I am writing in support of the Greek Proposal to address some of the most visible and pressing issues at Dartmouth today. The proposal convincingly demonstrates the power of the Greek system itself to be an active agent and collaborator with the college administration in the effort to combat the excesses of a few. No, it will never work perfectly, but the system–with its considerable influence on the college’s “civil society,” so to speak–is an asset rather than a liability. Dartmouth is a reformist, not a revolutionary, institution. Doing away with the Greek system will bring with it a whole host of unforeseen negative consequences, without necessarily correcting the underlying problem. It is worth keeping in mind that the issues affecting Dartmouth have also been visible recently at colleges with no Greek system at all or with a very minor one. Something much broader, perhaps even generational, is causing the problem. That is what needs to be addressed, and the Greek system should be leading the way. One possibility not considered in the Greek Proposal is involving alumni of the houses in this effort as well. While those of us in older generations had our own excesses, we are baffled by some aspects of the new nightlife on campuses around the country, including those without fraternities and sororities. As a faculty member (elsewhere) myself, I take the Dartmouth faculty support for the total abolition of the Greek system with a grain of salt. Most of my academic colleagues would also readily vote to abolish or curtail athletics at their campuses! The analogy is worth considering. What is it that makes Dartmouth so beloved by its alumni? How would you explain the extraordinary spirit of camaraderie–another word for fraternity in its broadest meaning–that the college awakens in its students? Some part of that is certainly down to academics and the life of the mind that Dartmouth has learned to appreciate since President Freedman’s time. But just as much comes from the college’s remote setting and the social effort to survive it. The wilderness itself provides some collective feeling, if indirectly, but athletic events and the Greek system do more to foster communal experiences than anything else provided by the institution, now that the church has definitively and appropriately lost this function. The only viable alternative remaining is a non-Greek residential house system in the manner of Harvard, Penn, and UChicago. I believe this option has been discussed at Dartmouth before. It is worth noting, however, that these systems–which date only back to the 1920s/30s–typically thrive in urban areas, where the houses also provide a modicum of security from the surrounding streets. Will the absence of that threat encourage Dartmouth students to live in a collegiate house system, or will they simply opt to live off-campus and recreate their own social practices outside the purview of the college? If they would otherwise opt for the latter, would there be stricter requirements on where students can live, in order to “fill” the houses that Dartmouth will now be obligated to own & operate? My advice would be to follow a different course. Why not organize a collective campus effort to investigate the origins and history of the Greek system, replete with symposia, museum exhibits, publications, etc., in order that students today better understand and in some ways recuperate the original purpose of these institutions? This would not be a celebration but a critical examination of a very significant feature of Dartmouth history and its college experience, though which ample reflection on the good, the bad, and the evolution of the Greek system would inevitably but organically take place for all of us. Such an effort would help guide the needed reform or make plain why reform is not enough by highlighting why these houses existed in the first place and how they lost some of that vision over time. If designed and funded correctly, students would take direct part in this initiative, thereby spreading the lessons widely among their peers. Brown University did something similar in the last decade, investing resources and public attention into an examination of the role of the slave trade in its origins. This was done in order to address a hidden issue and to pay some kind of intellectual/institutional reparations for its ignominious past, so the example does not quite fit what Dartmouth needs to do in relation to its Greek system. Still, the Brown initiative did wonders to fuse the academic and social sides of the community, including alumni, around a discussion of a key aspect of the institutional history that needed to be addressed in order to shape its future. I’d be happy to talk more about this idea further with anyone interested. But it’s just a thought — the main purpose of this message is to lend my general support to the Greek Proposal coming from the houses themselves, for the reasons explained above. Sincerely, Brian Bockelman ’95 Associate Professor of History Ripon College