Last Spring, I got my first blitz from Amarna. It invited me to something called a “zombie-pirate-ninja party.” I’m not out of my god-damned mind, so I didn’t go.

I did, however, attend one of the house's subsequent “Wine and Cheese” events. It was pretty fun, actually – a lot of people showed up, and their variety produced some great conversations. So, I returned for the next couple get-togethers. But they were insultingly lame, and I never went back.

Amarna was created in 1994 as an undergraduate society with the goal of creating a space on campus for everybody. It was a part of the Wright administration's efforts to “kill” the Greek system and replace it with an accepting, campus-wide network of open-admission undergraduate societies. At Amarna, there is no rush. You have no chance of being excluded.

But Amarna, tasked with creating a truly “fraternal” Dartmouth, became its own crazy world. Not only did it fail to uphold its mission; it distorted, perverted, and reversed it. And what's worse, no one cares. Not at Parkhurst, not at the sororities next door, and not even at Amarna. Heck, I don't even really care. That's the problem.

The only other undergraduate society on campus is Panarchy, but it began as a Greek fraternity and still, in many senses, operates as one. Amarna is the first “original” undergraduate society. But Amarna isn’t inclusive. It’s bizarre, and it repelled me as a fairly typical, Polo-wearing transfer student who doesn't feel the same way about any other house. Its “openness” is one of a peculiar subculture – that of silent karaoke and zombie-pirate-ninja parties – that excludes the vast majority of people. That's not diversity. It’s a self-imposed sentence of eternal marginalization.

You know what would be nice? If you got into Dartmouth by getting into Dartmouth. If everyone knew when the fun parties and kayaking trips were, and there weren't invisible, magical email lists everywhere. Or if blitz bulletins actually, you know, did something. And if students here didn't spend one year trying to impress people with their ability to hang out, then three years isolating and segmenting themselves based on which older kids liked their hangout skills the best.

As it is, you don’t get anywhere at Dartmouth by merit of getting into Dartmouth, and that sucks. If you're a freshman or sophomore, get ready: you're about to do an awful lot of stupid shit in order to be accepted. You are going to be hazed. In a couple years – odds are – you are going to haze somebody else.

And for what? Does it make you hotter, cooler, or more athletic? Here's a reality check: I transferred from a school where people actually are hot, “cool,” and athletic. I came here because the people were supposed to be smarter than that. To be full of potential. Not breaking each other down all the time over dumb stuff.

So go for broke. Rush Amarna. All of you. Transform it into what it was supposed to be: an open, accepting venue for everyone, that holds typical dance and music events without freaking people out. The best things at Dartmouth are the ones the community shares, because most people at Dartmouth are nice and smart. Really. They only lose that when they break off into their little groups and spend all day trying to one-up each other.

But wait – if everyone was in one big open house, wouldn't that mean I'd have to live alongside the Amarna people I don't have much in common with? Well, writing this from my home in Boston, I realize that I have nothing in common with my siblings – yet I live in the same house as them, I share the same meals, I trust them, and I love them. I don’t need to see them every minute of every day, but I would never turn my back on them. Why? Because we're members of the same family.

I remember the moment, on my DOC trip, when one of my trippees exclaimed how lucky she was to be at Dartmouth, and President Kim, standing nearby, replied: “And you know, you’re already in the Dartmouth family. Robert Frost didn’t graduate and he’s in our family.” I'm not sure if President Kim has used that line again. It was his first day here, and he was trying to be nice. But he's a very smart man. I’m sure he gets it now.

The potential for Dartmouth to be truly great, as President Kim frequently remarks, is there. But we still have some work to do.