Rowdy Dartmouth Frat Returns, Forcing Sorority’s Eviction; Animal House Not Even Cited Once in This Post
Enraged estrogen came to a boil yesterday when 200 angry Dartmouth ladies took to the streets of Hanover to protest sorority Alpha Xi Delta's eviction at the hands of rowdy frat Beta Theta Pi. Following decampment in 1996 for racist, homophobic, and criminally violent behavior, the Betas' history gets complicated and all, you know, Greek to me, so here's Dartmouth correspondent Ben O'Donnell with all the tawdry deets.
As any red-blooded administration-hater at Dartmouth will tell you, nine years ago the authority figures tried to take away that which is most precious to us students: our Greek houses. The plan was jettisoned after students and alumni brought to the administration's attention how lame ice cream socials and movie nights are, but many still harbored suspicions of an anti-Greek conspiracy.
The administration's news a few days ago took those suspicions, poisoned them, shot them repeatedly, beat them with clubs as they attempted to stagger away in escape, and threw them into the ice-covered Neva River. The headline in The D might have read "Awesome Frat to Return to Campus," and, indeed, some may have received the news of Beta Theta Pi's impending reinstatement that way.
Many students, however, have been tripping over their retro-'80s sneakers with the neon laces in their rush to condemn the administration's decision, and I'm not just talking about the half with the two X chromosomes and sometimes questionable interpretations of the concept of "fun." Because, of course, there's much more to this story, which has a "permanently" derecognized jock frat moving back into the house its alumni still own and kicking out the sorority that leases the house in the process.
After the jump, the Dick and Jane version of the story, in which Dick is a network of twelve hundred well-connected and deep-pocketed ex-frat boys who passed their time at Dartmouth beating up other dudes and shouting at gays, and Jane is a beleaguered sorority widely viewed on campus as pretty OK.
Beta Theta Pi was expelled from campus in 1996 after a decade of disorderly conduct on an institutional level, and the following year, a new sorority, Alpha Xi Delta, began to lease the Beta house from Beta's trustees.
Now, after a series of proceedings that made the November to March sky over Hanover look transparent, the administration announced a) that-surprise!-Beta would be returning to Dartmouth and b) that AZD would have to vacate the house by June. The official stance is the powers-that-be had no choice, that Beta's return as a college organization was a reaction to its threats of returning in an unofficial, uncontrollable, renegade capacity. A D article noted that the Deputy Director of the Dartmouth College Fund is a Beta alum, and an extremely unsubstantiated rumor has been going around that six of Dartmouth's top ten donors are Beta boys.
Meanwhile AZD's recompense from the College has been the promise of a way-the-fuck-out-there house that could hold a third of the number of girls that its current Frat Row digs can. Because of the by-laws of national sororities, only two three of Dartmouth's seven sororities (the local ones) can have parties. Once Beta and also-being-rerecognized Zeta Psi return to campus, there will be fifteen fraternities that can.
I'll leave you with the most divisive (and occasionally hilarious) document to come out of this fracas, a "Beta Theta Pi at Dartmouth" timeline circulated to women around campus:
BETA THETA PI AT Dartmouth
A History of Sexism, Assault, Hazing, Racism, Homophobia, Theft, and Destruction
1987
Beta Theta Pi was 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.
1991
The College derecognizes Beta for three terms after 10 Beta brothers kidnapped, tied up, and tormented a Chi Gamma Epsilon fraternity brother. According to a letter from then?Dean of Residential Life Mary Turco, the members of Beta bound the Chi Gam member "with rope and tape, placed him in an automobile against his will, and transported him to 6 Webster Avenue where he was verbally abused and various fluids were repeatedly poured over him."
October 1993
Two Beta members went to the room of a then?Beta pledge. After playing a drinking game in which the pledge had to take a whisky shot when he answered questions incorrectly, the brothers took him over to the house, where the pledge was shirtless and had his hands duct-taped to a trash can, which he was to bring
to anyone who needed to vomit.
May 1994
Beta's Board of Trustees places 11 penalties on the house. Beta Theta Pi National suspends the Alpha Omega chapter's charter. The College suspends Beta Theta Pi's recognition for one year and hands down 10 penalties to the house after a judicial hearing. Beta is found guilty of violating the College alcohol policy, disorderly conduct, failing to meet minimum standards, and violating Beta's statement of purpose, code of ethics, and general conduct policy.
Summer 1995
Beta was condemned (but not sanctioned) by the College after the discovery of a racist and sexist poem that was allegedly read aloud at one of the fraternity's weekly meetings.
