Sororities

This article is the first in a four-part series exploring the status of women at Dickinson College. The President's Commission on the Status of Women observed that even though women hold the majority on campus, they tend to act like they are in the minority. The article also noted that "Dickinson women often define themselves in terms of men - thinking of themselves as 'someone's girlfriend' or as a 'groupie to a particular fraternity.'" Some professors and students felt that sororities contributed to this atmosphere on campus and reinforce this in women.

As the second article in a four-part series that deal with the status of women at Dickinson, this article discussed campus-affiliated organizations.The President's Commission on the Status of Women at Dickinson College had decided that Greek Life is most likely harming women's experiences at Dickinson and the atmosphere it creates allows for a "poor preparation for the kinds of relationships among women and men that they will face after College." The Women's Commission raised some important questions on Greek organizations, such as should Dickinson have Greek Life?

The Dickinsonian discusses the changes resulting from having a sophomore (rather than freshman) year sorority and fraternity rush. 250 women rushed the five on-campus sororities.

 

Following up on the story from the previous week, The Dickinsonian discussed the continued controversy from the anonymous, anti-Greek publication "Stop the Violence" that accused Dickinson fraternities and sororities of crimes including hazing and even rape. 

The College Club and Peace Action co-sponsored an open forum in ATS to discuss the situation that was attended by over 400 members of the Dickinson community.  

In her 1979 Women as Leaders Survey sent out by Dickinson College, a graduate of 1923 remembers her days at Dickinson. When asked about the issues of the day, the alum remembers, "our topic of debate was the Equal Rights Amendment."

She goes on to recall the anger at there being two senates: a women's and a school senate run by men. To protest the issue, a group of women attended the men's senate.

In her 1984 research paper "The Presence of the Black American at Dickinson College from 1773 to the Present," Elaine Vivian Watson researched the influence of "Black America" upon Dickinson College. Her paper includes information on "unfamous firsts" at Dickinson as well as information on the Black Alumni Questionaire.

 

Some "Unfamous Firsts" Include:

 

1901: John Robert Paul Brock is the first black male student to graduate from Dickinson College.

 

In her essay "Women at Dickinson College," Josephine Brunyate Meredith has a section in which she discussed "Women's Fraternities" (now referred to as sororities) at Dickinson College. Meredith explained that "We have never had such good spirit existing between the Fraternities as exists at present. Pan-Hellenic rules and rushing methods, the result of years of hard work and experiment are now fairly satisfactory to everybody." Pleased with the women's work, Meredith argued that the college must provide better housing for the female fraternities as they do for the male fraternities.

The STOP THE VIOLENCE publication includes numerous accounts of violence against women.  The accounts often deal with sexual violence and almost all of them include some form of humiliation and embarassment for the women who were invloved.