From Herb Philpott Subiect Dartmouth Sing - What's going on? Date Apr 2, 2018 at11224156 AM To -- Greeting brothers of the classes of '82 to 89 (plus a few extra brothers and friends of Sing I keep in touch with): There have been some email messages going around about the "cease operations" directive at the Dartmouth Sing chapter this week, so I offer myself as a resource to you and any other alumni, volunteers. and friends of Dartmouth Sing to answer questions about what has been going on, and what will go on the rest of this term to get the chapter back on a viable track. Here's my (rather long) email explanation: Some Perspective I've been volunteering heavily with the fraternity for twelve years, and that has given me this perspective: every generation or so there are big changes in the fraternity world in general, and Sing is often leading them. In the 60s. it was Bruce Hasenkamp '60 leading the effort to remove exclusionary language from the National fraternity's membership bylaws. In the 905, Sing, now led by Grand Chapter President Bruce Hasenkamp, introduced the Greek world to the Balanced Man program which eliminated hazing and was widely copied by other national fraternities. Now here in the 20--teens, partly in response to a major shift in the attitude of the general public as a result of nine Greek life deaths in 2017 and other bad behavior (see linked PDFs: "Shut It Down" and "2017 Deaths"), Sing again leads the fraternity world by saying that a fraternity can and should be something other than a drinking club, Led by undergraduates from around the country, the fraternity voted at the Grand Hg. The national fraternity Beta Theta Pi adopted the same substance-free policy for all its chapters in January 2018. Change is hard, but being a drinking club is unsustainable When President Hanlon introduced "Moving Dartmouth Forward" to the campus in 2015 he said (with my emphasis), 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 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 Moving forward, it will be simple, Organizations that choose not to fulfill these higher standards. will not be part of our community." Dartmouth SigEp will strive to be a valued partner in Dartmouth’s mission to educate leaders borrowing heavily from Dartmouth’s Living Learning Community model with a livein resident advisor and strong faculty engagement. We look to emulate successful member-development organizations like the Freemasons, or Rotary International, or Boy Scouts of America; and disassociate ourselves from those organizations that are primarily social drinking clubs. But is change really necessary? The way I see it, Dartmouth SigEp has to change before disaster strikes. It’s not that a dry member-development organization has zero risk, but it’s a lot more manageable than a group of 70 or so brothers under the legal drinking age who spend over $20,000 per term on alcohol. This may be considered normal at Dartmouth, but outside of Hanover, it’s incomprehensible as student organization model. What’s not normal or acceptable, even by Dartmouth’s standards, is the number of people SigEp has sent to the DHMC Emergency Room (not just Dick’s House for some drying out) in the past few years. The chapter always argues, “it’s not our fault,” and “everyone does it,” but that just doesn’t stand up in the court of law or public opinion. The National fraternity and the AVC Board may not have much influence on the rest of Greek Life at Dartmouth, but we can do something better for our own chapter. It's worth noting that while SigEp was the first fraternity to eliminate pledging/hazing (most of it, anyway) in the 90s, it took until the Fall of 2014 for the Dartmouth IFC to adopt the same policy. Why couldn’t the chapter make changes themselves? The AVC Board tried to get the chapter to change from within. Over the past five+ years we REALLY tried. We used a wide variety of carrot-and-stick approaches to get the chapter to embrace culture change. We brought in organizational management consultants, and risk management experts to meet with the chapter multiple times. We offered officer mentors, encouraged faculty engagement, and tried to get the chapter to work closely with a well-trained chapter counselor. We covered the expenses for anyone who wanted to go to National fraternity leadership events and encouraged large groups to go. We made the undergrads pay for the thousands of dollars in willful damage done to the new chapter house including numerous broken fixtures, doors, walls, windows, furniture, and graffiti. In 2014 we hired an attorney to defend the chapter against a charge of felony underage serving and pleaded down to a misdemeanor charge (the chapter paid the fine and did the community service hours). We had brother Charles “Ed” Haldeman ’70, former chairman of the Dartmouth Board of Trustees and a SigEp Citation Award winner, talk to the chapter last Fall and he told them, "either you make culture change happen, or culture change will be imposed upon you." Disappointingly, even while on College probation, the chapter seemed to chose the latter making no significant culture changes and continuing to have issues with facility management policy and membership standards violations. For more perspective on this, I’ve linked a message that fellow AVC Board Member Sam Reckford ‘83 wrote explaining why this change is necessary. Change in steps The hardest part of the transition from drinking club to a substance-free service organization is making this philosophical shift in the membership and community. Most of our current members didn’t sign up for a dry chapter house with no pong tables. The National fraternity is conducting the membership review to determine those who are really bought in to making SigEp a substance-free Balanced Man chapter. Why can’t the chapter just “go local” Since Moving Dartmouth Forward, the Dartmouth Administration has had a policy of not recognizing any new Greek organizations, especially when the impetus for “going local” is to avoid the authority of a National organization. This policy was put in place before Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s Dartmouth chapter had its charter pulled by the National organization for hazing incidents in 2016 (after the national embarrassment to the fraternity and College of the “Confessions of an Ivy League Frat Boy” story). When SAE tried to “go local” to avoid the National sanction, the College permanently de-recognized it. Similarly, Kappa Delta sorority abandoned plans to “go local” in 2017 when the Greek Life office told them they would not be recognized as a local sorority. It’s worth noting, too, that the facility at 11 Webster Avenue was funded and built in 2011 to serve as a chapter house for a Sigma Phi Epsilon chapter under the honorary chairmanship of our late National Grand Chapter President and Order of the Golden Heart recipient Bruce Hasenkamp ‘60, and past Chairman of the Dartmouth Board of Trustees and recipient of the National Sigma Phi Epsilon Citation Award Charles “Ed” Haldeman ‘70. The Capital Campaign specifically promised “This fraternity will be different,” and was kicked off by the 2009 Centennial Celebration with the slogan “Redefining Dartmouth Fraternity.” The Balanced Man Program was a centerpiece of our fundraising effort and the National fraternity provided invaluable support throughout our chapter house redevelopment process. The chapter house at 11 Webster Avenue is for a chartered Sigma Phi Epsilon chapter. Fundamentally, the AVC Board agrees with the SigEp National fraternity that chapter facilities should be substance-free; and that the Balanced Man Program with its five philosophical tenets of equal rights and responsibilities, continuous development, accountability, living the Ritual, and mentoring, should be the centerpiece of every SigEp's membership experience. Building a new kind of fraternity at Dartmouth Changing the perception in the community will take time, some 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. For the 19% of Dartmouth students who don’t drink, SigEp may be an attractive option over other fraternities, or living in Dartmouth’s substance-free housing I am confident that Sing is on the right path and that we will have a great substancer free. Balanced Man chapter at Dartmouth again. It may be a somewhat 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 and Without hazing or alcohol abuse. If you've been holding back from volunteering with the chapter because it didn't seem like volunteering was a good use of your time' I encourage you to consider volunteering now To paraphrase Sing (and Masonic) Ritual: a substancerfree Balanced Man Chapter is worthy or your time and effortsl HFF. Herb Herb Philpott '85 AVC VP of Facilities Sigma Phi Epsilon Dartmouth College NH Alpha AVC 11 Webster Avenue, Hanover, NH 03755 update Profile About our servlce provider Sent o_m collaboration I ConstantGontact Try it free today