October 2000

To All Those Whom the Status of Dartmouth's Psi Chapter of La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity, Incorporated, and the Dartmouth Latino Community in Regards to the Greek Letter System at Dartmouth May Concern:

I.                   Introduction

            For as much as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed, practiced and even present among us, it seemed
more than wise and appropriate to us also, the Hermanos of La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity, Incorporated (LUL), both undergraduate and alumni, having
had experience as well as an understanding of all such things that pertain to the status and condition, institutionally, organizationally and personally, of the Psi chapter of LUL at Dartmouth, to share all of these with you in order that you might come to understand our mission, our history, where the needs of our organization, members and community have been and have not been met, to what extent our leadership has been of service to the community as well as how Dartmouth and LUL can jointly increase that capacity for service, and finally, to set forth a proposition for the continued evolution of the relationship between Dartmouth and LUL to meet the demands of our 21st century educational family.

II. Background

 

       When the founding members of Dartmouth's LUL Chapter had met with representatives of the College administration that specialized with Greek Letter Organizations in 1997, it was conceded that the administrators had no experience with
Latino Greek Letter Organizations, despite our organization's existence in the Ivy League since 1982, and that they had a limited knowledge of the needs of the Latino students in higher education.  In addition, when the President of Dartmouth's LUL Chapter and the representative of Dartmouth's LUL Alumni Executive Board met with the assistant Dean of the Office of Residential Life (ORL) who specializes in the needs of Greek Letter Organizations (Deborah Carney) in June of 2000, it was once again conceded by the ORL administrator that the needs of an organization of our type that has been active on Dartmouth's campus for three years and that the educational experience and struggle of Latino students, a population of  Dartmouth students whose size augmented by ~76% in the class of 2003, were equally alien and foreign.  Lastly, in June of 2000, when the President of Dartmouth's LUL Chapter and the representative of Dartmouth’s LUL Alumni Executive Board met with both the outgoing and the replacement assistant Deans of ORL specializing in Greek Letter Organizations (Deborah Carney and Cassie Barnhart), it was once again conceded that the needs of the said organization and said people continued to elude them, including the newly hired assistant Dean.

