Dartmouth SigEp leads campus embracing national substance-free housing policy

The New Hampshire Alpha chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon has a long and proud history of leadership on Dartmouth's campus. From its founding in 1909 to today, the chapter has demonstrated its ability to challenge community norms and remain true to its values. And now comes a new challenge: embracing a substance-free chapter house policy, and re-committing to the Balanced Man Program to be a valued partner in the mission of the College.

JD Optekar '91, President of the Alumni and Volunteer Corporation (AVC) which owns the SigEp chapter house, laid out the substance-free plan, which was legislation introduced by and voted for by SigEp undergraduates, as well as other chapter reforms: "The AVC Board has been working closely with the chapter for many years to implement reforms and improve risk management." SigEp National fraternity CEO Brian Warren adds, "We believe substance-free facilities will complement the Balanced Man Program by creating a safer environment designed to engage faculty, alumni, parents, and other volunteers invested in the success of our undergraduate brothers."

Some perspective...

There’s no denying that the media has an almost insatiable thirst for bad news about fraternities. Articles get served to the public with an extra helping of relish when the problems occur to fraternities at prestigious institutions like Dartmouth and Division 1A schools.

The New York Times, Huffington Post, BusinessInsider, The Atlantic, Time Magazine, The Boston Globe, and even The Dartmouth, and Will “Old School” Ferrell have called for banning fraternities in just the past few years. Dateline NBC had a devastating report, "The College Fraternity Crisis" just this month which makes a strong case for major reforms by interviewing the families of young men killed by fraternities.

No amount of philanthropy and community service will make up for the nine deaths attributed to Greek life in 2017, and six already in 2018. Colleges and Universities across the country are showing that their patience is at an end as they ban, suspend, or put on alcohol probation entire Greek systems rather than just individual Greek members or chapters.

But we're not like those other fraternities

Indeed, Dartmouth SigEp has been a leader working against the worst fraternity stereotypes since its founding in 1909. It was our own brother Bruce Hasenkamp '60 who attended the National 1959 SigEp Grand Chapter Conclave as an undergraduate and helped introduce legislation to end discriminatory membership requirements of the National fraternity. It was Bruce again, serving as Grand President of the National fraternity in 1991, who declared that "pledging" and especially "hazing" had no place in a true member development organization, so he arranged for the Dartmouth SigEp chapter to pilot the Balanced Man Program in 1992-1993. While other fraternities at Dartmouth mocked us for being a "sorority" and not a particularly "strong" brotherhood, we grew to be the largest fraternity at Dartmouth with the highest GPA and the cleanest chapter house.

While SigEp at Dartmouth has continued to lead the way among Fraternities in multiple regards, the chapter has also had a number of serious alcohol-related risk management situations in the last few years. The chapter was charged with a felony of underage serving in 2014 when a first-year brother consumed too much and ended up with a near-fatal blood alcohol content of 0.354. While that case was pleaded down to a misdemeanor, there have been a number of other incidents that have resulted in the chapter being sanctioned with suspension or alcohol probation in 6 of the last 10 terms, including one in 2017 where the College suspended SigEp entirely after an incapacitated brother was brought to a dorm before calling for emergency services so it wouldn't look like his alcohol poisoning was fraternity related. We're still better than the other fraternities at Dartmouth, but we hope that we all agree that we can do more to lead the way.

How can SigEp survive and thrive long term?

In the NBC Dateline piece, while former President of Trinity College Dr. James F. Jones, advocates for the closing of all fraternities, most of the grieving parents say that that won't fix the problem. Reporter Andrea Canning notes, "They DO want to see changes, though. They'd like police and university officials having unlimited access to the houses. They'd like adult live-ins, and no alcohol."

In the 2016 Dartmouth Student Health Survey, while 56% of respondents reported binge/high-risk drinking (five or more drinks in one sitting) in the past two weeks, 23% of the students indicated they were "non-drinkers." Most of the LLCs and each of the six College Houses (dorm clusters like Gold Coast, Mass Row, Ripley-Woodward-Smith) now has one or more floors that are "substance-free" and the housing lottery system was changed last year to allow students for whom substance-free housing is a priority to have a better chance of receiving a substance-free room assignment.

After the aforementioned risk management issues, a membership review of the SigEp chapter at Dartmouth was conducted to determine who was really committed to the kind of culture change that was needed to ensure the chapter would survive and thrive.

When President Hanlon introduced “Moving Dartmouth Forward” to the campus in 2015 he said, “… I maintain that Greek organizations—indeed all student organizations at Dartmouth—must and will be held to much higher standards and a far greater level of accountability than they have been before. To be clear, when I speak of accountability… what I do not mean is simply being accountable for following rules—for issuing wristbands or maintaining strict sign-in procedures. I speak of an expectation that student organizations will exhibit behavior befitting Dartmouth’s noble mission and name. That ultimately student organizations contribute to an environment that is respectful, and inclusive and conducive to shaping leaders for the future. That they seek to elevate and not denigrate the Dartmouth experience... Moving forward, it will be simple. Organizations that choose not to fulfill these higher standards, will not be part of our community.”

Changing the perception in the community will take time, virtuous and diligent undergraduate members, dedicated volunteers, and bold faculty and administrators who are willing to lend at least their name and some time in support of our new mission. The AVC Board is confident that SigEp is on the right path now; and that we will have a great, substance-free, Balanced Man chapter at Dartmouth again. It may be a significantly different, and certainly a lot less risky program than what we had; but it will be an even stronger brotherhood with real accountability among members.