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Jewish fraternity rejected again from Dartmouth College (Matt Rand, Jerusalem Post, May 19th, 2006)

Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi apparently won't be throwing any crazy toga parties at Dartmouth College any time soon.

Told it "would not be competitive," for a second time the Dartmouth College fraternity council recently blocked Alpha Epsilon Pi from being officially recognized and given colony status at the Hanover, New Hampshire, school two hours north of Boston whose fraternities inspired the film Animal House.

Through a secret ballot, Alpha Epsilon Pi was rejected for membership in the Dartmouth Interfraternity Council for a second time in early May after first being rejected in January.

Alpha Epsilon Pi had been the first fraternity to ask for recognition after Dartmouth trustees lifted the ban on recognizing new fraternities in June 2005, said Interfraternity Council President Alexander Lenz. He said the council intended to reexamine its expansion policy in the next couple of weeks.

While the council originally said it "could not sustain another fraternity," it also conceded that some in the council were uncomfortable admitting a fraternity whose membership was "eighty to ninety percent" Jewish.

Other Dartmouth fraternities which have minority group connections apparently did not have to go through the same process, said Patrick Karas, who is leading the advocacy for the Jewish fraternity's establishment as a "colony" at Dartmouth.

Karas said that Alpha Phi Alpha, a historically African-American fraternity, and Lambda Upsilon Lambda, a Latino fraternity, did not have to get recognition from the same fraternity council Alpha Epsilon Pi now petitions. [...]

Dartmouth Chabad Rabbi Moshe L. Gray expressed disappointment with the rejection, saying the establishment of the Jewish fraternity would be "another opportunity to increase and better Jewish life on campus."

"I think this does not bode well for Dartmouth, nor for the Jewish community here," said Gray. "I'm not sure what kind of message this sends to the broader Jewish community in America."

We are. Something pointed and creative must be done about this. And we think we have found just the man to do it.