monday, november 13, 1978
daily nebraskan
page 9
Dartmouth's faculty supports
drive to close Greek houses
By Scott Nelson
The fraternities that helped to inspire
the movie Animal House with their wild
parties and outrageous pranks may be
closed because of their raucous behavior.
The Dartmouth College faculty ap
proved by a 67-16 vote a proposal to close
the school's 20 fraternities and two sorori
ties. The proposal goes before the board of
trustees in February for a final decision.
James Epperson, an English professor
who has lead the drive to close the fra
ternities, claims they encourage alcoholism,
misbehavior and values that are contrary to
academia.
He and his supporters cite incidents the
fraternities were involved in during the past
and say problems have steadily escalated in
the past five or six years.
Furniture, pianos burned
Fruniture has been burned on the front
lawns and pianos burned in the houses, fra
ternity members have urinated in public at
football games, and invited women into
their houses to humiliate them, according
to Epperson. The Dartmouth said about
a dozen people were taken to the hospital
and treated for alcoholic convulsions last
spring during Sink Night, traditionally the
year's biggest fraternity party.
One of the screenwriters for Animal
House was Chris Miller, a 1963 Dartmouth
graduate and fraternity member. In a
recent appearance at Dartmouth he said
some of the incidents in the film are based
on his memories of college fraternity life.
'Out of control'
"The fraternities here are out of con
trol," Epperson said.
"They have resisted pleas from the
dean, faculty, townspeople and fellow stu
dents for change."
Ken Beer, president of the Interfra
ternity Council, denied none of the char
ges but pointed out that the fraternities
were attempting to clean up their act
before the Epperson proposal was
circulated last spring.
"I think it's just a misunderstanding and
the fact that we do have to reappriase our
selves," he said.
"In the past four years there has been
no interaction between the faculty and fra
ternity students," Beer said. "They were
only going on the behavior they have seen
and making some generalizations. They
don't know what goes on beyond that." '
Survey conducted
Dembro said the paper conducted a sur
vey last spring when the proposal to
abolished fraternities was circulated.
The survey found that 42 percent of the
students at Dartmouth were dissatisfied
with the present fraternities, although 87
percent were opposed to Epperson's pro
posal. "I think it's the whole perception that
students in fraternities are somehow pro
tected from the standards everyone else has
to live by," Dembro said.
Epperson said fraternities started getting
wild in 1972, when women were first ad
mitted to Dartmouth. He said the transi
tion from a men's school to a coeduational
one was well-received by all but "a group
of reactionary knuckleheads."
They hassled, heckled and humiliated
women who came to Dartmouth and
touched off a wave of outrageous behavior,
according to Epperson.
'Worse than children'
"They want to be treated like men and
then they turn around and act like
children, worse than children," he said.
Both Beer and Dembro saw the proposal
as a strong mandate condemning the fra
ternities' past behavior and demanding fu
ture reform. But Epperson was more
skeptical.
"Attempts at reform have failed for a
decade. There is a tradition of violence and
destruction that has to be stopped, and
frankly I don't see much hope of reform,"
he said.
Epperson emphasized that he is not
against fraternity life as a whole.
"I remember with great affection my
days as a fraternity brother at the Uni
versity of Utah. We had a good time, but
we didn't beat up on women or urinate in
public.
"I guess I want people to know that this
movement is not lead by some crackpot. I
had lots of support from students and
faculty, and the vote was overwhelming,"
Epperson said.
"We love this institution and like the
students. But this institution stands for
civilization. What I and others have seen is
barbarism and the two just don't mix."
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