It is more than prudent at this juncture to explicitly state that the purpose of this letter is NOT to attack any Dartmouth administrator, newly hired or otherwise, nor is it any other purpose than to take the opportunity, offered by Assistant Deans Carney and
Barnhart, to continue to strengthen the relationship between Dartmouth and LUL.  While we have sought to understand the ignorance of certain Dartmouth administrators in regards to the Latino/Hispanic Diaspora and while we have even sought to enlighten them with the work of the award winning sociologist and honorary LUL Hermano Dr. Felix Padilla called The Struggle of Latino/a University Students: In Search of a Liberating Education as well as with the web page of our national organization (http://www.launidadlatina.org), a balance must be struck and we, the Dartmouth LUL Alumni, have a vested interest in Dartmouth to help establish that balance.  For we are the first to concede that issues of race and ethnicity, especially those concerning the multiracial and multicultural Latino/Hispanic population, are complex, with complex needs and approaches necessary to make Dartmouth the premier institution of our rapidly changing 21st century nation.  Our 231 year old institution cannot afford to even appear, neither in thought nor in practice, to lack a comprehensive institutional focus to meet the needs of students of color generally and Latino/as specifically, as can unfortunately be said when many who administer to the Greek Letter System (a group which is composed of a large percentage of the student body and a group that has historically had and to this very moment continues to have severe, scandalous and notorious problems with issues of race and multiculturalism {to name a few} to the point of international media attention) have had no comprehensive institutional training, staff or experience with such issues.
         Because of the limited training, knowledge and experience of administrators in ORL with Latino issues and because of the lack of adequate initiative on the part of ORL to live up to the Board of Trustees’ commitment to multiculturalism in every facet of Dartmouth life (as articulated in the Committee on Student Life Initiative Recommendations) by training all staff on these issues and by recruiting experts, the burden has been placed on our organization too often, particularly the undergraduate officers of organizations such as LUL and La Alianza Latina, to undertake the important task of briefing the said administration on our organization and our people, despite the undeniable fact that an undergraduate has no qualifications and little clout to administer to an administrator in such a fashion, as if a few conversations with an over-scheduled, under-represented, under-privileged, disadvantaged, discriminated against group of undergraduates will wave the proverbial magic wand to make our "problem" people disappear, accept the current situation and assimilate, simply fail academically out of Dartmouth and therefore cease to be a bother or miraculously un-teach 20 years of racial stereotyping and culturally reinforced racializing among many Dartmouth students overnight.  Although it is ideal for an educational partnership to exist between a student and administrator, between a student organization and an administrative department, there is a serious concern that the current relationship does not do justice to the importance of these issues to Dartmouth's commitment to the education of ALL its students, including to the education of students of color, specifically Latino/Hispanic Dartmouth undergraduates.
          All this having been said however, in the three years of LUL's presence at Dartmouth, a great deal of progress has been made, none of which would have been possible without the good will and general willingness of ORL's Assistant Dean Carney and Dean Redman to learn about our experience, to develop our leadership initiative and to guide us in learning to exist and succeed in the complex political environment of the Greek Letter System, especially for a group such as ours which has been historically so underrepresented and even cruelly ridiculed as well as persecuted by Dartmouth Greeks.  Although the assistant Dean has no formal training on Latino Greeks, our relationship has been based on the principle that, despite not knowing how LUL fits exactly into the institutional structure of the Greek Letter System, we would approach it with an open mind and constant reflection as well as evaluation for the purpose of evolving our relationship so that the potential of LUL and the Greek Letter System are maximized.
          While this empirical approach has provided us with a great deal of first hand experience with the structure and leadership culture of the so-called Greek System, it has been a grueling process marked by acts of bigotry, obdurate exclusion of any voice expressing cultural norms outside of the alcohol-based, party focused and un-citizenly culture that characterizes the lifestyle and code of conduct which members and leaders of the CFSC continue to pass for leadership; all of which, by virtue of our being targets of such bigotry and exclusion, served to threaten the mental health of the LUL undergraduates as well as to produce an environment virtually intolerable for the academic and even biological livelihood of our organization.  Indeed this has been an annus horribilis for LUL/CFSC relations, and the indignities, abuse and insult that we have suffered make it intolerable and a vile violation of our basic human and civil rights to be continued to be coerced to suffer CFSC meetings.  For truly it is easy to encourage our undergraduates to "work with and be a part of the Greek community" and to employ the empty rhetoric of a "Greek Family," especially when one is speaking from the comfortable position of not having to attend those
meetings, not having to suffer the awful stares and murderous comments, to be disrespected and ridiculed, to have one's race, heritage and culture denigrated and, after meetings are over, to suffer verbal and physical harassment for being who we are and upholding the principles to which we have sworn to adhere.
        Examples of such offences against humanity perpetuated by the so-called Co-Educational Fraternity Sorority Council are unfortunately not limited to, but certainly do include:  explicit resistance by both members and executive officers of the CFSC to the inclusion of the only Latino Greek Letter Organization fully recognized at Dartmouth (LUL) and therefore they have actively perpetuated the de facto segregation in the institutional structure of the Greek System as well as been privy to a conspiracy to perpetuate the continued denial of resources that are deemed as rights and privileges of Dartmouth Greek Letter Organizations to the Psi Chapter of LUL, the denial of our voting privileges in CFSC meetings by the CFSC executive council as well as countless other breaches of the CFSC constitution, the promotion of the banned and racially/culturally insensitive Indian mascot by member fraternities on fraternity jackets and t-shirts including one depicting a stereotypical Indian receiving oral sex from a bulldog, the common use and tolerance of sexist language and racist innuendo during formal CFSC meetings by both officers and members, the explicit conspiracy within formal CFSC meetings to cover-up behavior that included excessive alcohol consumption and distribution via "don't ask, don't tell" policies among CFSC whistle-blowers as well as the appointment of unofficial troubleshooters to deal with the specifics of the incidents and subsequent cover-ups, the refusal of the CFSC and its member organizations to ever actively participate beyond token co-sponsorships in any discussion regarding issues of race, gender, multiculturalism or ethnicity, and lastly, the sending out of secret minutes and the organization of secret meetings that included every Greek Letter Organization excluding LUL.
         As the Dartmouth administration and anyone else acquainted with the recent history of the CFSC know, these incidents and the many others that have occurred are unfortunately well steeped in the traditions of Frat. Row, yet it provides no excuse for any individual or group, such as LUL, to be coerced to remain as their prey.  Accordingly, therefore, it will come as no surprise that at the June 2000 meeting mentioned above, it was agreed that LUL would no longer be forced to suffer the CFSC meetings nor the inapplicable CFSC programming standards, and that we would work together to establish LUL's place institutionally (hence this letter).