June 1996
Beta Theta Pi members chase two Sigma Nu brothers out of the Beta basement. A Beta brother tackles a Sigma Nu brother on the lawn of The Tabard co?ed fraternity. A Tabard member then steps outside in response to the noise, and several Betas shout at him vulgar, racist, and homophobic epithets and threats. Beta is prohibited from participating in fall rush this year and is not allowed to have any alcohol in its house.
Summer 1996
Beta is placed under "suspended recognition," which means full social suspension, as well as the denial of several privileges.
Fall 1996
Beta's trustees discipline Beta for an incident in which Beta brothers attempted to take Chi Heorot fraternity's "presidential throne."
November 1996
Beta Theta Pi Fraternity is derecognized by the College.
December 1996
Beta brothers vandalize the house at 6 Webster Avenue in response to Beta's derecognition, causing thousands of dollars of damages. Damage to the house included more than 30 broken windows, holes in the walls, painted graffiti, doors ripped off the hinges, a broken basement sewer pipe, overflowed toilets, discharged fire extinguishers, trash thrown about, and vomit on the floor, according to Hanover Police Chief Nick Giaccone. Vandalism causing damage in excess of $500 is a felony charge, according to Hanover Police Supervisor Richard Paulsen.
September 1997
The Beta Trustees agree to lease the house at 6 Webster Avenue to the sisters of the newly-formed sorority Alpha Xi Delta.
May 2007
Dean of Residential Life Marty Redman tells The Dartmouth that "the College's revocation of recognition [of Beta Theta Pi] was deemed permanent at the time, akin to expelling a student."
June 2007
A group of men break into the house at 6 Webster Avenue during reunion weekend and throw a party in the basement. They break a window to gain entrance to the house, vomit in multiple places, and paint Beta's letters on the walls. When summoned to the scene, Safety and Security officers dismiss the vandals without taking down names. Beta advisor Jeff Sassorossi '75 claims that the men were simply impersonating Betas.
December 20, 2007
The College comes to an agreement with the Beta Board of Trustees to allow Beta to return to campus and participate in rush during Fall term 2008.
January 9, 2008
Members of the Beta Board of Trustees and ORL meet with executives from Alpha Xi Delta, informing them that Beta will be returning and that the sorority must vacate the house at the end of Spring term 2008.
--BEN O'DONNELL
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January 18th, 2008 at 11:27 am
just to pre-emptively clarify, knowing ivygate commenters:
azd does not take issue with beta wanting to come back, we understand what a lease is and that the house never was our property. we do take issue with the proposed relocation house (shitty.) and the lack of transparency/advance notice about the decision.
azd was not the sponsor of the march, the petition (which was signed by the inter-fraternity council president, among others), or the circulated Beta timelines. of course we’re happy that the campus is behind us, but all that stuff is a campus issue, not an azd issue.
January 18th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
3 of the sororities can have parties… not just 2
January 18th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
^Yeah, but only Sigma Delt and KDE ACTUALLY have parties–plus, would you GO to a party at Theta?
January 18th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
In case anyone’s interested, here’s the original article in the Dartmouth announcing Beta’s return:
http://thedartmouth.com/2008/01/11/news/beta/
There have been several other articles in the news and opinion sections every day for the past week.
January 18th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
oh whoops
you actually do have that in there- just poorly labeled ;P
January 18th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
bring ragtime back @ now!
January 18th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
I agree, leave the racist, sexist, homophobic frat boys alone in the woods of Hanover and focus on Ragtime, Ivygate!
January 18th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Cool-umbia, you’re an idiot. There are a lot of people of color and homosexuals in frat houses. While there’s no doubt that many people in Greek houses are sexist, this is a product of society, not the Greek system. Just because you wear skinny jeans and die your hair black does not mean that you’re any less of an asshole towards women.
January 18th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Cool-umbia te-he he he
January 18th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Ah, yes. Frat boys are sometimes homophobes/sexists/etc, but the fact that they gravitate towards frat houses is society’s fault–nothing to do with the nature of the frats. God no. This is clearly related to the phenomenon by which *society* causes, say, foodies to go to fancy restaurants. Nothing, mind you, to do with the food there.
