Bashed by the school newspaper - Page 4

Munchkin03 · #1 10-20-2009, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by D_Mom

(For instance, Ivy Gate Blog described one sorority's members as "Deferred KDE's", another's as "weird and slutty" and said about another, "If you end up a sister here, you'd have been better off not rushing in the first place.") Can you blame someone for not wanting to be part of a sorority which, even for invalid and obviously provocative reasons, has that reputation?

Why are you reading IvyGate? I don't even read it, and I'm an alumna of two Ivies.

Perhaps you should find something else to keep you occupied.

D_Mom · #2 10-19-2009, 02:09 PM

First, let me say my daughter, after an initially disappointing round of rush, did get a bid and pledged a sorority she's excited and happy to be a part of, so this is not a "sour grapes" post on my part. (Now that I reread my message above, I see it was misleading.)

I agree that it's not the responsibility of Dartmouth to make PNM's interested in a chapter that they choose not to be interested in. That situation happens on every campus.

My point is that Dartmouth has an institutional problem where only 2-4 sororities are considered "desirable" There's a huge discrepancy between the two tiers, leading many girls to withdraw from Rush rather than pledge one of the others. And I'm making this observation as someone who participated in a sorority on two different campuses and is active in my alumnae group. I really believe the situation is different at Dartmouth than at most other campuses.

You're right that Dartmouth really has no formal responsibility to improve sorority reputations (and, who knows, maybe they've already tried to do this), but with so much time and effort spent on other fronts, including a new computer program, I hope they consider this one, as well.

Until the school -or more accurately Panhel- addresses this underlying issue of perception, a large portion of rushees will continue to be dissatisfied. Dartmouth does community-building so well (DartmouthPanHel will attest to that!), some help from them might be all that's needed to improve the situation.

33girl · #3 10-19-2009, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by D_Mom

My point is that many schools have an institutional problem where only 2-4 sororities are considered "desirable" There's a huge discrepancy between the two tiers, leading many girls to withdraw from Rush rather than pledge one of the others.

Fixed that for you.

It's NOT a Dartmouth problem in the least. It happens at tons and tons of schools across the country. It is more disturbing that it happens at Dartmouth because you'd think the girls are a little smarter than to buy into that crap - especially when you read why some of the sororities are formed &/or why they went local. Feminism in the best sense of the word, IMO.

It is NOT worse than anything else on the planet because it is happening to your daughter.

Also, if Dartmouth took any institutional responsibility for the varying reps of the sororities, it would more likely take the form of randomly assigning women to chapters, or getting rid of the system altogether. A Greek system eating itself alive would probably give them a giant boner.

violetpretty · #4 10-20-2009, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 33girl

It is more disturbing that it happens at Dartmouth because you'd think the girls are a little smarter than to buy into that crap - especially when you read why some of the sororities are formed &/or why they went local. Feminism in the best sense of the word, IMO.

I think the locals may have been taking their ritual a little too literally (and not taking into context that their GLOs' rituals were written in 1870, 1874, and 1885!) and not looking at the values of their organizations. I am a member of one of the NPCs with a chapter that went local at Dartmouth and I am a feminist and I don't see anything wrong with my sorority's ritual.

33girl · #5 10-20-2009, 11:24 AM

I think that it was more a question of some of the rules being enforced and the reasoning behind them, more than the actual ritual, in "your" group's case. There is IMO a disconnect between the spirit of the women who created the groups and some of the edicts today, but that's another thread.

33girl · #6 10-20-2009, 11:44 AM

Incidentally, after searching through that neverending blog that DMom referenced, I found the article she talked about - it's over 3 years old and does not take into account the newest sorority. It was written by 2 anonymous alums, and in content is actually no worse than the infamous "Big 6" article - the tone is just a lot nastier.

Dmom, if you're hung up on your daughter's choice because of things like this, may I suggest that you get a life of your own.

Psi U MC Vito · #7 10-20-2009, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by violetpretty

I think the locals may have been taking their ritual a little too literally (and not taking into context that their GLOs' rituals were written in 1870, 1874, and 1885!) and not looking at the values of their organizations. I am a member of one of the NPCs with a chapter that went local at Dartmouth and I am a feminist and I don't see anything wrong with my sorority's ritual.

It always sucks when a chapter decides to o local. However at least I can respect it when it is done for matters of principle, like your former Dartmouth chapter. We have a former Owl Club (our term for recolonization) at Yale who decided they didn't want to pay national dues or chapter services fees and seperated from us, while still using the name Psi U. That makes me so pissed.

/rant

D_Mom · #8 10-19-2009, 02:36 PM

This was a general discussion about an editorial in the Dartmouth newspaper regarding sorority rush. I was trying to give a perspective about WHY the editorial was written and constructive criticism about what could be done. My daughter did exactly what Panhel recommended she do and isn't complaining about the situation. In fact, she's excited and happy about her choice, as am I.

To debase this discussion to a personal attack is disappointing, to say the least.

I'm outta here.

D_Mom · #9 10-19-2009, 02:46 PM

Thanks, Mystic and Theta! I'm new on this board and thought maybe chopper's post was typical!

ThetaDancer · #10 10-19-2009, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by D_Mom

Thanks, Mystic and Theta! I'm new on this board and thought maybe chopper's post was typical!

No problem.

Apparently the mods deleted that post, though...

Shellfish · #11 10-19-2009, 02:51 PM

What's interesting about the Dartmouth situation is the block rushing, that a bunch of PNMs decided that they would like to put their stamp on the new Kappa Delta chapter, so a bunch of them went for it. It's just the kind of situation people here have wished would happen to small chapters with low pledge classes, but at Dartmouth, women had the gumption to do it. It'd be great if the idea caught on and there were similar blocks in the future or on other campuses (campi?).