III. The Paradigm Governing LUL

 

 At this point it seems fitting to share what has already been discussed in prior conversations about the shortcomings of the CFSC's so-called programming standard, and, with special significance to our purpose in this letter, to set forth how unfulfilling they fundamentally are to LUL.  That these programming standards are meant for organizations that are primarily social drinking clubs is the basic reason why they do not complement the needs of our organization, for LUL is primarily focused on community as well as personal empowerment, as expressed in the following national mission statement:

La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity, Incorporated, a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization established in 1982, exists to bring men together in Brotherhood and to unite the Latino community.

 

 In its pursuit to fulfill this mission, La Unidad Latina will:

 
Provide Latino students with the academic, cultural and social support necessary to excel in institutions of higher learning;

Increase opportunities for Latino children and adolescents to achieve in elementary and secondary schools;

Develop leaders that shall provide, develop and implement the tools for community empowerment;


Inspire ethnic pride and cultural awareness in the Latino community; Support the efforts to enhance the growth and well-being of the Latino community;

Collaborate with individuals, organizations and institutions that will join our efforts to improve the conditions of the Latino community.

Furthermore, in practice, our organization organizes students and events with the intent of sharing our rich cultures and histories, leading through service, learning more about the current political realities of our people, networking and mentoring to aide in attaining effective study skills, research, career development and quality of life.  As students of color in New Hampshire, especially as Latinos, the environment on campus has made us feel alienated, out of place and intimidated for reasons that include our coming from large, diverse urban areas where rampant bigotry and intolerance are not as common nor as unchecked, especially among members of our own generation and classmates.  However, we know that Dartmouth is potentially a wonderful place to learn, and that there are many advantages to being at an Ivy League Institution in NH with a strong tradition of community learning.

 

 

IV. The Need for an Institutionalized Focus on the Latino Community

 

              Nonetheless, our struggle must not only be understood by the administration, but our needs must be proactively met. Although we hold cultural and educational programming throughout the year to celebrate and share our history with others and although every day is a difficult lesson for us in dealing with incessant attempts to assimilate us into the mainstream, willingly or not, it is not our role, especially as underrepresented, underprivileged and disadvantaged as we are, to educate the largely homogenous student body.  LUL was created to empower Latino students and to guide campus administrators to pay serious and much needed attention to their needs, rather than Latino students being used simply and only for the purpose of educating Anglo-American  students.  LUL was brought to Dartmouth in order to give the Latino community access to the resources of the Greek Letter system and to begin the full racial/ethnic integration of that system, not for the purpose of our being an opportunity for archaic and outmoded frats already established on campus to appear to do cultural programming via token/quota co-sponsorships nor to once again oppress the Latino people by lumping us with another group, denying who we are and forcing us to assimilate to the detriment of our great 231 year old institution.  For although the empty terms "Greek Family" and "Greek Community" (They are empty because we have lived and continue to live in the reality of how false those terms are, by being the ones outcast to the fringes of that group) have often been used rhetorically to compensate for the patriarchal, xenophobic and amoral reality of Dartmouth “Greeks,” our collective experience has been the ultimate proof that the current CFSC is incongruent with an organization that seeks to fulfill principles such as ours.
           It is not our ambition to convert any individual or organization to become more like LUL and we do not call upon the administration to do so, for such rhetoric and such an agenda once again remove the focus and resources of the administration away from the Latino community and towards the various privileged and mainstream groups already long-established institutionally on campus.  The current structural problem is rooted in that the paradigm of LUL is not the same paradigm that governs the CFSC.  Therefore, what we are calling on the Dartmouth administration to do is to undergo a paradigm-shift to account for LUL because, as it stands now, there is either the assumption or the implicit hope/misunderstanding, as implied by how LUL is supported, that we are just a Latino version of what goes on every night on Frat. Row.  Beyond the mission statement and the political conflicts in the CFSC, the non-mainstream paradigm that governs our organization manifests itself in our meetings, community service, networking, leadership, events, political initiatives and alumni interaction.

