Dartmouth Fall '06 Sorority Recruitment Begins

[PeppyGPhiB]

Anyone else read that article? It sounds like the woman from the local sorority is bitter that a national organization with policies on alcohol use was allowed to come on campus? I don't get the "female-dominated social scene" that she's talking about...

[SoCalGirl]

The way I interpreted the quote was that the KDE member thinks that the sorority houses should be open to non-member women to hang out at but if there's no alcohol there the women won't hang out there.

[IvySpice]

if there's no alcohol there the women won't hang out there.

At Dartmouth, they're probably right.

[PeppyGPhiB]

Hmmm...do the locals have alcohol during recruitment events?

I guess it surprises me that Ivy League students would basically demand and promote alcohol as THE reason to join a sorority. I'd expect them to be a little more thoughtful and intelligent than that. And the only reason why I say that is because this is NOT the first article like this that I've read from Dartmouth.

Or, if she's talking about non-recruitment times, does she think non-members would want to hang out in a sorority house all the time anyway? I don't think that would appeal to me at all if I wasn't a member (unless I was waiting for a friend or something). Or is she just trying to promote female unity and bonding in general on the campus, specifically by holding parties at sorority houses instead of fraternities or something?

[IvySpice]

does she think non-members would want to hang out in a sorority house all the time anyway? Or is she just trying to promote female unity and bonding in general on the campus, specifically by holding parties at sorority houses instead of fraternities or something?

Probably both. They perceive parties at fraternity houses to be an imbalance of power -- the men own the space, they control the alcohol, etc. If women are throwing the party, there's a better balance. Since the locals can have a bar in the basement or whatever just like the fraternities do, they can have open parties for the campus where both male and female non-members can attend.

this is NOT the first article like this that I've read from Dartmouth.

It won't be the last, either. The eight Ivy League schools are very different from one another. Being at a small, undergrad-heavy college with a huge Greek system way out in the woods leads to a completely different social scene than you find at a giant research university in the middle of a big city.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by IvySpice

Probably both. They perceive parties at fraternity houses to be an imbalance of power -- the men own the space, they control the alcohol, etc. If women are throwing the party, there's a better balance. Since the locals can have a bar in the basement of whatever just like the fraternities do, they can have open parties for the campus where both male and female non-members can attend.

A stance with which I absolutely, completely, 1000% agree.

Peppy, if you'll look at some of the locals' pages, the reason they broke away from their national to begin with was because of what they perceived as old-fashioned and antifeminist attitudes about the role of women in the Greek system and society at large.

It's not "we have to have alcohol so we can parteeee", it's "the men have it, so we should have it also." The same would apply if only men could have intramural teams or houses.

[PeppyGPhiB]

Thanks, Ivy and 33girl, now I get what she was saying. I never thought of things that way (my chapter went from local to national the year I rushed, so I'm mainly familiar with the disadvantages of locals).

Coming from a greek system that was/is dry - and still managed to be fun - it's sad to hear GLO members go on and on about alcohol as if it's the end-all and be-all of sorority/fraternity membership. (I'm sure some will disagree with that notion, though )