Dartmouth Trustees Seek Big Changes

The Dartmouth College Board of Trustees recommended yesterday a set of sweeping changes in all areas of student life, from the school's Greek system to its lack of on-campus housing and even its unusual academic calendar.

The proposals are intended to create a greater sense of campus community and diminish the school's focus on fraternities and sororities.

In an attempt to create greater student choice and continuity for college students, the board is calling for the formation of housing clusters in which people of similar interests can live together.

The goal is to create "clusters of communities under an overarching principle of one community," said Laurel R. Stavis, the director of public affairs at Dartmouth.

The board also authorized the construction of new residences to accommodate 500 more students over the next five years, as well as the renovation of new and existing dining locations.

"I like the idea of one centralized dining location," said Heather B. Huffman, a Dartmouth senior who is a member of Delta Delta Delta.

The board also recommends requiring all fraternities and sororities to meet the standards of the college in order to receive continued recognition.

Other major recommendations include continuing to forbid the formation of single-sex organizations, instituting building code requirements and removing tap systems, mass refrigeration systems and permanent bars.

Reached at Dartmouth last night, some students said they fear the administrative action will leave their social life high and dry and restrict student freedoms.

"I can't imagine a social life without them," said Huffman, referring to the tap systems, mass refrigeration systems and permanent bars. "We have no other center of social activity."

"The party line is that [these changes] are infringing on their rights," added Jaimie A. Paul, former president of the Co-ed Fraternity Sorority Council.

But some students, including Paul, support the changes.

"It means that it's going to be a lot harder to serve mass quantities of alcohol," said Paul, who added that this will help prevent consumption by underage drinkers.

In anticipation of dissent from students, the board also called for expanding the current student center and creating more social centers. The statement also endorses placing an undergraduate advisor in each Greek house. Paul supports this change and Huffman said she feels if the advisor is young, he or she "could be a good role model."

And while Huffman supports some of the changes, she said she feels Dartmouth's hey-day of fraternity life may be waning.

"They [Greek houses] are not going to dominate social life," Huffman said.

The Dartmouth Plan--a system of three 10-week semesters a year, with required classes during sophomore summer--also came under examination during the college's search for areas of improvement.

No changes have been proposed at the moment, but the board asked the administration to "assess the practical and financial consequences of modifying the current plan, including in the longer term moving to a regular calendar."

Paul said she chose Dartmouth because of the D-Plan and thinks that many students, herself included, are happy with the current academic calendar.

But she acknowledged the system has its problems.

"The D-Plan put a strain on my friendships and relationships," Paul said. "I felt the discontinuity."

The Board's proposals are the culmination of a self-examination process that began in February of last year, when the Board asked Dartmouth students, faculty, staff and graduates to examine the social life at the college and suggest changes to improve out-of-classroom life.