V. The Current Structure of the Psi Chapter of LUL

 

            In our meetings, unlike on Frat. Row every Wednesday night, alcohol is never present and the way our meetings are structured follow the type of organization that we are.  They begin with a period of exchange among the Hermanos sharing the personal experiences of the week, as well as our individual hopes and dreams.  Then it becomes more formal with reports from each Hermano on their ongoing projects as well as a discussion of new business. Because we have no space, although we are the only Greek Letter Organization without any space, despite not being the youngest Greek Letter Organization on campus (c.f. Alpha Xi Delta which co-sponsored the now notorious Ghetto Party and Cuban Party in the Fall of 1998 and Winter of 1999, respectively) and despite the fact that the CFSC constitution states that it is the role of ORL to assist in the acquiring of a space for Greek Letter Organizations, these meetings are held in the Chapter President's dormitory room. Beyond formal meetings, we also have weekly chapter dinners, regular study hours and chapter retreats.

VI. Community Service and Leadership

 

             Although we do not have any permanent space and although we lack many privileges, rights and support systems that mainstream Greeks squander, we initiated our own, independent community service outreach program for the growing Latino population of the Upper-Valley and the greater VT/NH area.  ORL has supported our program financially, specifically through the office of the above-mentioned assistant Deans, and it has been of great value for us in our primary stage of outreach. As of this summer of 2000 we have held seven community dinners, several community dances and one community volleyball game over seven terms. However, we have come to the threshold of our next level of developing this program.  We are in the process of finalizing our Latino/Hispanic community Hermano Jason Guagliardo Memorial scholarship (to be raised at our Annual Noche Dorada and awarded at our annual Latino Awards banquet), developing a community Newsletter and regular community mailings (for the Upper-Valley and Manchester) and the initiation of a series of community workshops, in addition to our community fostering dinners/BBQ's.  What is needed is support from ORL in terms of resources, both in terms of finance and space, for our community work to reach the highest and most unprecedented levels of empowerment through service.
            Although we do not have any permanent space and although we do not dominate the campus social scene, dole out free beer or have the privilege of applying for UFC funding, we have developed a network for Latino students. Our initiative begins within our national fraternity through our communication with Hermanos and Chapters from NH down to Florida and out to California and Washington State.  It continues with our support of First year student receptions targeted at Latino students to let them know about the six Latino campus organizations as well as our advisors and allies, both on and off campus.  We also provide workshops on how to succeed at Dartmouth as well as encourage the formation of productive study groups.  Although it might not be widely known, we are aware of the unfortunate fact that at least 5 Latino/Hispanics students were placed on leave from campus by Parkhurst due to academic reasons this passed ’99 – ’00 academic year, the unfortunate result of the struggle we face daily on campus.  To enhance our networking efforts, we need more resources, both in terms of space and finance, to fund regular community study sessions with food and prizes for those who study the most and make improvement.  This demand might seem odd coming from a Greek Letter Organization, but as stated above, we function under a paradigm focusing on empowerment and community involvement, rather than on alcoholism, egoism and social irresponsibility.

 

 

VII.  Synergistic Quality Campus-Unifying Events

 

            Although we do not have a free-standing building that bears our letters as a constant presence on campus and as a monumental embodiment of our principles as well as commitment to Dartmouth, and although we have not succumbed to entice people to attend our events through the widespread distribution of free alcohol, we have had some
success in holding events (cultural, social, political, fraternal, and academic) that achieve our mission in a synergistic way and have drawn some large audiences.  While there have been many temptations and even pressures to over program, either in attempting to educate the whole world on what it means to be Latino or in trying to increase our presence on campus to promote understanding, there is no greater virtue in an individual or organization than the ability to strike a balance among the basic spiritual, social, physical and mental needs of its members and community. Our greatest success in striking this balance in our programming, while reaching an audience of ~200 people, was our First Annual Noche Dorada during the campus celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month. It was a formal banquet with authentic foods representing Latino culture, a keynote address by honorary Hermano Dr. Felix Padilla on Cultural Literacy, a live Mariachi band, a performance by the socially conscious poetry/jazz group known as the Welfare Poets and a preliminary drive for our community scholarship campaign, bringing students, faculty, alumni, staff, clergy, members of the Upper-Valley community, representatives from other LUL New England Chapters and even was featured in an article reviewing resources for Latino students in the Ivy League in the May issue of Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education magazine. We strive to set the opportunities for growth each year in the fall with these types of events so that channels can be open for interaction from the start. It is our goal to hold an event similar in scale to Noche Dorada in the winter and spring, but it necessitates added resources in terms of both space and finance.