January 18th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
theta ACTUALLY does throw parties. you just might not go to them, so, ben, if you’re gonna play the number parity game, at least play it right.
the whole situation seems dumb and idiotic. ignore the fact that women at dartmouth don’t have equal social outlets, opportunities, space, etc and look at it logistically…
every year there is at least one fraternity if not more that gets a pledge class with less pledges than desired. besides psi u’s rediculous class size this year have you really heard of people complaining of frat capacities? and i havent even heard them complain. the fact is, that dartmouth doesn’t need another fraternity– if anything, the need for fraternities has decreased and they need less. frats aren’t too big, nor are they getting too large.
however, even with alpha phi in the mix sororities are at capacity every year with rush and everyone complains about the size of the sororities. many can only house less than 20% of their members in the house which lead to problems creating cohesive sisterhood, disadvantage to the frats, etc etc.
bottom line, there is no need for another frat. the old alums just want a playground for their money.
January 18th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
im not in the greek system, though i have deeply considered joining. as a minority, i feel extremely out of place. even though the members of the greek system may not be racist or sexist, they are certainly exclusive and homogeneous. i could join a frat and be superficially accepted, but id rather not be the token asian.
January 18th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
If azd doesn’t like the house generously offered to them by the admin., they should turn it down, find a better one, and stop complaining. And isn’t 6 months notice enough?
January 18th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
unfortunately 6 months notice isn’t enough, as AZD will be left w/o a house for at least 3 months and prob 6 or more while the new house on south park street is under construction, if they do in fact choose to accept it…
January 18th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
You’re right. How dare the school pay 5 million dollars to renovate a house and expect AZD to make do for a few months while it’s being finished…
January 18th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
It seems to me that making beta’s trustees happy is the only reason this is happening. It’s cute and endearing that they want to continue their fraternity’s legacy at their alma mater…unfortunately for them it seems that in beta’s latter years their legacy became disgraceful. I am a member of the greek community and I have noticed that the behavior and tone set by current brothers (and sisters too)greatly influences the future behavior of the pledges. Bad behavior ie hazing becomes infectious. I think that the trustees need to take hold of the idea that their brotherhood declined possibly and partially due to their own negligence.
It’s time for them to let go, to part with Dartmouth and I think that the greek and school community in Hanover will be richer as a result.
January 19th, 2008 at 12:04 am
1) Not only women were present.
2) The “protest” wasn’t specifically about the AZD/Beta issue but about the inequality of social spaces in general. (the AZD/Beta developments just sparked people into action)
January 19th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
sig ep?
January 19th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
@ @ d07: You dumb shit. If frat boys “gravitate towards frat houses,” are they frat boys before they are frat boys? Or do the frat houses turn them into frat boys? Do you know what you’re talking about? Or are you just a fucking moron? Society is sexist, racist, and homophobic. Schools like Dartmouth and, God forbid, Columbia, are therefore probably going to admit sexists, racists, and homophobes, much to their chagrin. There is no welcome sign for bigots on McNutt Hall, I assure you. My fraternity had many brothers with very healthy relationships with women, minorities, and homosexuals, both closeted (which we respected) and open. Were there douchebags? Of course. Is this inevitable? Why, yes, yes it is. But the idea that fraternities somehow necessarily, as a product of their mysterious essence, engender sexism, racism, and homophobia is misinformed and, well, bigoted. Tsk-tsking all of the naughty frat boys does not make you yourself immune from such charges. Some of the biggest assholes I’ve known have been hipsters like Cool-umbia, because they think that their alternative, subaltern (i.e., inauthentic) position somehow means that they are incapable of being jerks to women, gays, and minorities. In other words, go fuck yourself. By claiming that the Greek system as some kind of amorphous entity precipitates all of the horrors that humanity faces, you remove the question of individual responsibility. Individuals choose to be sexist; it’s a choice. Just like your choice to be an asshole.
January 19th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
“You dumb shit. If frat boys “gravitate towards frat houses,” are they frat boys before they are frat boys?”
Yeah, pretty much. Generally the people who join frats are troglodyte fucktard bros before they join. Most normal people who decide to pledge either secretly hate it or just drop out of the frat.
January 19th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
chill out “funky”
over 50% of eligible dartmouth students (ie: non freshmen) are in greek houses. and most of us don’t suck, in fact most of us are nice, normal, basically good people. all we want is to get a good education, have some fun, and make a few good friends along the way. we even let you drink our beer and hang out at our houses when you get bored of bad mouthing our lifestyles.
January 19th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
i think this is really part of a larger issue: the idea of single-sex social groups. going to coed school my whole life, the idea of joining a group exclusive to one sex seemed ridiculous and not much fun.
yes i understand that frats and sororities have coed parties… but why should their organizations be functionally separate in so many ways?
that’s one of the reasons I chose Princeton. the eating clubs provide all the great boozing and fun minus the antiquated boy/girl divide. another reason why pton’s the best.
