affects from Dartmouth
 

For those of you following the Dartmouth news about greeks, here's an interesting article. And whether you're following it or not, it DOES have a lot to do with the future of GLO's, especially on private campuses.

http://www.dke.org/lawtalk.html

I find myself in full agreement with this editorial. Dartmouth is clearly violating numerous Constitutional rights under highly suspect pretense. Administrators seek to gain a housing monopoly at Dartmouth and obtain fraternity property at significantly below market rates. Faculty seek to eliminate Greek organizations as a means to gain control of student ideology and assert a philosophy that reflects the 1960s ideology (when most of the faculty were probably in college)of faculty. While I would gather that most of the Dartmouth faculty find the civil disobedience of 1960s students perfectly acceptable, the meer existence of fraternities and sororities are objectionable. They view the consumption of alcohol by students today as completely unacceptable, yet I wonder how many used marajuana and LSD in the 1960s. It is pure and simple hypocrisy that betrays any ideal these faculty may have once held. It makes me question the caliber of academic integrity at Dartmouth. I pray that the courts will rule against the unconstitutional actions of Dartmouth's administration and faculty, and uphold the right of all students to free association regardless of attendance at a private institution. How do you think these same faculty would have felt 30 years ago if the issue were not fraternities and sororities, but an organization to protest the war in Vietnam? I wonder if they remember Kent State, and the fact that those killed there were martyrs to the rights of all students, not just those that agree with them.

If the courts do not provide a just and legal solution to this situation, I sincerely hope that the students at Dartmouth behave in the most responsible and effective action they could possibly take. They should leave Dartmouth College and transfer to other institutions that guarantee the rights of students to free association. If 85% of the students at Dartmouth disagree with the university's actions so far, they should leave Dartmouth high and dry. There would be no more meaningful resolution in this case than for Dartmouth to be closed forever a symbol to all. I truly doubt that the value of a Dartmouth education could be that superior to other institutions. I also tend to believe that the Board of Trustees would begin firing administrators and faculty in order to bring students back.

BPUPhiSig -
AMEN!!!!
There is a chat board thru The Dartmouth (www.thedartmouth.com)about the initiative. Please go there and post this - it is one of the best things I've read on this topic.

I agree with 33girl, you were very well spoken and made some excellent points!

,,

so... is there an update?

Also: the local fraternity at Dartmouth called Phi Psi used to be a chapter of Phi Kappa Psi but they left during the racial turmoil of the 60s and later became a coed local GLO.

A private institution like Dartmouth cannot violate a person's Constitutional rights, or perhaps it is more apt to say that they are not required to respect Constitutional rights as such.

The Constitution (the Bill of Rights in particular, including the First Amendment to which these students refer) protects citizens from the government and provides that the government cannot infringe upon certain guaranteed rights, including the right to free assembly. Because Dartmouth is a private rather than a public institution, a valid claim for violation of First Amendment rights simply cannot be made against it. And despite what the editorial says, that's as true in California as it is in Vermont.

Now civil rights, whether secured by federal or state law and including any conditions that may be tied to receipt of federal funds, are a different matter.

I'd say your best bet is to go find the folks that donate to Dartmouth and let them know what's going on. Chances are, a lot of them were in GLO's. If a private school perceives it's going to lose money, they can sometimes have very quick changes of heart.

Wow! This thread was revived after a very long time.

Although I don't advise our chapter at Dartmouth and only visit the house once a year, I've been close enough to those who are to get a bit of the play-by-play.

In the time since an initiative planning the abolition of single-sex organizations at Dartmouth was announced in early '99, much of it has been softened, the Greek community has stepped up to the plate, and many compromises have been reached. I don't know many of the details of why or how, but from what I understand there is a whole new group of students comprising the Dartmouth greek system now (since students now cannot pledge until winter of sophomore year) and this has become a non-issue.

Panarchy hasn't called themselves "Phi Psi" in over a decade, and they would resent being called a fraternity. The best information that I have is that they did not leave due to racial turmoil.

Chapters leaving national fraternities, at elite private universities, was a trendy thing to do back then. All sorts or reasons were cited, but if you actually speak with the alumni who were actives when the decision was made, it was really just part of a larger rebellion from "the establishment."