Although I love Dartmouth dearly, I rarely turn to Dartmouth-related issues in this blog in my attempt to focus on social enterprise and such. But an opinion piece by Andrew Lohse '12 in today's issue of The Dartmouth, for which I wrote op-eds back in the day, as well, is, in short, huge.
Here's the op-ed piece. Here's the gist:
We attend a strange school where a systemic culture of abuse exists under a college president who has the power and experience to change what can only be described as a public health crisis of the utmost importance: the endemic culture of physical and psychological abuse that occupies the heart of Dartmouth’s Greek community. President Jim Yong Kim’s sterling credentials in public health are fundamentally at odds with the pervasive hazing, substance abuse and sexual assault culture that dominates campus social life.
I was a member of a fraternity that asked pledges, in order to become a brother, to: swim in a kiddie pool full of vomit, urine, fecal matter, semen and rotten food products; eat omelets made of vomit; chug cups of vinegar, which in one case caused a pledge to vomit blood; drink beers poured down fellow pledges’ ass cracks; and vomit on other pledges, among other abuses. Certainly, pledges could have refused these orders. However, under extreme peer pressure and the desire to “be a brother,” most acquiesced. While not every pledge is asked to do these things, many are. The specific tasks vary year to year, but these are things I’ve witnessed as a member of the fraternity.
And here is Dartblog, a blog that focuses on events related to Dartmouth, writing about the op-ed piece and posting an earlier version of it.
Posts