 

VIII.  Building Coalitions and Creating Allies

 

           Although ours is an organization that was spearheaded by our involvement in the Latino community, the realities of Dartmouth's strong tradition of community as well as the increasingly globalized nature of our 21 century nation's population and economy have all made it necessary to undertake political initiatives to deal with groups outside of the Latino community. Our primary principle has been to proactively attempt to understand all student and administrative groups with which we interact by constructively engaging them. With other communities of color and the GLBT community, we have tried to create trust and means of communication so that we can all struggle together at Dartmouth. With mainstream organizations we have been willing to partake in candid dialogue and attempts at coalition building, but remaining mindful of the complexities of the campus' political climate, especially in terms of race and gender, where de facto segregation continues to challenge us. However, we have never rushed into any relationships without laboring through the long, but vital process of building trust. With the administration we have always sought to avoid polarized relationships, but have striven to create educational partnerships from which Hermanos and institutions may grow, but at the same time weary of being used as a means of simply educating the majority or of not having an open relationship, for the needs must be perceived and understood before they can possibly be met. We have tried to find trustworthy people of all groups, both on and off campus, for support, understanding, guidance, to build coalitions with, as resources and even for friendship. We firmly believe that by expressing our rich cultural heritages and living out our principles we will complement and enhance the educational experience of our shared institution. For the coming year, our next major political drive will be focused on admissions in an effort to increase the matriculation rate of prospective Dartmouth students by holding an event in many ways similar to our Noche Dorada in the spring on a weekend when the prospective Latino/Hispanic students are flown to campus.

IX. The Tradition of Latinos/Hispanics at Dartmouth

 

           Although our alumni group has not yet been recognized by Dartmouth and although the long tradition of Latino Dartmouth students is not widely known, our organization has had a history of alumni involvement through advisement, financial contributions, moral support by meeting with student groups and administrators as well as counseling in the areas of career development, life's choices and personal growth. We have alumni attend chapter events as well as our annual spring retreat. It is a goal of our Dartmouth LUL Alumni Executive Board to work with the College on long term issues, such as the securing of a permanent space with a mission and charter of Latino community empowerment, the establishment of a Latino Greek council that enjoys the same privileges of the other Greek councils (including applying for UFC funding) and recognizes the paradigm governing LUL, the continued support of the development of our undergraduate chapter and the modernization of the substance of the Greek system, as well as greater Dartmouth, to fully incorporate such values as diversity and community involvement, from both the students and administration, as well as all other such issues that complement and enhance the Educational Mission Statement of Dartmouth College and its Board of Trustees, beginning most naturally with the immediate recognition of Dartmouth's LUL Alumni Executive Board by the College. The drafting of this letter was called upon over a series of conversations that culminated in the recent request to establish "standards" for our undergraduate chapter, in order to guide, evaluate, award and hold it accountable. There is no group of principles to which we hold ourselves accountable or to which anyone else should hold us accountable other than those stated above in our national mission statement. In fact, each year we report to nationals, along with the other LUL chapters, how our chapter and our Hermanos have fulfilled our mission and goals, for which the Copa Dorada (golden cup) is awarded to the most impressive Chapter overall. This letter outlines in no unfamiliar or uncertain terms what we, both undergraduates and alumni alike, would like to achieve for the future of Dartmouth and it is a continuation of the process of understanding and evolving LUL's place at Dartmouth. It is time and long overdue for formal letters stating our full recognition, of both the undergraduate chapter (which has already been fully recognized, but never formally declared as such by ORL) and the alumni group, to be issued once and for all. It is time for LUL to be granted the full rights and privileges that all other Greek Letter Organizations on Dartmouth's campus enjoy: a Latino Greek Letter Council, a permanent space dedicated to and adequate for accomplishing our mission, a College recognized alumni group, correction for any and all inadequate organizational and personal support for LUL and its Hermanos as well as continued outreach by the department of ORL to develop the educational experience of Latino Dartmouth students. These needs as well as continued communication are necessary for establishing a prosperous future for Latinos at Dartmouth. We hope that you will give the above words much thought, consideration and an adequate response coupled with decisive action.

