Text of 6-minute opening statement for student-run event "The Great Debate"
on the Greek system at Dartmouth.

Also see accompanying reading list (80 copies handed out at the start;
the audience was more like 200).

Alex Barnett   4/21/14   (minor edits done 4/30/14)

Thank-you to Asher and Gyorgi for organizing such a well-attended event.
I am a mathematics professor and former member of the Committee on
Student Life. I believe in data.  Rather than make guesses about the
greek system, I want to share some facts with you supported by
research in this area.

Fraternites emerged in the early 19th century as a means to bond,
often intellectually, but also as exclusive organizations that
preserved divisions of class and race.  The point was to leave
"boyhood" and become a real "man".  It wasn't until the 20th century
that their ideas of "bonding" and "manhood" became defined by
hard-drinking, ritualized vomiting, womanizing, denigration of women,
and homophobia---traditions which are passed on in fraternities from
year to year at this college.  Research shows fraternities are
strongly associated with sexual assault [Tyler 1998, Armstrong 2006,
Flack 2007, Sanday 1996], and that this is causative rather than
merely correlative.  Sanday found, however, that some fraternities do
have rape- (also hazing-)free cultures [Sanday 1996].

Are sororities the answer to this potentially hostile environment for
women?  Perhaps they are a safe space for female students? Quite the
opposite: a national study shows that students living in sororities
are 3 times more likely to be raped while intoxicated than students
living in standard off-campus housing [Mohler-Kuo 2004].  Membership
in a sorority also brings a higher risk of being raped [Armstrong
2006].  Why is this true? Those in single-sex social groups tend to
compete with each other to be "popular", leading to more high-risk
behaviors than those in more diverse housing situations.  The point
is, sex-segregated housing is bad for both women and men. Why do we
still have it?

Anthropologist Peggy Sanday studied dozens of societies and found that
some are largely rape-free while others are rape-prone.  Rape-prone
ones have in common all-male tribal groups which emphasize social
status, initiation rites, and separation of genders.  Does this sound
familiar?  Thus violence against women is largely cultural (rather than
biological), and frats provide the ideal training ground.

I attended a competitive boys' grammar school in a country where the
drinking age is 16 (and hardly enforced!)  There was bullying,
insecurity, occasional violence.  However I am appalled by the pledge
process at many of Dartmouth's frats, which take this to a level I did
not know existed: binge drinking, dehumanization (being given a new
name), humiliating tasks, a bizarre focus on sexuality and porn (eg
the Beta spreadsheet), subservience, devotion of hours of one's time
to the whims of other students that are "in the club".  It is not a
surprise that this can result in hazing, abuse, and in retaliation for
breaking the code of silence.  These are the defining features of an
abusive relationship. They are ideal training grounds for thugs.

New arrivals at Dartmouth are anxious to find friends and community,
to be liked and admired. They are hard-working and anxious for success
Rush season preys on this social status anxiety and competition in the
most damaging way: by setting up a hierarchy (A-list, B-list, etc), a
self-selecting membership, the most judgmental behavior is encouraged.
The result is often homogeneous groups that reinforce stereotypes, and
convey the message to the unaffiliated that they are a nobody.

Many New England colleges have eliminated greek life: Williams,
Amherst, Colby, Middlebury, Bowdoin, Hamilton.  To quote the Williams
1962 report of the trustees, "Fraternities at Williams have come to
exercise a disproportionate role in undergraduate life, and as a
result the primary educational purposes of the College are not being
fully realized."  At these colleges, many students (and especially
greek members) put up a huge fuss the year the Greek system was shut
down, but those who've seen the positive change it brings about never
want to go back. The lack of a Greek system is now used as a
recruiting tool.

Having student-run organizations, parties, bands, drinking, fun,
healthy sex, is all great and should be part of college life.  That is
not an argument to preserve exclusive, gender-segregated institutions;
rather to use Dartmouth's ample resources to set up a residential and
social scene that brings out the best in students, whatever gender,
race, sexuality, of financial resources they have.  This College knows
full well the negative consequences of the Greek system for student
life and safety. We've had at least two faculty votes to remove the
greek system since 1988, we've had the SLI report of 2000, COSSA,
SPCSA, endless committees, and yet we have not de-recognized the greek
system and invested in a healthier alternative.  I find this
unethical.

It's clear we need an expanded residential cluster or house-based
system with continuity year-to-year, and many more bars, music and
party spaces run by women AND men together, with clean floors (yes - I
have been to frat parties).  Positive role models that I know
first-hand: East Wheelock cluster. Thugz Institute of Science:
student-run off-campus housing with regular science plus beer
nights.

It's telling that no faculty would speak on the pro-Greek side in this
debate. Recently our own Pan-Hellenic council leaders wrote a letter
denouncing rush season.  And this is coming from *within* the system;
to assess a system you don't just ask who benefits, but who is
excluded and denigrated. I know Dartmouth college can do better,
and create a fun, inclusive, social and residential scene.
It's up to us all to make it happen. Thank-you.