The Perks of Being a Dartmouth Wallflower
Coming from Columbia, I don’t have much familiarity with Greek life. In fact, I don’t have much familiarity with campus life in general (there’s frisbee, right?). But apparently at some schools, like Dartmouth, being in a fraternity or sorority can mean the difference between an enjoyable college experience and whatever it is everyone else is doing when they’re not wishing they were in a fraternity or sorority. In a Monday Op-Ed piece in the Daily Dartmouth, Sam Buntz, Dartmouth ‘11, addresses the fate of the 24% of rushees shunned by campus sororities.
A Greek-affiliated senior girl once told me that the meetings where they determine who they want to let in are “the cattiest things imaginable,” and the discussion focuses mainly on looks and clothing. Face it: Sorority rush is just a somewhat more refined version of neighborhood kids not letting other, less-cool neighborhood kids into their totally sweet treehouse. More local sororities would solve this problem, but only in the same way that a greater proliferation of treehouses would solve the analogous one.
I never had a treehouse. Now I’m really beginning to feel left out. After the jump, Buntz explains the upside to not having friends to hang out with or parties to go to.
Buntz says:
All of the girls who didn’t get bids this term are actually on the winning side, whether they are aware of that salient fact or not. And awareness makes all the difference. The play of earthly phenomena and human emotions has enough substance to constantly touch our heartstrings and make life infinitely interesting. It is possible to be aware of this whether you’re in a sorority or not, but it’s easier if you’re not hung up on some artificial institution that doesn’t really matter. By being excluded from the neighborhood kids’ treehouse, these girls have a whole world to explore on their own.
There you have it: when you’re shunned by society, you’re free to appreciate the wonders of life.
What I find most incredible about this article is that the author never questions whether being denied entrance to a sorority will handicap one’s social life. Is this actually the case at Dartmouth? Write in and let me know.
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October 29th, 2008 at 10:37 am
No, being unaffiliated does not hinder your social life especially if you have affiliated friends! But his points are still poorly articulated and ill informed. He should probably leave it to people who have experienced sorority rush (and not just heard about it through unidentified “friends”) to opine.
October 29th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Just wondering–why is all the focus on sorority rush? Yes, girls rush. Girls are denied bids. They are sad. But guys rush too. Guys shake out at a house and then don’t get bids. And guess what—they’re sad too! What do you know!
October 29th, 2008 at 11:49 am
The delib meetings really aren’t that catty. The sororities keep it civil. “She was niiiice?” is probably the harshest thing said.
October 29th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
It makes no difference for your social life as a girl (going to parties). Being unaffiliated probably allows you to go to more parties…
October 29th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Delibs are minimum of 2/3s positive.
October 29th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
I was going to be unaffiliated, but tried rush to see what it is. I don’t think I made a mistake. I have a lot of friends who are unaffiliated and they enjoy themselves, too.
That person obviously did not do much research, or valuable research. “what I’ve heard” is a poor method of inquiry, no? The author passed judgments and then accused sororities of doing the same thing.
How would an 11 know what delibs are like in the first place? Rush made me love my sorority, because we were energetic, respectful, and positive. I understood that my organization has great values. Clothing and boys do not come into the equation at all, fyi.
What the author should have focused on is the expansion of the sorority system if so many girls want to be there. Our pledge classes are already 40 people fall and 10 winter. That is huge! An article with that leaning would have been much more productive.
And I agree with the posters above, why hate on the women? If anyone judges girls, it is the “sons of old Dartmouth”… why don’t we analyze that?
October 29th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Delibs did make me sad sometimes, to hear bad things said, but most of the time, I was really impressed by my sisters’ abilities to see the good in people. I was unaffiliated for half my time at Dartmouth. I think that the Greek system does claim a monopoly on social life which it does not in actuality hold. However, at my particular house, I was able to meet a group of really wonderful women, and it was a great experience. Being unaffiliated does not stop you from having a social life. Period. But in some cases it can improve it.
October 29th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Correction: In some cases, being affiliated can improve it.
October 29th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
I think I know what house that girl may have been referring to and rushees already know what they’re getting into if they decide to rush there.
October 30th, 2008 at 2:41 am
I feel like being unaffiliated is a bit worse for guys than girls because even if a girl is unaffiliated, guys still want her to hang out at their houses. If a guy is unaffiliated, then he’s usually treated like shit at another house unless he has a lot of friends there. Even with friends, there are a lot more privileges that come with being a member. There are other campus organizations that have active social lives outside of the Greek system, but if you aren’t involved in those then you’re pretty much out of luck.
October 30th, 2008 at 2:42 am
By the way, I love how only Dartmouth people have commented so far.