 

Yours truly and always with the future of Dartmouth College in mind,


The Hermanos of La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda
Fraternity Incorporated:

 

Dartmouth LUL Alumni Executive Board

Hermano Federico Rivera, ‘95

Hermano Tyonek Ogemageshig, ‘97

Hermano Ernesto Ceuvas, Jr.  ‘98

Hermano Daniel Rivera, ‘98

Hermano Gerardo Carfagno, ‘99

Hermano Fernando Diaz, Jr.  ‘00

Hermano Rolando Lopez, ‘00

Hermano Omar Rashid, ‘00

Dartmouth Psi Chapter of LUL

Hermano Rolando Lopez, ‘00

Hermano Genaro Bugarin, ‘01

Hermano Ali Rashid, ‘01

X. Summaries

Executive Summary

· A permanent budget for our events based on the itemized budget of ’99 – ‘00

· A permanent budget for our community outreach service project for community                         newsletters and workshops

·A permanent budget for workshops, study sessions and networking opportunities focused on the empowerment of Latino/Hispanic students and the Latino/Hispanic community academically, professionally, politically and culturally

·A permanent space dedicated to the empowerment of Latino/Hispanic students and the Latino/Hispanic community culturally, academically, politically and professionally, not simply an “academic” center

·More resources in terms of space for our community service and for the empowerment of Latino/Hispanic students as outlined above

·More economic and political clout institutionally for the Dartmouth Latino/Hispanic community by giving us the privilege of applying for funding from the Undergraduate Finance Committee as well as the recognition of our alumni group

·A Latino/Hispanic Student Recruitment Weekend

·The immediate integration of a multiculturalism training program for all staff in the administration, especially for Deans and assistant Dean

·The recruitment/establishment of multiculturalism experts to provide continuing education for faculty, staff and students

·The formation of an initiative to promote the entry of Latino/Hispanics students into the sciences  (biological, physical, engineering, computer and mathematical sciences)

·The formation of  a Latino Greek Letter Council with all the rights and privileges of all the other Greek councils, including and certainly not limited to the privilege of applying for UFC funding and permanent administrative support from within ORL

Yearly Goals Summary for the Psi Chapter of LUL

“There is no group of principles to which we hold ourselves accountable or to which anyone else should hold us accountable other than those stated above in our national mission statement….these goals can only be achieved through a proactive, educational partnership with the Hermanos of LUL and the Dartmouth administration for the betterment of the entire Dartmouth community.”

·Noche Dorada and Fall Festival in recognition and celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month

·Latino/Hispanic Student Recruitment Weekend (Spring Term)

·LUL Latino/Hispanic Community Outreach Program Event Each Term

·Latino/Hispanic Community Awards Banquet, including the presentation of our annual Latino/Hispanic Community Hermano Jason Guagliardo Memorial Scholarship (Spring Term)

·First Year Latino/Hispanic Student Reception (Fall)

·Leadership & Empowerment Workshops Each Term

·Uniting the Latino Community through support, involvement and leadership in:

La Alianza Latina, MEChA, Nuestras Voces, Hijas de La Esperanza, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and any other Latino Organization that might form

·Working with various religious communities, including the St. Thomas Aquinas House, to provide moral and spiritual support for our efforts of community building and unity.

·Regular meetings with campus administrators to enhance the access of Latino Students to College Resources

·Build coalitions with other groups on campus, both mainstream and of color, in order to unite the larger Dartmouth community and to promote greater understanding and growth

·Hold Chapter Retreats Each Term & an annual Undergraduate/Alumni Retreat (Spring)

·Hold Weekly Chapter Dinners

 

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