Police raid Dartmouth "Animal House"

[KBCraig]

I haven't seen this Valley News site before, but my first impression is that they lean our way.

Take a look at their Sex Crimes ~ Fears & Facts article.

Anyhoo, back to Animal House. "Sledgehammers"? ???

http://www.vnews.com/06092006/3132365.htm

Police Search Fraternity House; 1 ?Ancillary' Arrest
By Mark Davis
Valley News Staff Writer

Hanover -- Police spent five hours yesterday searching Alpha Delta fraternity house on East Wheelock Street near Dartmouth College.

One person was arrested for possession of a controlled substance. But police said in a press release that the arrest was ?ancillary? to the main investigation. Hanover police did not release the name of the man arrested, and said the substance was ?likely marijuana.?

Hanover Police Chief Nick Giaccone said the department obtained a search warrant yesterday morning in Lebanon District Court, using information gleaned from an investigation launched in October 2004 involving an incident at the fraternity.

Giaccone would provide no specifics, but said the search is not tied to possible charges for drugs or other Class A felonies, crimes that can incur sentences of more than seven years in prison.

The investigation is ongoing and more arrests are expected, police said.

Around 4 p.m., officers removed 10 crates and two duffle bags full of evidence, along with two sledge hammers. A video tape and a computer tower were among the items confiscated from the house directly across from Alumni Gym.

The warrant-- which Giaccone said gave police the right to search the entire house -- and the affidavit submitted to obtain the warrant, were sealed in Lebanon District Court.

The all-day search comes two days before Commencement exercises, which bring to campus hundreds of parents, alumni and such dignitaries as Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, this year's graduation speaker.

Dartmouth College released an e-mailed statement yesterday from William Walker, vice president for public affairs: ?We are cooperating with the police investigation, within the context of our responsibilities to our students and organizations under college policy and federal law. Questions about the investigation should be directed to the Hanover Police Department.?

Dartmouth's spring term ended Tuesday, leaving the campus devoid of its usual weekday bustle. Few passersby seemed to notice the police cars parked on Alpha Delta's lawn and the yellow tape closing the rear entrance to the house, about 100 yards from the campus green.

Inside, 14 police officers conducted the search, while outside, fraternity residents waited around the front porch, unable to enter the house until police had finished.

The students declined to comment yesterday, and their lawyer, Norwich's George Ostler, said they would not release a statement. ?The law is pretty clear,? said Ostler, who spent much of the day standing outside the house with fraternity members. ?The police can exclude (them) for a reasonable time. It's a major interruption when they search a whole house like this.?

The house has nine bedrooms and two bathrooms, and is valued at more than $1 million, according to town records. It is owned by alumni of the fraternity, called the Dartmouth Corporation of Alpha Delta.

Dartmouth College has had a tenuous relationship with its Greek System in recent years. President Jim Wright campaigned for a plan to abolish single-sex fraternities and sororities in 1999, provoking objections and protests from many students. The campaign led eventually to the Student Life Initiative, which promoted increasing the diversity of the Greek system and curbing drunkenness. In February 2005, fraternity Theta Delta Chi was indicted by a Grafton County grand jury for serving alcohol to minors.

The campus chapter of Alpha Delta is best known for its association with the comedy film National Lampoon's Animal House. Dartmouth Alpha Delta alum Chris Miller co-wrote the screenplay and is believed to have drawn on his campus experiences in the 1960s, when the fraternity was a chapter of Alpha Delta Phi.

[Kat Kanning]

I haven't seen this Valley News site before, but my first impression is that they lean our way.

Mike Lorrey was trying to work up a protest against the valley news because they wouldn't publish his LTEs   

[lildog]

President Jim Wright campaigned for a plan to abolish single-sex fraternities and sororities in 1999, provoking objections and protests from many students.

Oh yeah, I remember this guy?. I was serving as the executive vice president of a national fraternity when this was going down.  We had a meeting in which we had to discuss the possibility of either going ?underground? at certain schools or be forced to induct women.  The NIC (National Inter-fraternal Council) had a fit.  In fact it was actually the sororities who had the biggest objections to it as they said their group was something they viewed as a safe haven when women would hang out and not have to deal with pressure from men for sex (seriously, that was their argument).

I remember having a long talk with our secretary about the first amendment? in fact I remember having a discussion with a dean at a FL college asking him if he understood the meaning of the phrase ?the right of the people peaceably to assemble? and asked him if his school had policies against the boy scouts or members of the NRA.