A Scholar of Hanging Out

By A.S. Erickson | Saturday, December 8, 2007

Come winter term Dartmouth College will have a new Dean of the College, Thomas Crady. Crady will take over from Acting Dean of the College Dan Nelson ’75; Nelson also filled in as Dean of the College during 1998-1999, after the departure of Lee Pelton. Before coming to Dartmouth, Crady was Vice President for Student Affairs at Grinnell College where he had worked since 1982. At Grinnell he supervised vast swaths of student life, including but not limited to Academic Advising, Housing & Residence Life, Multicultural Affairs, International Student Services, Student Activities, Chaplain’s Office, Campus Security, and Career Development.

As an undergraduate Crady attended Northern Michigan University, majoring in speech communication. Of particular interest to the Dartmouth community, however, is the dissertation for his Ph.D. from Iowa State University. It is entitled, “Written and unwritten rules: the use of alcohol by fraternities: a study of one college.” Long time readers of The Dartmouth Review know that the College has a history of hiring Deans known to be antagonistic toward the Greek system. Addressing the freshman class during his first year on the job, Dean Pelton said in all seriousness that “the night no longer belongs to Michelob.”

So what can Dartmouth students expect from someone who’s dissertation was focused completely on alcohol and fraternities? The answer may seem obvious to some, but Crady has wisely remained as non-committal as possible. In his dissertation he noted the extremely limited scope of his work, writing, “The results of this study may not be directly applied or transferred to other institutions in higher education.” Yet, Pelton too sent mixed signals before his true intentions became clear. One of his first moves after coming to Dartmouth was to allow kegs back on campus; however, he quickly became critical of that very policy.

Crady’s stint at Grinnell was both long and successful. Judging from the archives of the Scarlet and Black (Grinnell’s student newspaper), Crady assiduously avoided controversy. It is also clear that he is not an all-or-nothing opponent of alcohol: In his dissertation he notes, “My philosophy may be characterized in the following manner: I do not believe that colleges and universities should ban alcohol from their campuses, and alcohol education programming should focus on responsible drinking rather than abstinence.” He also recently floated the idea of reinstalling a pub on the Grinnell campus that had been abolished in the mid 1980’s. Yet for all this, the title of his dissertation does raise eyebrows at Dartmouth—where the abodes of tapped beer conspicuously lack a certain old-English charm.

I read Crady’s dissertation in hopes of coming to a better understanding of his preferences and prejudices. His study was twofold: the first part consisted of interviewing 29 students in focus groups—four groups with fraternity members only and three with non-affiliated students; the second part of his study was a survey of 58 questions to staff members of the college concerning the “use and abuse of alcohol and drugs.” One shortcoming that jumps out at the reader is the method in which the 29 students were selected. Each was chosen to be included in the study by the college’s Dean of Students. If one is looking for responses to questions about alcohol from your ‘average’ frat guy this is clearly not the best route to take. These are not the kind of people that typically come into contact with the Dean of Students. Yet another question raised by his methodology is why the survey was administered exclusively to staff. If Dartmouth is any indication (TDR 10/14/07), staff members are often somewhat clueless when it comes to campus drinking culture.

The institution Crady studied was in some ways similar to Dartmouth, but the College’s Greek culture is probably more prevalent than the culture at the school Crady studied. He describes the school he studied as a,

small private, four-year institution where most students were from the same state and approximately 35% of the students were members of Greek Letter organizations. Given these limitations, readers should not generalize or assume transferability to other institutions or fraternities at other schools.

Dartmouth, while not as small as the college studied, is the smallest school in the Ivy League and perhaps—with 28 co-ed organizations, fraternities, and sororities (CFS) on campus—also the most ‘fratcentric’ of the schools.

The one big difference of Greek culture between Dartmouth and the studied institution is the issue of physical plants. Dartmouth’s physical plants include one floor of a dorm, College-owned apartments, College-owned houses, and member CFS-owned houses. Except for minority fraternities, the fraternities at Dartmouth all belong to one of the latter two categories. At the school Crady studied, fraternities were housed in apartments that were built and owned by the institution. This fact undoubtedly allows the school he looked at to take a more authoritarian stance when concerned with the fraternities. For the fraternities at Dartmouth who own their own plant, the threats Dartmouth can use against them are significantly fewer.

For example, Zeta Psi fraternity is on its way to being re-recognized by the College after being ‘permanently’ derecognized in 2001 for reportedly circulating sexist newsletters within the house. Despite the derecognition Zeta Psi continued to exist in an unofficial capacity, there being little the College could do to stop this. In all likelihood this re-recognition is happening because the fraternity occupies a prominent parcel of land neighboring the Rockefeller Center. The greater control the Greek system at Dartmouth has over their physical plants may explain why 55% of the eligible student population at Dartmouth is a member of a CFS organization, as opposed to just 35% at the school studied by Crady.

Crady also points out that there may be some differences between the students themselves:

Students attending this institution were primarily from one state in the Midwest and students who do not attend this institution from other states may differ in their views related to alcohol. In addition, cultural values and beliefs within the student culture may differ greatly by institution. . . . No attempt will be made to claim transferability.

He is again very circumspect about the usefulness of his study for other schools. This prudence would serve him well in his initial years at Dartmouth. The social scene here seems to be vastly different than both Grinnell and the college he studied. Taking all of this into account, here are the conclusions Crady drew from his study:

Recommendations for Practice in Student Affairs
a. Develop and implement strategies to evaluate the student and Greek letter culture to better understand the dynamics between the two groups relative to the campus culture. Since evidence exists that Greek culture may supersede institutional culture, it is important to examine this phenomenon on a regular basis to ensure that independent students are not isolated on their campus.
b. Examine, monitor, and compare the use of alcohol and drugs by Greeks and independent students both on and off campus. Given the evidence that alcohol plays a significant role in Greek systems, campus administrators should have an ongoing mechanism to determine the level of alcohol used by all students on their campus.
c. Assist Greek Letter [sic] organizations in emphasizing the positive aspects of Greek life. Many Greek letter organizations are developing and implementing impressive social justice and/or community service programs. These should be highlighted and reinforced on campus. Standards should exist for Greek letter organizations outlining activities they are expected to offer to the campus.
d. Provide Greek letter organizations with the resources and tools to accomplish their goals both on and off campus. Greek letter organizations should be fully supported by campus officials to ensure that resources are available to assist these organizations.
e. Develop positive and constructive interpersonal relationships with the leaders of Greek letter organizations on campus. Campus administrators should establish positive working relationships with Greek leaders before problems occur.
f. If Greek letter organizations are affiliated with national organizations, develop clear communication lines with the national organizations. These national groups are often excellent resources for local chapters particularly in areas of liability.
g. Examine the pledging process to ensure that it does not conflict with the academic performance of students engaged in the pledging process. Emphasis should be placed on academics and no activities should conflict with the academic mission of the institution.
h. Resist the temptation to view Greek letter organizations as negative elements of student life and the campus culture. Resolve problems that arise quickly and efficiently while maintaining positive interpersonal relationships with the students in Greek letter organizations.

Since Crady comes from frat-free Grinnell College, he doesn’t have any actual policy decisions behind him to either recommend or disqualify him from the start. Unlike Dean Pelton, he doesn’t come to Dartmouth with the reputation of a ‘frat-buster.’ Crady’s dissertation probably arose from a healthy curiosity in a subject of which he had no experience. That said, because of the nature of both his study and this campus’ social scene, students will be watching him closely during his first few years in Hanover to see whether or not he really does intend to give the CFS organizations a fair shake.

A Scholar of Hanging Out

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