January 19th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
d07, you are embarrassing yourself and your school, so I recommend you stop. You assume I’m a hipster with skinny jeans and dyed hair, yet you know nothing about me. You’re making stereotypes (which you view negatively) of a group (Columbia students) and applying them to each individual of that group. Go pull out your Webster’s and look up prejudice.
The vast majority of Dartmouth students, including the many that are in the Greek system, are very cool. You as an individual, however, have shown yourself to be a worthless frat boy.
January 20th, 2008 at 2:10 am
The idea of exclusive single sex social organizations certainly runs counter to my basic liberal instincts. That being said, if my house was coed I honestly believe that my Dartmouth experience would not have been nearly as positive (read, “not NEARLY as much fun”) nor do I believe that the bonds and friendships I created in my frat would be as lasting or meaningful. I can’t explain it and part of me is embarrassed by it. But its true.
January 20th, 2008 at 3:28 am
@d07,
yo, some dope points and I respected your argumentation.
however, I disagree that frats dont have a hand in influencing men towards some of those negative attributes (homophobia, sexism, racism). While I have known guys who were great and totally respectful of women in all of the frats, I have also seen many guys who are sweet and kind freshman year and become callous and shitty after three years of trying to man up with their brothers. I dont think it is unreasonable to posit frats as spaces where men are encouraged to embrace certain values that are detrimental to them/their character. I also dont think that fraternities do much if anything at all to discourage members from thinking in sexist terms, actually the idea is kind of laughable to me. This is how women, the women you hook up with and the women you date and the women you have crushes on and love on this campus, this is how we experience the frats. Not wholly bad, but not good for us. Not safe or supportive.
@funky … dude, what the fuck? you’re not helping.
January 20th, 2008 at 9:21 am
D ‘07 v.2: Ok, I’m glad you had a nice time in your frat. But I guess I also wonder if that kind of socialization is useful. Unless your going to be joining, I don’t know, an all-male pro-sports team, or some other single-sex career, the vast majority of college grads are going to be working in a coed atmosphere. shouldn’t you learn how to function among men and women and form lasting relationships with them regardless of their genitalia?
January 20th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Is nobody else shocked that Beta was derecognized for two years for making sexist remarks and for just three terms for fucking torturing somebody?
January 20th, 2008 at 11:10 am
“a racist and sexist poem that was allegedly read aloud at one of the fraternity’s weekly meetings.”?!?!?!?
This is ridiculous. So people can get in trouble for telling racist jokes? Eff that. My position on all this administration and everyone else getting involved in fraternities’ affairs BS is that everyone just leave us alone and we’ll leave you alone. If you get scared or offended or have your carefully crafted sense of what the world should be mixed up by our words or actions, then don’t come to our houses and drink our beer and think that it’s your God-given right to bitch and moan at the hand that feeds you. Most schools don’t have open door policies like Dartmouth does and whiners like you would have to figure out some way to buy alcohol for themselves. All of this shit pisses me off so much I can barely think straight.
Thank God that in the real world nobody gives as much of a platform to these raving PC lunatics as they do in college.
January 21st, 2008 at 12:08 am
Re: anti-greek pro-coed says “But I guess I also wonder if that kind of socialization is useful.”
Sorry but that logic pretty functionalist and, therefore, you are an idiot:
My social behaviors are not a function of their future utility in the workforce or society but, if they are a conscious, rational, utility maximizing effort on my part (which, they are almost always not), they are a function of the immediate happiness they will produce.
However, in a normative sense I suppose you are correct. I should be able to “learn how to function among men and women and form lasting relationships with them regardless of their genitalia?” Now, disregarding the fact that I already can and do operate quite successfully in social situations that encompass interaction with both genders, my point was that outside of this abstract world in which you are apparently living, my time at Dartmouth (and likely that of many frat and sorority members) would have been appreciably worse if my frat (sorority) was coed. Single sex organizations simply provide something that coeds don’t. I can’t explain it. They simply do. If they didn’t then the coeds (Tabard, Panarchy, Phi Tau, that other one next to Phi Tau, Amarna, all of which provide a coed “frat” experience) would be much more popular. Should it be that way? Maybe not. But it is. Moreover, if people really wanted a coed experience and believed that it would provide them with some greater happiness than single sex organizations, nothing is stopping houses from going coed.
