Original Article: http://dartreview.com/archives/2002/06/09/greeks_in_review_the_greek_hunt.php
Sunday, June 9, 2002
Earlier this term, rumors spread throughout campus that Katie Greenwood '04, Dartmouth's best known frat-basher, had rushed Epsilon Kappa Theta and not received a bid. Could this be the cause of her bitterness with the Dartmouth Greek system?
The rumors were later repudiated, but Greenwood has been on a public crusade against the Greek system since this year's Winter rush. In a January 30 op-ed in the Daily D, Greenwood lashed out at the Greek system for its exclusionary and inherently racist practices. 'I've got news for you, sorority women: your system stinks,' she wrote. 'It reeks of cattiness and jealousy and exclusion, and it is downright putrid.'
Apparently, her disenchantment with the Greek system stemmed from the experiences of one of her friends. Her friend, it seems, did not get a bid at any sorority, but her two roommates did. That representatives of her roommates' new sorority had the gall to decorate the door of two of their new members when one roommate did not get a bid was abhorrent to Greenwood. 'I stepped into the hall and found myself confronted with three white women crammed into tiny clothing and plastered with make-up,' she wrote. One of the 'white women,' in fact, was not white, a fact that Greenwood gleaned over—strange for someone so concerned with race.
The letter set off a wave of responses. Many wrote in disagreement, and a few supported her; others added that they really didn't care. Even Randy Testa, a former Dartmouth Education professor, took part, sending a vicious response to a female student who wrote a letter criticizing Greenwood's views. Now serving at a primary school on Long Island, Testa invoked his 'Don't say you can't play' policy, which he picked up from a Vermont kindergarten teacher. An inane rule for kindergarteners, Testa has applied it to college students. If everyone can't play, no one can have any fun.
The controversy died, and Greenwood faded from the limelight. Little did students know that she was busy scheming a way to bring down the Greek system, something the Student Life Initiative has yet to do. This spring, the nature of her scheme was made public. Greenwood sent an e-mail intended for her anti-Greek comrades outlining a course of action. The e-mail, however, was widely distributed, reaching Greek and non-Greek students alike.
Greenwood's message encouraged students to search public computers for documents that could incriminate fraternities on campus. 'I would like to suggest that from now on, whenever you use a public computer, you look at documents that are on the desktop and in the trash to see if there are any that pertain to Greek houses,' she wrote. She did not explain the nature of such documents. What could one find that would be so damning? An on-line edition of the Sigma Report?
Another e-mail from Greenwood followed—this one a response to the response she had received from her original message. She had received 'dozens of hateful and offensive messages,' been assaulted, and been sent pornographic e-mails. Hateful students sent her such vitriol as 'Wow! You really suck.' In this new message she attacked the fraternities, claiming to have 'gory details of slush funds, point systems, rush deliberations, harassment campaigns, various songs, poems, publications, institutionalized alcohol abuse, and sexual violence.' The fraternities at Dartmouth were bastions of 'victimization and marginalization.' And, to find such sordid details, one only need visit the nearest public computer.
Greenwood, however, had a point. Often, I have stumbled upon unexpected material left on public computers in the library. Last winter, I found photographs of a group of EKT pledges at a bowling alley. While hardly incriminating, the pictures lightened up my reading of Plato's Phaedo. But, if I had looked more thoroughly, would I have found more seedy material?
Curious, I followed Greenwood's advice and decided to undertake a Greek hunt of my own. I would spend a few hours in the library searching the desktops of every available computer.
What I found was disappointing. The first computer I scoured held a student's paper entitiled Outtakes. 'We can learn from our memories,' the paper began. 'I don't think animals do that.' The paper continued with a seeming non-sequitur, 'My life reads like lines on page because that is the only way I know to focus my eyes.' On another computer I discovered a student's self-deprecating essay on smoking. The student had established a liking for cigarettes, and in roughly a thousand words she struggled to come to grips with this.
Another student described her weekly trip to the local supermarket to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables. Not exciting or provocative, and hardly incriminating. My most disturbing find was a survey for an upcoming STAR Retreat, presumably a program for prospective students. The survey asked for participants' input on possible Saturday morning activities. For example, they could rent movies, play group games, or go to the Hood Museum (which has 'great photos and posters').
My most exotic discoveries were the graphics saved or discarded on the computers. One graphic featured a shirtless Erik Estrada and a rather insensitive message. I found a slideshow that depicted George W. Bush photoshopped in a variety of provocative poses. In another image, two females stood together, drinks in hand. The name of the image: '4 PM and already drunk.'
At the last computer I searched, I discovered my first and only Greek-related document, the Gamma Delta Chi New Member Manual. However, far from misogynistic or crude, the Gamma Delt guide reads more like the Dartmouth Principle of Community: 'Instead of being overly critical and fault-finding, a Brother accepts a Brother for what they are or, where necessary, gives them constructive criticism.' The document, in fact, outlines a support system for members of the organization. Brothers are required to set goals for themselves in terms of grade point average and community service. And, the abuse of alcohol is strongly discouraged: 'Alcohol must never be the focus of an event held by Gamma Delta Chi.'
My hunt was extensive and thorough. I left no file unopened, but I only found one Greek-related document—an internal house memo that reflects the positive virtues of the Greek system. The public computers were not teeming with damning evidence against the Greek system. Nowhere did I find chauvinistic chants or songs. Absent were exclusionary policies or documents that condoned sexual assault. Nor did I find internal house blitzes urging members to don synthetic afros or dress as their favorite Cuban.
If Miss Greenwood feels that the responses to her call to Greek hunting are representative of the Greek community, she need look no further than the policies of the fraternities to prove otherwise. One can safely assume that Gamma Delta Chi's policies mirror those of other houses. Dartmouth fraternities are much more than the stereotypical societies where sloppy and unshaven men band together to swill beer and discuss ill-thought hook-ups. Poor behavior is the exception, not the norm.
Fraternities bad for Dartmouth? To answer affirmatively only 'reeks of cattiness and jealousy.'