Ah, Dartmouth College. Fairest academic flower of Northern New England. Elite institution of knowledge. Training ground for our future leaders.

And, ahem, the place whose concept of “moral leadership” is embodied in a loudly anti-gay Episcopal  Anglican Bishop.

Well, the Big Green has done it again. Earlier this summer, the Alpha Delta fraternity hosted a costume party. The theme?

The Crips and the Bloods.

That’s right, the scions of Our Ruling Class gave themselves a chance to dress up in Afro wigs and gang colors, and maybe even break out the “ghetto talk,” f’shizzle.

(Well, somebody has to do it; the school’s student body is only 8% African-American, so if the white folks don’t Represent, who will?)

And lest you think Alpha Delta is some fringy little outlier, bear in mind that Dartmouth’s new President, Phil Hanlon, is himself a proud Alpha Deltan.

Well, maybe not so proud right now. He hasn’t said yet.

The party happened on July 26, but was just reported today by Dartblog (and picked up by the national gossip/news website Gawker). So maybe the Prez is still whipping up his official response, which I’m sure will be chock full of Regrets and High Moral Statements and Assurances That Dartmouth Is A Diverse, Welcoming Place.  

It’d be nice if he turned in his membership card, but I don’t expect that much from the head of an institution whose Greek houses chronically overstep the bounds of good taste (and perhaps even legality).

And they wonder why so few minority students try to join fraternities and sororities:

Many students who consider themselves members of minority communities join Panhell and IFC houses, but others choose to rush multicultural houses or opt out of the Greek system entirely. While the decision is stressful for most Dartmouth students, some said that the process can be even more difficult for students who identify with minority groups because of cultural differences or lack of representation.

“Cultural differences,” heh. A nice, polite way of saying “We don’t want your kind here.”

You’d think, though, that the Alpha Delts would be a little smarter about this sort of thing, considering  that two other frats were busted for the same offense back in 1998:  

At Dartmouth College, white students at a “ghetto party” dressed as gangsta rap artists, some sporting Afro wigs and carrying toy guns, prompted a protest…

James Wright, a history professor who became Dartmouth’s 16th president in September, said of the campus party: “I was disappointed that this event happened. But I was immensely proud of the way students and the community came together.”

There’s a nice weasel-word template for President Hanlon. His predecessor (once removed) responded to the same situation with a weak expression of “disappointment” followed by a brisk appellation of lipstick to this ugly pig of an incident.

So sure, let’s all come together. Let’s have meetings and earnest conversations and maybe even a White Paper. Let’s hear all about how the frats are Going To Do Better. Maybe even a little sensitivity training.

And then the Greeks can go back to doing what they do best, and the institution can go back to ignoring the rampant ignorance and hatred on its storied campus.