Harvard DG debunking myths..

[33girl]

Nice article overall, although this dean needs to pull his head out of his nether regions.

"While I am sure their members consider them important, the Greek organizations do not add to the educational experience here in the aggregate, since they simply displace other forms of activity," says dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68. "A student who organizes the rush for his Greek organization is probably not going to organize things at the IOP or a choral group or his House intramural teams, too."

Obviously he doesn't realize that Greeks are usually the MOST involved students on campus and almost all members participate in other campus activities.

Furthermore, the groups' basis runs contrary to the values upheld by the College's randomized housing system. "We take students with widely differing interests and backgrounds and room them together," he says, "All this is, at some level, counter to human instinct." Yet, "It is absolutely clear from survey information that getting to know different kinds of people is one of the things students appreciate most about the education we offer."

Lewis acknowledges that the Greek groups offer diversity of a sort, but says that, from the College's point of view, gender segregation is enough to take away the benefits of diversity. "We still believe that using gender as a primary classification key results globally in artificial denial of opportunities in the long run," he explains, "even as it may provide a exhilarating sense of kinship and empowerment in the short run."

Doesn't random housing do the same thing? How many of those randomly placed roommates stay close if they have nothing in common? Duh.