Coureur, I give up. You must be right. Despite not having gone to Dartmouth and having no first hand knowledge of what goes on, you must know more than the thousands of Dartmouth greek alumni. 18 articles over an 11 year period. Over that time Dartmouth would have graduated about 7,500 greek alumni. Believe me, those 7,500 are functional members of society now.
Obviously, the greek scene attracts the people who like to party more than those who do not like to party. With that is likely to come some brushes with trouble. That doesn't mean that the greeks are a bunch of wild lawless hooligans bent on destroying civilized society. They are just college students. Work hard, play hard. My pledge class of 16 includes 4 lawyers, 3 doctors, 2 environmental biologists, 1 elected official, 1 college professor, 2 software engineers, 1 small business owner, 1 hedge fund manager and one guy who made so much money that he retired before the age of 30. We are married (6 to Dartmouth women), we have kids, we are successful in the world. We have our own reunions, we talk about the dumb things we did years ago and how much fun we had.
Most of the articles you posted are about keg violations or underage drinking. In case you were not aware, college students like to drink, they like to cut loose, they like to misbehave from time to time. This is true at every college in the world. Maybe Dartmouth students like to drink more, but I don't think so. Thankfully for Dartmouth, students mostly like to drink beer, as opposed to so many other colleges where they drink more hard alcohol in rooms and off campus apartments. One of the great things about drinking at Dartmouth is how social it is. Fraternities are open to anybody and everybody all the time, affiliated or not (even though some students don't realize that). 60%+ of the Dartmouth student body is greek. Virtually 100% of the social scene on weekends is in the greek houses. With that will naturally come most of the "trouble". Eliminate the greek system and you think Dartmouth students will stop drinking? You think nobody will ever get in trouble for anything ever again? That is silly.
I know that I'm not going to convince you of anything and frankly, I'm a little bit embarrassed to have hijacked this thread into a personal argument between the two of us. But for those parents and prospective students out there who are on this site to consider Dartmouth, I hope you will not be swayed by Coureur's negativity. Dartmouth is a wonderful place. All college's have flaws, but by-and-large, Dartmouth gives you a great education, both inside and outside of the classroom. You graduate prepared for the rigors of the world and ready to face the next chapter in your life. Dartmouth has one of the most supportive and active group of alumni in the country, which I hope would tell you that most people who graduate from Dartmouth loved the experience. Coureur would like Dartmouth to be something else, he is in the minority. The vast majority of Dartmouth graduates love Dartmouth.
BTW, I was on campus when Beta was derecognized and I can't say that I blame the administration for that decision. The system needs to discipline those who get out of control and they were out of control. Although it could be argued that doing away with the Football team would have done more good than doing away with Beta because when Beta closed, the football team moved on to Gamma Delt and had similar problems. The current Beta, which Rick Perry visited, is a FAR cry from the old Beta.
^^The thing we agree on is that Dartmouth is a great school. The difference is that I know it could be even better. You apparently cannot conceive of a Dartmouth that's any better than or even different from what we have today.
where did I lose you doonerak? I should have stopped while I was ahead, but the ability to walk away from an argument has never been a strength of mine. coureur got under my skin.
The Battle Against Binge Drinking
Until we close fraternities or rigorously control their role as binge-drinking enablers, all of the current binge-drinking initiatives are essentially worthless. Post-Greek Amherst and Williams are thriving, with alumni bodies every bit as loyal and devoted as Dartmouth’s. If Dartmouth alumni will disown their alma mater for closing fraternities, as Jennings suggests, let them walk.
A bombshell? Not even a cherry bomb .... It's little more than a profile piece on Lohse that rehashes his allegations. Is there any critical examination of the evidence? Is there even any description of what evidence there might be? Oh, gosh, news flash ... Dartmouth students drink a lot. The article touches on some serious points -- sexual assault among them -- but, as far as the hazing scandal/flap/brouhaha (choose your word) is concerned, I see nothing to this article. As a profile piece, I'd give it a B/B+ since it's not badly written. If it was submitted in Journalism 101 as a piece of investigative reporting, I'd give it a C-/D+ since there's nothing of substance. If it was meant as an account of what has happened, meh ... it adds nothing to what was already out there.
Agreed, during a alumni club meeting in Washington DC recently, President Kim was asked about binge drinking by an alum whose daughter was applying to Dartmouth. Kim immediately quoted a study that Dartmouth had taken part in that showed binge drinking figures at Dartmouth were almost identical to other universities. His point wasn't that binge drinking is not a threat or that it shouldn't be addressed, but that this is a national problem, not just a Dartmouth problem.
"Whether you agree with the way Lohse made his allegations and his motivations for doing so, these are problems that need to be addressed. I would say that coverage of this sort will bring the changes we need here, but sadly it seems like the reaction so far on campus is exactly what the article predicts: sticking together in an attitude of rationalization and denial in the spirit of preserving Dartmouth's good name. You guys should see Bored at Baker (our gossip site) right now; it's really going wild. People are picking Lohse apart with all sorts of vindictive comments about his SAT score or his supposed success with women, and rationalizing away the claims he and others make about hazing on campus."
Yes, B@B is savaging Lohse right now, justifiably so. The freshman trips thing really killed him. Even staunch anti-greek people read that and thought it was crazy.
Right now it is in the administration's hands. There will never be a better time for them to start a campus wide dialog about hazing and high risk behavior within the greek system. If they don't take that opportunity, it will be a real shame. I would love it if they would require all freshman who wish to rush the following fall to attend a series of lectures on these kinds of subjects. Education and awareness is what Dartmouth needs right now and the administration has an unprecedented opportunity to launch programming initiatives while they have a captive audience.
