Dartmouth Changes Policy Over Banned Frat

By Rob Wolfe

Valley News Staff Writer

Published: 04-15-2017 12:18 AM

Hanover — A leaked letter from the Dartmouth College Board of Trustees indicates that senior administrators negotiated with banned fraternity Alpha Delta about the possibility of a return to campus, but then reconsidered and told the society it was out for good.

Trustee Chairman Bill Helman acknowledged in the letter that Greek-letter societies often were able come back after de-recognition but said Dartmouth would change its policies so that this will no longer happen.

Alpha Delta was ousted in April 2015 for what administrators said was a “long-standing” and “overtly condoned” practice of burning its Greek letters into new members’ skin.

As first reported by the website Dartblog, Helman last month acknowledged secret talks between college administrators and fraternity members in a March 13 letter to the leaders of Alpha Delta’s alumni corporation.

“Senior members of the College administration clearly sent mixed signals to representatives of the corporation,” Helman said.

“We regret that we now have to choose between harming the College’s relationship with a group of alumni who have contributed a great deal to Dartmouth and worked hard on behalf of their fraternity, and taking a step that would undermine the Moving Dartmouth Forward initiative, a high-priority effort aimed at eliminating high-risk behavior and increasing inclusivity while strengthening Dartmouth’s long-standing commitment to leadership in teaching and learning.”

Dartmouth Alpha Delta boasts many influential alumni today and in history, including Fortune 500 CEOs, a chief justice of the United States and current college President Phil Hanlon.

After careful consideration, Helman wrote, the trustees were choosing not to allow Alpha Delta to return — at least not in any recognizable form.

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To clarify its policies and make sure they are applied consistently, Dartmouth will modify its student and Greek life handbooks to make clear that “organizations that have been permanently derecognized will not be considered for re-recognition,” he said.

College spokeswoman Diana Lawrence on Friday confirmed the letter’s authenticity.

“Our student handbook has always stated that de-recognition is permanent,” she said in an email. “Language was added to the Greek letter organization handbook to further clarify de-recognition.”

Helman, however, acknowledged in his March letter that fraternities in the past have successfully lobbied to return after de-recognition.

“At Dartmouth, ‘permanent’ has not always meant permanent,” he wrote, “and all, or nearly all, organizations seeking re-recognition have eventually been re-recognized.”

Helman said that for the past 18 months or so, senior administrators discussed a possible re-recognition with Alpha Delta representatives, with Dartmouth Trustee Bill Burgess — who was an Alpha Delta as an undergraduate, according to his LinkedIn profile — acting as a facilitator.

Administrators gave up responsibility for the talks in December, Helman said, handing them completely over to the college trustees out of concern that the involvement of Hanlon’s staff could be seen as a “conflict of interest.”

Helman took over the negotiations and, in January, spoke to Alpha Delta representatives by phone. During the conversation, he said, “it became clear that (the fraternity members) believed that AD was close to re-recognition.”

With his letter, Helman made it clear that there would be no comeback, citing statements that Hanlon made when launching the Moving Dartmouth Forward initiative, a program aimed at curbing high-risk behavior like binge drinking and hazing.

“Individuals and organizations that choose not to fulfill these higher standards will not be a part of our community,” Hanlon said in January 2015, only a few months before Alpha Delta was de-recognized.

Helman added that he “applaud(ed)” the Alpha Delta alumni who “stepped in and tried to do the right thing for their fraternity and, by extension, for the broader Dartmouth community.”

The trustee chairman said that his board would consider applications for a new college-recognized organization based at 9 East Wheelock St., where the fraternity’s $1.4 million mansion is located, provided that the new group be substantially different from Alpha Delta.

Alpha Delta this week formally lost the right to house its members on the property after the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled against its appeal of a zoning decision that revoked its status as a student residence.

In his letter, Helman said the college trustees would not provide Alpha Delta with a letter supporting their bid for a “special exception” to the town zoning code, a separate designation that would allow no more than three unrelated people to live in the house.

Without that exception, no one, whether a brother or anyone else, may occupy the house.

Members of the Alpha Delta alumni board of trustees did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.

Rob Wolfe can be reached at rwolfe@vnews.com or 603-727-3242.

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