Dartmouth’s fraternity and sorority system is an anachronistic, elitist, and corrupt institution that provides a convenient haven for the College’s worst elements and allows the perpetuation of distorted gender, race, and class interactions.

But, to pervert the words of Daniel Webster, “there are those who love it.”

The men and women affiliated with the Greek system at Dartmouth are not better, worse, or even different from “the rest of the community”. It is difficult to make any generalization about them as a group, other than to say that they have chosen to support a system with less flexibility and a less reliable moral compass than the fabled granite of New Hampshire.

I think that Dartmouth’s faculty is right to call for the College to deny the Greeks recognition on account of their arbitrary single-sex nature and arbitrary exclusivity. We could argue about how arbitrary these elements are, but it is clear that the Greek system makes no effort to comply with the non-discrimination policies of the College. Athletic teams, a cappella groups, and (with all due respect to W.R.I.G.H.T.) restrooms all have legitimate justification for their exclusivity. Greeks only exclude in order to maintain the social composition of their organizations, and that is contrary to the stated goals of the College.

However, I have heard that the Greek system could survive without the support and recognition of the College, and while I question the unsettling paranoia with which my pro-Greek friends make their argument, I respect their right to choose where and with whom they live on this campus. Even though my ideal Dartmouth would not have a fraternity and sorority system, for the administration to dismantle it would tear this community apart. The administration has every right to derecognize discriminatory organizations, but it would be less justified in eradicating them completely.

Instead, most of the responsibility for addressing the system’s problems belongs to the Greeks themselves. Two years ago, in response to the introduction of the Student Life Initiative, the CFSC, the Inter-Fraternity Council, and the Panhellenic Council all made statements to the effect that the system had flaws, needed reform, but should continue to exist because of its service to the community and its commitment to brotherhood and sisterhood.

The reform I am talking about is not a restructuring of the Greeks’ representation along the lines of Sigma Nu’s proposed “Dartmouth Greek Council.” It is closer to the less publicized parts of Sigma Nu’s proposal, which called for increased internal and alumni oversight of its practices and a renewed commitment to leadership and service. The Greek system is in desperate need of external input and oversight. The greatest weakness of an exclusive and secretive organization is its natural tendency to let blind loyalty cloud its judgment. I think one part of the solution would take the form of regular, institutionalized opportunities for community criticism of individual organizations’ behavior toward the public. A second part would be a Greek commitment to confidential audits of their private practices by independent, private sources. In both cases, the community would have to trust the members of the organizations to consider the results of this external oversight, but the affiliated members of this community deserve the same trust as everyone else.

As for students who are unaffiliated and dissatisfied, it is past time for us to stop waiting for the administration to act on our behalf. We must start insisting on action directly from the Greeks, starting with a firm stand against gender discrimination and the objectification of members of our community in both fraternities and sororities. Start confronting ignorant attitudes with passionate arguments instead of accusations. Communicate unacceptable incidents to other students, boycott misbehaving organizations, and dissuade underclassmen from joining fraternities and sororities that are resistant to progressive reform.

We are not violating the sacred sovereignty of Greek organizations if we simply insist that they stop dragging the reputation of our College$mdash;$mdash;the reputation that we will carry with us for the rest of our lives—through the mud.

The administration must do two important things to support this process. First, it must stop creating the appearance of a conspiracy to utterly destroy the fraternity system. Unless it has the courage to simply state its goals clearly and call for the end of the system, the administration has no right to harass Greek organizations with the underhanded tactics they have allegedly been employing since the advent of the SLI. Secondly, the administration must provide a viable alternative to the Greek system immediately.

By “viable”, I mean an alternative that might tolerate the unsupervised availability of alcohol and one that does not include karaoke. Dartmouth students, at present, cannot both refuse to support the Greek system and stay in the social mainstream, and this makes it difficult to take a principled stand against the system’s abuses.

Finally, we must all step back and realize certain truths about this college. First, we are a community. The tendency of students to put the term in quotation marks, as if it were some kind of idealistic dream, is saddening. Secondly, the plight of the fraternities does not mean that Dartmouth College is going to Hell in a handbasket.

The “old traditions” we shout about have nothing to do with our social lives, and everything to do with education, pride, and common experiences. We can survive without the fraternities, and, if necessary, we can survive the fraternities. There is nothing wrong with this college that students, faculty, and administrators cannot fix by doing the right thing and encouraging others to do the same.