Students express mixed reactions to SAE’s national rerecognition

community — could be acknowledged beyond the College’s campus.

Although the College did not derecognize SAE until 2016, discourse surrounding the fraternity’s hazing — which has since been banned by the national organization — came to light in 2012, after Andrew Lohse ’12 exposed the fraternity in The Dartmouth. Lohse’s column sparked a widely circulated Rolling Stone article, “Confessions of an Ivy League Frat Boy: Inside Dartmouth’s Hazing Abuses,” that further discussed Lohse’s experience with hazing in SAE, as well as the College’s Greek system at large. In 2014, Lohse published “Confessions of an Ivy League Frat Boy: A Memoir” — a book that further outlined the soon-to-be derecognized fraternity’s culture.

Despite his experiences, Lohse said he is not surprised that SAE’s national organization is re-recognizing Dartmouth’s chapter.

“This is sort of just what happens — there’s a long history of that,” Lohse said. “Obviously SAE has a rich tradition of some scandal and intrigue, but then again, I would say probably that every house does in its own varying way, and it’s often just a matter of time before the re-recognition happens.”

Lohse attributed the College’s refusal to re-recognize SAE to the fraternity being a “unique case” of public interest, as the house garnered signifcant publicity after the Rolling Stone article was published.

“I did a lot of research back in the day,” Lohse said. “It usually seems like [derecognized fraternities] come back.

FROM SAE PAGE 1 not harm each other [and] not harm themselves?” Lohse asked. “There may be a possibility that the idea of fraternities, if practiced in a way that doesn’t harm people and doesn’t commit crimes, can be a good thing and, in fact, the necessary thing against the creeping social contagion of insanity in America.”

[But] we live in such a unique cultural moment. It’s quite diferent from when I was a student. On a broader cultural level, we’re in a much more touchy and high [publicity] kind of ‘woke’ moment.”

Lohse said he believes that Dartmouth and the world at large have evolved to have “bigger” problems, adding that fraternities may take on a new role going forward.

“Would it be possible that fraternities can exist and not harm people — not harm women, not harm minorities,

Students expressed mixed reactions to SAE’s national re-recognition.

Ann Tran ’25, executive director of the Student and Presidential Committee on Sexual Assault, said she thinks the decision could give the chapter an opportunity to improve chapter culture.

“This is an opportunity for SAE to afect their culture in a meaningful way,” she said. “I don’t think that the house itself should be defned by its past. They can use their past to learn, do better and improve their chapter to create a better and safer culture.”

Quinn Allred ’26, who has started to consider rushing a fraternity next fall, said that rumors of SAE’s past connections with sexual assault have led him to not consider the house in his recruitment process.

“I’m sure they’re saying things like, ‘Oh, we’ve learned,’ or whatever,” Allred said. “I honestly just don’t want that association.”

SAE president Perry Zhang ’24, along with several other SAE members, declined to comment. SAE’s national organization also declined to comment.

Goebel: One Way or Another, Union Yes

Dartmouth’s union busting campaign reveals its total disregard for graduate student needs.

This column was originally published on April 10, 2023

Graduate student-workers at Dartmouth formed the Graduate Organized Laborers of DartmouthUnited Electrical Workers — GOLD-UE — out of a dire need to improve our quality of life. I joined the GOLD-UE Organizing Committee in April 2022 because I personally felt this obvious need. Though I’m fortunate to be advancing in my career, my living conditions have only worsened over the past four years. I’ve had to remain in the same apartment because fnding better, more afordable places to live is nearly impossible. At the same time, my rent has increased by $300 per month, while my pay has not kept pace. Without reliable public transportation from where I live in Vermont, I’ve had no choice but to take on credit card debt to cover essential — and expensive — maintenance when my car’s brakes failed and wheel bearings needed urgent replacement. I’ve only visited the dentist twice in the past four years because Dartmouth ofers us no dental coverage. I consider myself lucky to have avoided further crippling medical debt because Dartmouth doesn’t provide us adequate health insurance coverage. It shouldn’t be controversial to say that Dartmouth’s graduate students need a union. Only since the formation of GOLD-UE has Dartmouth started to take our pleas for a cost of living adjustment and other necessary changes seriously.

It may surprise some in the Upper Valley community, but graduate students at one of the country’s most prestigious collegiate institutions are not okay. We live paycheck-to-paycheck, sufer disproportionately in cases of illness due to unafordable medical expenses, and are subject to exploitation by advisors who hold outsized infuence over our careers. Furthermore, international students in all programs struggle to navigate processes like relocation and fling taxes without support. Thankfully, we no longer sufer in silence and solitude. Instead, we lean on each other when times get tough and fght for each other in the face of injustice.

We, as GOLD-UE, have built a strong community committed to advocating for each other’s needs. We demonstrated our capacity for mutual aid in tough times when students living in the Summit on Juniper apartments lost central heating for months, including during the single-digits cold snap in early February. GOLD-UE called for donations of space heaters and found volunteers to open their homes to those needing emergency shelter. The outpouring of volunteering and aid in those frigid times demonstrated that we care for each other in a way that the College simply doesn’t. We respond with immediate support when members of our community have unmet needs. By listening to each other, we developed a platform of four foundational needs: a living wage, better benefts, safety in our workplace and fairness for international students. As a result, a majority of graduate workers have now pledged to vote in favor of our union because we believe that unionizing is the most efective way for us to guarantee these things for all current and future graduate student-workers.

The College disagrees. Because it knows it has already lost the fght on our union’s merits, it has resorted to sleazy legal maneuvers to try and delay meeting us at the bargaining table. On April 3, Dartmouth notifed us that they consider students on fellowship, including the Dartmouth Fellowship, ineligible to vote in our union election, which will be held on Tuesday, April 11 and Wednesday, April