This also doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be gender equality. Having a mere 7 sororities is pitiful and doesn’t afford women the opportunity to create the same kind of close bonds that guys, who tend to join in much smaller organizations, do.
January 21st, 2008 at 12:51 am
I totally HATE to say this but I think the Princeton kid might be right (”anti-greek pro-coed”). Their eating houses are a good model for how a co-ed organization could work well…
just b/c our very few co-eds are pretty lame doesn’t mean co-ed houses have to suck. They could potentially work pretty well. and I think it’d be pretty cool if we had more of them, esp if they were a bit more… mainstream…
January 21st, 2008 at 10:51 am
@ d10 says / @ Dartmouth ‘09 says:
I don’t know much about the first set of sexist remarks (1987), but I believe there were more punishable acts involved. As to the second set (1995) the college did recognize the fraternity’s right to free speech, but informed them that it was not pleased.
It does seem strange that the oollege’s punishment would be so lacking for a set of criminally punishable acts (kidnapping, abuse/assault).
The sordid history seems to be speckled by questionable actions by the administration and sanctions that seemed in appropriate for the actions of the fraternity. How about felony vandalism?
For instance, after years of temporary de-recognition or social probation for hazing, kidnapping and abuse, the most serious punishment was doled out for a keg violation?! I believe that the fraternity needed to be disbanded (as did their national when they yanked the charter) but it would seem to me that a more appropriate time for administrative action would be following serious criminal infractions, not alcohol violations.
One last question: did the individuals involved ever get charged (in a non-Dartmouth sphere) for their crimes? How about
January 21st, 2008 at 1:15 pm
nice, D ‘07 V.2: you think i’m an idiot, but you “can’t explain” why you feel the way you do?
the eating clubs at pton are extremely popular, and every one of them is co-ed. the frats and sororities here, by contrast, have a very limited role on campus and none of them have houses.
i’m sure you’re capable of interacting with men and women pretty decently well. then the question you have to ask yourself is why did you submit to the artificial division created by the greek system?
it seems to me that D’08 (another one… ) figured that one out–the coed houses at dartmouth just aren’t as popular because of whatever culture they have specific to their organizations, and not because they are coed.
so, ok, maybe had you been in one of the dorky coed houses at dartmouth you wouldn’t have had as much fun as you did in your popular frat. i’m arguing that had you come to pton and joined any of the fun, popular, coed eating clubs you would have had a great time making lasting relationships with people with penises as well as people with vaginas.
January 21st, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Dear anti-greek pro-coed,
“I’m arguing that had you come to pton…”
On the one hand, had we gone to “pton,” we would have wonderful loverly coed eating clubs. On the other hand, if you’re any indication, we would be douchebags. I’m all in favor of coed Greeks myself, but we went to Dartmouth because we wanted NOT to go to school in fucking New Jersey, and we’re quite happy here.
January 21st, 2008 at 4:26 pm
phi alpha
January 21st, 2008 at 4:48 pm
d10: i’m not really sure how i earned the overused douchebag title… i didn’t really insult anyone… just making a point.
i’m not saying dartmouth kids aren’t happy, and i’m glad that you are so happy (although for a happy person you sound pretty ticked off). i’m just saying frats and sororities have a strange, silly, and not-so-much-fun divide between people based on their gender. and that divide is minimized at my beloved pton.
January 21st, 2008 at 5:24 pm
It isn’t difficult to conceive of the rationale behind single-sex organizations. It probably goes something like this: it’s more difficult to form close, intimate bonds with people to whom you’re romantically or sexually attracted. So, they’re not entirely stupid or baseless, even if you can debate their merits.
January 21st, 2008 at 6:45 pm
I think the persistence of single sex houses has more to do w/ our history.
Dartmouth had a strong frat culture before it went coed into the 70s. and the brothers weren’t going to take their houses coed just because the college went that way. Many have ties to national orgs which are single sex, and influential alums who would not be happy to their houses go coed.
Sororities exist as an option for girls in this environment where frats were already so strong.
yo princeton kid- how did the eating houses end up coed in the first place? I guess, it was easier w/o national org restrictions or as much alum influence… but there must have been some traditions… or were they founded post coeducation? are they actually as social as dartmouth frats? do people live there?
January 21st, 2008 at 9:43 pm
To answer D’08s questions: Eating clubs are essentially as old as princeton and have a lot of alumni influence–but perhaps not as much as frats (not sure). I believe they went coed as a result of a lawsuit–wikipedia “eating clubs”.
Officers live there, but the general membership does not. They function as dining halls during the day and have house parties/concerts/etc at night.
