Inclusivity in Dartmouth College&#039;s Greek Life

Inclusivity in Dartmouth College's Greek Life

Jewish Discrimination and Jewish Fraternities

Jews Vertical File Subject file on Jewish life at Dartmouth. Includes alumni correspondence on early incidents of fraternity anti-Semitism and the quota system (view here).

MS-863: Roswell Bogue Letters, Box 1 Letters by Delta Kappa Epsilon member Roswell Bogue describing the anti-Semitism in the student body and his fraternity during the rush process in 1898 (view here).

MS-685: Richard Campen Student Letters, Box 1 Letters by a Jewish Dartmouth student, Richard Campen, in the early 1930s describing his decision to rush Pi Lambda Pi and the culture of other Jewish fraternities on campus (view here).

DO-40: Dartmouth College Interfraternity Council Records, Box 6470, Folder 7 Minutes from the college's Interfraternity council meetings in 1924-1925. Includes records of Phi Lambda Phi's multiple attempts at IFC recognition (view here), and the charter grant of another Jewish Fraternity, Sigma Alpha Mu, a few years later (view here).

Sigma Phi Epsilon Vertical File Subject file on Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity at Dartmouth. Includes records of an incident in 1955 where an attempt to pledge two Jewish members was unsuccessful due to resistance from the national.

Fraternity Desegregation Movement

Fraternities 4, 1950-1979 Vertical File Subject file containing memos, newspaper clippings, pamphlets and other documents about Dartmouth's fraternities during the Greek system desegregation process. Includes a document lisitng every fraternity on Dartmouth's campus in 1956 and whether they have a discriminatory clause or not (view here).

DOH-1 Oral history with President Dickey, in which he explains the need to eliminate discriminatory clauses when re-opening fraternities after WWII (Tape 19, Side A, p. 119).

The Dartmouth articles about the discrimination referrendum in 1954 that required fraternities to remove discriminatory clauses from constitutions or face removal from campus:

March 25, 1954, p.1 "Point One Ekes Out Majority By Four Votes; Amasses 1,128"
May 18, 1954, p.2 "The Court's Decision"
January 22, 1959, p.1 "61s Negative in Replies on Behalf of Nationals"

Interfraternity Council Vertical File Subject file on the Inter-Fraternity Council at Dartmouth. Includes records on the discriminatory clause referrendum and action taken by the Dartmouth Fraternities.

DA-8, Box 2558, File: Discrimination Dean of the College records containing letters, memos, and meeting minutes on the topic of discriminatory clauses in Dartmouth fraternities. Includes a copy of the 1954 student referrendum ballot (view here) and records on multiple fraternities' responses.

DP-12, Box 11904, President Dickey's Talk on Fraternity Discrimination Audio recording of an interview with President Dickey on April 12, 1959 for WDCR in which he directly speaks to issues of discrimination in Dartmouth's Greek system.

DP-12, Box 7149, File: Fraternity Discrimination, 1959-1960 Records from the Office of the President concerning Dartmouth fraternities' responses to the 1960 deadline to eliminate discriminatory clauses.

DO-37, Box 13146, Blackball Box with Marbles Object used to take a consensus vote, such as when accepting new members, in Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity. Photos and more information are featured on the Rauner Library Blog.

See also: Going Local: Desegregating Dartmouth's Fraternities (Rauner Library Blog), and A Case Against Fraternity Desegregation (Rauner Library Blog).

Sororities and Co-ed Fraternities

Sigma Kappa Vertical File Subject file on the first sorority at Dartmouth (which later became Sigma Delta). Includes a Dartmouth news statement for its establisment in April 1977 (view here).

Sigma Kappa image, Aegis, 1977 (view here).

The Dartmouth Articles about the first sorority at Dartmouth and the changing role of women in Greek Life as some fraternities choose to become co-educational.

April 4, 1977, p.1 "Sorority Chapter Formed"
May 20, 1977, p.1 "Sigma Kappa is Here to Stay: Nears Initiation"
October 19, 1977, p.1 "College Invites More Sororities to Visit"
November 21, 1978, p.1 "Women and Frats: Changing Roles"

DA-8, Box 1068, File: Sigma Kappa Old Files 1976-1979 Letters, notes, and other documents regarding Sigma Kappa's first few years at Dartmouth kept in the Dean of College Records. Includes a petition for housing, IFC recognition (view here), the sorority's national constitution, and a clause of non-discrimination signed by the chapter president (view here).

Open Forum: The Dartmouth College Women's Publication available at LD1434.5.064 Feminist student publication from the 1970s and 80s. Contains articles and opinion pieces on women in greek life, including sororities and co-educational fraternities.

April 10, 1977, "Institutional Sisterhood"
October 7, 1978, "Why Are There So Few Co-ed Fraternities?"
June 3, 1981, "Sororities at Dartmouth"

DA-8, Box 2568, File: Sororities 1976/77 Records kept by the Dean of the College on sororities at Dartmouth in their early years. Includes correspondence between Sigma Kappa's National Treasurer and the Dean of the College.

DA-29, Box 2902, File: Co-ed Fraternites - Sororities, 1976-1981 Newspaper clippings kept by the Office of Communications on Dartmouth Fraternities' decisions to become co-educational. Includes the Dartmouth Fortnightly Paper issue from April 11, 1980, in which an article weighs the benefits of forcing fraternities to accept women (view here).

The Dartmouth: Articles about co-education in Fraternities.

23 January, 1969, "Coeds Sink Foley, Gain 'Equal Status'"
9 May, 1977, "Preserving Foley House"
15 May 2019, "Q&A with Lynn Lobban: One of the First Women at Dartmouth" (The first woman to rush Chi Pi Heorot Fraternity in 1969).

Calls to Shut Down Fraternities: 1978-2000

Fraternities 6. 1980-1996 Vertical File Subject file containing mixed materials on Dartmouth fraternities when attempts to shut down the Greek system were made. Includes a copy of the 1978 abolition proposal for reasons of perpetuating stereotypes and isolating minority groups.

The Dartmouth articles about calls to abolish Dartmouth fraternities.

November 7, 1978, p.1 "Faculty Votes 67-16 to Abolish Frats"
November 9, 1978, p.4 "Anger, some hope: the College Responds" (student responses to the vote)

Note: This list is not an exhaustive representation of all materials in Rauner Special Collections Library on the above subject(s). To search for additional sources, use the library catalog or online finding aids.

Credit to Jess Hilton '25 for creating this bibliography based on the fellowship research of Christian Dawkins '22.

Last updated: April 2023