Letters
Jason M. Corrigan
62 Valley Avenue
Highlands, New Jersey 07732
(732) 291-8168
December 9, 2004
Mr. John Golden
Chair, Colgate University Board of Trustees
13 Oak Drive
Hamilton, New York 13346
Dear Mr. Golden:
I am writing to express my deep disappointment in the University’s dealing with the fraternities and sororities as related to the imposition of the Educational Residence Vision. It is clear that the University’s motive is to eradicate Greek Letter Houses from Colgate. To achieve this goal the University is engaging in, at best underhanded activity, and in my opinion, unlawful behavior.
While an undergraduate at Colgate, I was extremely involved in campus life. An active member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon house, I also sang in the University Chorus, founded Colgate’s first co-ed a cappella singing group, The Resolutions, served as Student Government Vice President and President of the Student Senate. I cherished my experience at Colgate and it truly was a situation where I gained more from the relationship the more I gave of myself.
After graduation in 1995 I began to contribute to Colgate’s annual fund at the President’s Club level. I was a member of the President’s Club Membership Committee. I was trying to stay involved and contribute so future generations of students could have the same opportunities I had while at Colgate. Integral to that experience was my membership in DKE and living in the DKE house. I was fortunate to experience self government of the house that existed long before any University mandated notion of supervised self government of residential units.
I stopped my contributions to Colgate when it became clear that the University was “scapegoating” the DKE house in the wake of the tragic auto accident of 2002. The events that lead to that tragic accident did not in any way involve the DKE house as an institution, but the University was quick to blame and punish the house as a whole for the actions of one member. If the University’s animus toward the Greek Houses, DKE in particular, was clouded by the emotional wake of the event, all doubt was removed with the announcement of the New Vision for Residential Life.
Others have articulated the legal ramifications of the taking of the Greek Houses by the University better than I can in this letter. Suffice it to say that my own legal training leads me to conclude that the University is engaging in anti-trust activities. Additionally, I feel that the threat of expulsion for student who join “unrecognized” student groups is a violation of Students’ Constitutional rights, regardless of what any contract between student and University says . I will join and support any effort through litigation that opposes the unlawful activity of the University.
More disappointing than the University’s unlawful behavior is the manner in which the University has been dealing with the Greek Letter Houses, DKE in particular. Rather than engage in a good faith negotiation, the University has taken a hard line position and stuck with it. In business, when you hold all the cards, this is an effective tactic. It seems to work in government as well, if only for a limited period. Ask the hard liners of Iran, China, and the old Soviet Union how long they can were able to exert their will over their citizenry.
Colgate is not a business or a government. I am trying not to lose the ideal notion that Colgate, its students, alumni, faculty, administration and friends are a community. In the imposition of the new Residential Life program, the Board of Trustees and Administration of Colgate are behaving in a most un-community like manner. Absent from the situation is any discussion, or at the least, a DIVERSITY of opinions in the discussion, of how this decision effects a large number of members of the community. Not just the Greek Letter Houses, but all those who benefit from the Greek Community and its members’ efforts in community service as well as social opportunities.
I had planned to begin supporting Colgate again this year, prior to the announcement of the University’s plan to force the Greek Letter Houses to sell to the University. Instead, I am asking my fellow alumnus to contribute their time and resources to the efforts underway to stop the University from taking away the opportunity to share the experience I had at Colgate, namely, to live in an independent DKE house.
Sincerely,
Jason M. Corrigan
Colgate 1995
CC:
President Rebecca Chopp
Colgate University
13 Oak Drive
Hamilton, New York 13346
Adam Weinberg
Dean of the College
Colgate University
13 Oak Drive
Hamilton, New York 12246