Dartblog

I realize this story is getting old, but it is of great concern to many current students, so allow me one further update.

It is becoming increasingly clear that no students’ blitzmail accounts were invaded for information on the men’s and women’s Masters pong tournaments. The fake student blitzmail account theory remains a possibility, however.

Three new pieces of information have come to light.

First, an anecdote is circulating of a rather spectacular blooper committed by the summer president of one Greek house at a recent meeting of the Greek Leadership Council. This body—the GLC, as it is called—is a regular meeting of the presidents of all Greek houses with an administrator from the bureaucratic tentacle called the “Co-ed, Fraternity, and Sorority Administration.” The purpose of the meeting is to pretend to have a purpose, and to go through who-knows-what sorts of inane motions. (Actually, the purpose from the bureaucracy’s perspective is likely to keep an eye on the Greek houses, but I digress.) The Co-ed, Fraternity, and Sorority Administration, or CFS, is part of the super-tentacle of the Office of Residential Life, of which Martin Redman, who made this statement, is the head. (Perhaps Mr. Redman would be better called the shoulder—the point of contact between his bureaucratic tentacle and James Wright’s inner cadre.)

The story goes that towards the close of one of these GLC meetings, one Greek president attempted to confirm, quite indiscreetly, the date of the Masters tournament with two others. An instant of shocked silence rippled through the room. Grasping for the best damage control possible at that point, the two presidents who had been addressed proceeded to insist loudly that they had no idea what the inquirer was talking about. The CFS administrator present was reportedly Fouad Saleet.

Second, until recently, Deborah Carney, another CFS administrator, made a habit of asking “What’s Masters?” in private meetings with individual Greek student leaders. Also until recently, these individual Greek leaders sensibly disclaimed knowledge of the situation, or otherwise refused to comment. But in one such private meeting last week, Ms. Carney was better informed. Instead of asking her habitual question, she stated instead, “I have discovered your secret—I know what Masters is.” She proved that she was not bluffing by reciting the locations, dates, and times at which the tournament—both men’s and women’s—had been scheduled to take place.

Naturally, these two events do not tell the full story of how the administration caught onto the precise dates, times, and locations of the tournaments. But Dean Redman’s claim that students are “quite candid in sharing what is going on” goes right out the window.

Finally, with regards to the possibility that student blitzmail accounts were invaded and mined for information, students who work for Dartmouth Computing Services report that such is unlikely. They say that Computing Services is the only bureaucratic tentacle with the technical ability to oversee blitzmail, and that to monitor a particular student’s account would require the go-ahead from key bureaucrats in several completely separate tentacles, notably the Undergraduate Judicial Affairs Office. Approval might also be required from the Wright inner cadre itself.

In other words, what is protecting students’ privacy is the inefficiency of Dartmouth’s administrative bureaucracy.

Typical.