthy, productive, and ethical student life,' asserting that the college has a right to 'confront tensions between individual rights and the values of the [Dartmouth] community.' Wright denigrates ''rights' [which] trump the rights, feelings, and considerations of others.'
Wright also raises the prospect of a college-wide regulation of individual rights of expression, characterizing Zeta Psi's behavior as 'conduct that would be unacceptable elsewhere on campus.' He preemptively denies, however, that the college intrudes on students' speech. 'We do not have a speech code at Dartmouth.' Still, 'Speech has consequences for which we must account.'
Zeta Psi president Eugene Boyle '02 attacked the College's punishment in a press release issued today as 'overly harsh and grossly disproportionate to the offenses charged.' Boyle denies Zeta Psi threatened or harassed women. The newsletters, he says, 'did not contain any threats against women.'
The newsletters 'were not intended to be seen or read by individuals who were not members of...Zeta Psi.' They 'contained private communications' and became public only after 'being stolen from Zeta Psi...[and] taken without permission from a member's room.'
Boyle also stresses that much of the newsletters' content was fictitious and not intended to be offensive. 'The Newsletters were humor, satire and parody. They were designed to make fun of members of...Zeta Psi.'
Among the more controversial parts of Zeta Psi's newsletters was a sentence in the 'Sigma Report' promising 'Next week: [Zeta Psi brother's] patented date rape techniques.' Students and administrators expressed outrage that Zeta Psi would publish a newsletter that seemed to institutionally support date rape. Boyle claims that Zeta Psi 'never published or intended to publish date rape techniques.' Further, 'Such techniques never existed.' The reference to date rape in the newsletter was 'merely a joke; it was not directed at any particular individual, and was meant to make fun of a member.' According to Zeta Psi brothers, the member is known as mild-mannered and shy around women.
Boyle goes on to criticize the College's broad interpretation of harassment, accusing Dean Redman of having confused 'what some might consider offensive speech with threatening or harassing speech. Dartmouth College has chosen to interpret harassment in this case so widely that almost any type of speech deemed offensive by some member of the Dartmouth community can now result in severe sanctions.'
Boyle also disagrees with President Wright's assertion that Dartmouth does not have a speech code. He contends that the College's action against Zeta Psi 'threatens the free speech rights of all students and organizations and is tantamount to a 'speech code' subject to arbitrary and selective enforcement.'
Boyle also notes that Dartmouth's conduct in this matter violates its own principle of free speech. Page iii of Dartmouth's Student Handbook states, under the section heading 'Freedom of Expression and Dissent,' that 'Freedom of expression and dissent is protected by College regulations.... Dartmouth College therefore both fosters and protects the rights of individuals to express dissent.'
Although Dean Larimore and President Wright invoke the will of the Dartmouth community to support their decision against Zeta Psi, 55% of Dartmouth students are against derecognizing Zeta Psi, according to a Daily Dartmouth poll. 39% are in favor of derecognition, and 5% were unsure.
Zeta Psi plans to appeal Dean Redman's decision. Few believe, however, that Dean Redman, who will hear the appeal, is likely to overturn the decision or punishment, both of which he originally rendered.
Zeta Psi may also choose to fight Dartmouth College in civil court. Boyle says that the fraternity is currently considering 'whether further legal action is merited.' A legal battle would most likely be fought over whether students could live in a derecognized Zeta Psi and still register for classes and officially enroll as Dartmouth students.
However Zeta Psi chooses to fight its derecognition, the fraternity claims to be prepared for a long and difficult battle. According to Boyle, 'Psi Epsilon of Zeta Psi is a fine organization made up of excellent young men, many of whom will undoubtedly go on to be leaders in the legal, scientific and business communities. It has made significant contributions to Dartmouth College.' Zeta Psi, he concludes, 'intends to continue to do so in the future.'
Brothers living in the house are permitted to remain there through the end of the term. After June 10, they must vacate.
The fraternity is forbidden from holding meetings or social events.