<p>My daughter’s sorority welcomes pledges by assigning big sisters that give them little surprises everyday. She came home with mugs and bracelets and flowers and stuffed animals…Yeah, they felt welcomed.</p>
<p>At her university her sorority (and I think this was true of all the sororities) did not allow alcohol in the house, ever. (Seniors moved out if they wanted wine with dinner…) There were no parties, other than mothers day luncheons and teas, at the house.</p>
<p>I’m not convinced most sororities revolve around alcohol or illegal drugs.</p>
Soroties at Cornell are not allowed to have parties at their house, that´s why they have mixers with fraternities, and they also have their events (formals, parties) off campus (rent party halls). They usually rent buses to transport people to and from the party. Just because they do not have parties at their house, it doesn´t mean they don´t have parties, and it doesn´t mean there is no alcohol or illegal drugs.</p>
<p>"I just have never been able to figure out why a person would want to be life long friends with someone who was a jerk to you on purpose - whether it’s putting you in a life threatening situation or calling you names. "</p>
<p>I don’t either. But it’s not a universal descriptor of the Greek system. BTW, is what I described upthread about Dartmouth upperclassmen calling the new class “worst class ever” hazing? Or light-hearted fun? I got the sense from the description that it fell under light-hearted fun.</p>
<p>"is what I described upthread about Dartmouth upperclassmen calling the new class “worst class ever” hazing? Or light-hearted fun? "
Well, lets look at it from the point of view of a new freshman, who knows nothing about this “tradition” of hazing- If a professor [or another person in a position of authority] said that same thing to a class on their first day,[ without a wink or a smile to show he was kidding] I think that many in the class would be alarmed, wonder what had made him say that, and question whether they really want to take that class at all!</p>
<p>full disclosure- DS decided against Dartmouth after visiting during Dimensions, in large part because of the overwhelming influence that frats there had there on college life.</p>
<p>I don’t think President Skorton’s suggestion is going to work.</p>
<p>You can eliminate the pledging period (when incoming members do not yet have full member status) and give all fraternity and sorority members full membership right away, but this will not necessarily end hazing. The older members of the organization could still haze the people who are in their first semester or year of membership.</p>
<p>After all, hazing doesn’t just occur in the Greek system. It also occurs on athletic teams, where the newest members sometimes get hazed. In this case, the newest members are full members of the team, but this doesn’t prevent hazing.</p>
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<p>For students in demanding academic programs, such as architecture or engineering, or those who already devote a large amount of time to paid work or extracurricular activities, this kind of requirement could interfere with their ability to fulfill their academic responsibilities. Some students cannot afford to give up an 8-hour period each weekend.</p>
<p>Interfering with a student’s academic activities is a form of hazing. </p>
<p>Are you kidding me? The problem isn’t fraternities, it is hazing. My S attended\d a top LAC and was accepted into A Capella group that had dreadful hazing that did not stop. He joined a fraternity that was so easy by comparison. His frat brothers were great guys. The A Capella group–he originally loved being a part of–maybe he will some day reconnect.</p>
<p>We also know of rampant sport hazing. Sports teams members are like fraternities, only we pay them millions of dollars.</p>
<p>‘If one person making an offhand remark leads a person to question their life decisions, they have bigger issues’
Oh brother! Joining or not joining a Frat is a LIFE DECISION? Me thinks someone thinks a little too much of the importance of frats in their life…</p>
<p>The letter seems to be specifically addressing pledging/hazing. Many of the comments refer to drinking / dangerous behaviour that happens but is not JUST part of pledging. Pledging can be non dangerous - I had to wear a pin, dress nice, keep a journal, learn the greek alphebet, learn tons of facts regarding my sorority, run errands, volunteer for a required number of service hours, attend meetings, attend study hall, etc. The list was LONG, but nothing dangerous or harmful. I think pledging is fine, if rules are set and can be followed. The dangerous drinking / drugs is not isolated to just the pledges or pledge period. Prohibiting pledging is not going to stop the dangerous behaviour.</p>
<p>It is incontrovertible that, taken as whole, drinking and drugging, even outside of hazing, are much, much higher among fraternity and sorority members than among general college populations. So are assaults, sexual assaults, accidents, visits to emergency rooms - all of these have been studied ad infinitum.</p>
<p>However, it may simply be that those who engage in these behaviors are simply attracted to their own kind. The fraternity and sorority provide the venue, and the positive reinforcement.</p>
<p>Joining or not joining a Greek house has a profound effect on a student’s college life – often for as long as three and a half years (four for the rare colleges that recruit at the very beginning of freshman year). I would call it a life decision.</p>
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<p>My son would agree with the second paragraph that I quoted, Mini. He attended a college where the proportion of students in Greek life was relatively small (the University of Maryland at College Park), and he felt that the frats attracted a specific population that was prone to engage in “fratty” behaviors anyway.</p>
<p>I’m not so sure, though, that your reasoning applies to schools where a much higher proportion of the student body joins Greek houses. At those schools, students who are not necessarily “Greek types” might feel the need to join a Greek house for fear of being left out of campus life if they don’t.</p>
<p>Oh, yes! And we know - we have good data - that when venues for drinking and drugging are closed, it does NOT all go some place else. Yes, those committed to their addictions will continue regardless, but lots of people won’t go out of the ways (as often) to seek it out!</p>
<p>If I were the President of Cornell, I’d give five years’ notice that they are all going to be closed. And then go out on the hustings and raise the bucks necessary to make it possible. But that’s just me.</p>
<p>My daughter and I are both Cornell graduates (35 years apart). A large proportion of Cornell students belong to Greek houses (although neither of us did); it would be hard to remove that element from Cornell life. </p>
<p>Perhaps more important, the Greek houses are a major source of student housing, and I’m not sure who owns them or whether they could be turned into university housing or off-campus housing if the fraternities and sororities were eliminated. There could be a problem with students not having places to live if the Greek system was disbanded.</p>
<p>So, at Williams 50 years ago, the President gave the frats an ultimatum: close and sell the property to the college (at a reasonable rate) within five years, or keep the property but know that any student who lives in the house will be expelled. At that time, the frats made up more than 50% of the college’s housing. With one exception, they all sold, and became the core of the college’s housing (which also led to some other problems, but not those they had with the frats.) This is not an insoluble dilemma. But it takes gumption.</p>