Letters
AN OPEN LETTER TO CHAIRMAN JOHN GOLDEN,
AND THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES, COLGATE UNIVERSITY
10/28/05
John Golden:
Since you “called me out” at the public meeting of the Colgate Board of Trustees during Homecoming Weekend (10/1/05), it’s fair to let the Colgate community know of your performance and our attempts to solve the issues.
Reading the transcript of the meeting reinforces my perception that you were arrogant, an embarrassment to the university, and offensive to those who had hoped for civil discourse and to “walk across differences.” Responsible questions were asked; you dismissed them as trivial.
You, and certain members of the administration, acting outside of the terms of the Residential Plan approved by the trustees, “put a gun to the head” of the Greek-letter alumni organizations by demanding that they sell their valuable real estate or lose their chapter recognition. You further threatened that any student “participating” in a banned chapter would be suspended or expelled.
Despite our fraternity’s endless attempts at compromise, your counterproposals and tactics could well give rise to criminal charges of coercion. I believe you have supported the “extortion” of Greek letter property rights by rendering fraternities and sorority houses useless without Colgate ownership. And to add insult, your purchase offers were merely pennies on the dollar in relationship to what it would cost to build comparable housing. John Golden, you have replaced “the spirit that is Colgate” with administrative domination and control.
You have denied DKE undergraduate brothers the right to associate as guaranteed in our society by the Constitution of the United States and incorporated in Colgate’s Student Handbook. The brothers have had no disciplinary problems and have met all the requirements for a social organization as published in the Handbook.
Even though the brothers are living in university-owned housing – “the keystone of Colgate’s Residential Program,” you have thrown the fraternity off the campus without any due process and contrary to Colgate’s written policies.
John Golden, you are discriminating against the student members of DKE and punishing them because their alumni would not be bullied into selling their house and betraying 150 years’ history at Colgate. But you continue to recognize other sororities and fraternities who did not have a house to sell and who, like the DKE brothers, are living in university-owned housing.
As a trustee, your actions appear hypocritical. (Although, this may be consistent for you. Witness your “…allowing [as an A&F board member] the marketing by Abercrombie and Fitch of ‘thong’ underwear to 5th grade pre-teen girls… imprinted with lurid expressions like ‘Eye Candy’…” See U.S.A Today 12/08/03 -www.menstuff.org/archives/abercrombiead.html)
For twenty-five years, a pattern has existed where Greek letter organizations have been reduced, weakened, or destroyed at every opportunity. The pattern has been to use group punishment for individual behavior, place extreme financial burdens on the houses, close fraternities without “just cause” or proper procedures, and wage a public relations campaign blaming fraternities for all of Colgate’s problems.
You blame the Greek system for the tragic Oak Drive car crash in November 2000 that took the lives of four young people. But the intoxicated driver was a Colgate student who bought his alcohol from a downtown merchant and had been drinking at a downtown bar before the crash. You know that before the accident, Colgate eliminated the shuttle service from downtown to campus. And, you also know that after the accident Colgate reinstated the shuttle service. Months later, a driver of the college shuttle service was prosecuted for drunk driving.
The administration makes a lame excuse that you need more “unambiguous control” over students outside the classroom for their own safety. But the stories and statistics of how you manage students’ lives in your dorms and apartments call into question the school’s ability to “capture” these “educational moments.” Your own document entitled, “Disciplinary History - Colgate’s Fraternities and Sororities,” indicates Greek-lettered houses committed fewer than 75 minor or major infractions in almost 20 years. But, as the chart below demonstrates, in just three years, there were 1,787 occurrences in university owned housing! And don’t forget the recent multiple stabbings of young people at the Colgate-owned Palace Theater.
| Offense | Colgate-owned Property |
Non Colgate-owned Property |
| Forcible Sex Offense | 7 |
2 |
| Liquor Law Violation | 1,328 |
5 |
| Drug Law Violation | 443 |
3 |
| Illegal Weapon Possession | 9 |
0 |
(Reported by Colgate University, figures not available for 2004)
We also suggest that parents and alumni look into the current dangerous conditions and disgusting behavior going on in the dorms to see how the university has failed to properly supervise housing under “its control.”
John Golden, your “Wall Street” tactics have made lifetime enemies for Colgate. You have squandered millions of dollars to “market” your plan and risked countless more contributions from disenfranchised alumni.
We have tried civil discourse and negotiations, but to no avail. It has all been one sided - do your bidding or see our demise. And then you have the gall to blame us for not giving in to your heavy-handed threats.
Colgate taught us to be critical, analytical, and independent thinkers. It is yet to be determined if your “New Vision” is more indoctrination rather than education. You make a mockery of what we were taught at our beloved alma mater. I never thought Colgate would stoop so low and endorse this type of behavior.
The Sale Agreement for the Greek-letter houses requires each Chapter to sign a general release of all claims from “the beginning of the world”; it allows Colgate to amend its residential plan without notice; it requires a minimal occupancy level for the Greek-letter house to be used by its members; it requires acknowledgement that Colgate’s policies and procedures “are not contractual” and may be changed by the University unilaterally without notice; it reserves Colgate’s right to eliminate fraternities at its discretion; it requires the fraternity to bear the cost of insurance; it strips the Chapter of its true existence, and yet leaves much of the liability for the use and occupancy of the house with the Greek-letter organization.
If Colgate bans a fraternity or sorority, the Agreement allows its members to buy back their house but at a cost that could exceed three to four times what Colgate paid. And, the house cannot be used for Colgate students. No self-respecting Colgate graduate would voluntarily agree to such one-sided terms.
John Golden, commit in an enforceable binding arbitration agreement that Greek life and no individual fraternity or sorority may be forced to become coeducational or may be banned without due process and “just cause.” If you cannot agree to this simple proposal, it is just further evidence that you intend to eliminate Greek life at Colgate University in the near future. I invite you to “walk across this difference” with me.
John Roderick Wilson ‘52
Former member, Colgate University Board of Trustees
Former member, Board of Directors and
Regional V.P. Colgate University Alumni Corp
Recipient, Colgate University Maroon Citation and Alumni Service Awards
Lifetime member, Presidents Club