The historical perspective you bring up here is actually very important for my point. Frats assist men in winning jobs and promotions in an environment in which they are already at an advantage… this is a more serious reason why they should go coed.
As for d07’s analysis: ever met a gay or lesbian frat or sorority member? Did they seem somehow incapable of relating to the other brothers or sisters?
As a heterosexual female member of a pton eating club, I can honestly say that sexual attraction to male members (pun intended) has not been the kind of obstacle you presume it would be. But maybe I’m an abberation… r u frat guys generally attracted to every woman you see?
January 21st, 2008 at 11:05 pm
So much greek hating. Sad to see. Just as sad to see greeks embarrassing themselves by reinforcing the very stereotypes that people are complaining about. Most of you seem to be recent grads or still in school, so let me say this to both pro-greeks and anti-greeks, as somebody who will be attending a 10 year Dartmouth reunion this summer – you are too close to the situation to really understand it.
After you graduate, you will end up in some city (invariably larger than Hanover, NH) and you will find that of your 10 best friends from college, you keep in touch with about half on a regular basis. You will find this strange, but that is life. Then something even stranger will happen – you will become friends with Dartmouth people that you never knew in college. Perhaps you meet them at a young alumni event, or you end up in the same industry, or the same law/business/medical school, or have mutual friends.
I was hardcore greek (still am really), president of a house, drank all day long, puked more than I went to class (not that I’m implying that you have to be borderline alcoholic to be “hardcore greek”). Now I’m friends with all sorts of Dartmouth people that I never would have come in contact with while in school. The same is true of every other alum I know. There are a lot of social boundaries during college that fade away after graduation. When you think back, you will wish that you had taken yourself a little bit less seriously. This is true of independents as well by the way. You greek haters will one day find yourself good friends with Greeks and you will wonder why you hated the greek system as much as you did. You will come to understand that your greek friends are normal members of society, not the barbarians you once thought them to be. They will tell you about how they didn’t REALLY like to be the social hub of the campus and how they wish they had ventured out of the basement more often. Whichever camp you are in now, you will eventually come to understand that the DARTMOUTH experience is what really counts.
So do yourselves a favor. Stop fighting about it. You might insult somebody who you will eventually be friends with. Greek haters, stop hating. The greek system has its place at Dartmouth and the college is better for it. Greek lovers, don’t take yourselves so seriously. Understand that being part of a house creates a mob mentality in which behavior can rapidly deteriorate to neanderthalesque levels.
One thing that you should all agree on is that Dartmouth’s social scene is male dominated. Beta should come back, they own their house and they were once the model fraternity at Dartmouth (albeit 40 years ago). I can’t tell you how much it would pain me if my fraternity was gone from Dartmouth forever. But the administration has a responsibility to balance things out with more sororities. They shouldn’t be next to Levrone either. What a miserable walk that would be in the winter. Get them closer to campus. Move Blunt or build a new house in the parking lot behind Mass row.
To you Princeton folks, I had a few high school friends who ended up in eating clubs. I had a good time visiting them at Princeton, but they always had more fun when they came to Dartmouth. To you Columbia folks. I’m not friends with any of you, so I guess that I lack perspective on this issue because I still think you are a bunch of douches.
January 21st, 2008 at 11:47 pm
lol. Old… i guess you’re not old enough to have outgrown silly namecalling like “I still thing you are a bunch of douches.”
I guess you can take the alcoholic out of the frat basement, but you can’t take the frat basement out of the alcoholic.
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:54 am
When it comes to Columbia, I will never be that mature. I’m kidding. Columbia isn’t THAT bad.
By the way, of the 4 Dartmouth produced alcoholics I know, 3 were independent. It is the ones who spend their weekends drinking hard stuff alone in their rooms that you have to worry about.
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:47 pm
I wasn’t worried about frat guys in general being alcoholics… just seemed like you got to the first of the twelve steps: admitting you have a problem “drank all day long, puked more than I went to class.”
I was actually pointing out that you still have a sterotypical frat boy mentality perfectly exhibited in the end of your post: “you are a bunch of douches.”
January 22nd, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Thanks buddy, I understood you the first time. It was supposed to sound like that. A joke. Coming full circle from the beginning of the post in a self deprecating way. If you can’t make fun of yourself, you shouldn’t make fun of anybody else…
Don’t take things so seriously. Columbia students say much worse things about Dartmouth students, and they don’t really mean it either.
February 4th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
That timeline really doesn’t seem so extreme to me. Maybe I’m a bad person?