One thing that I found interesting was this chapter of “Phi Psi” wasn’t even part of the National fraternity Phi Kappa Psi. The national org released that a Phi Psi chapter hadn’t been recognized for over 50 years. Why would Swarthmore allow an unrecognized fraternity to exist as a registered student org for so long beats me.
Not sure why it is that unusual for a fraternity that has one chapter to exist.
Obviously not all all Greek members are “bad”. My main issue when I read all these stories is the complete lack of empathy or common sense or whatever. How were you raised that you can watch someone in obvious distress and not seek help? Why do these kids not have each other’s backs? And how the heck do adults then defend the behavior?
This CNN article states 77 deaths 2005-2018. Add 3 this year and you get more than 6/year.
Rape and death! I think my kids should join a frat.
Wow - thanks for the link @mamalion
“Can you name another campus group with 30 hazing deaths in the last 5 years?”
Maybe not from hazing, but not uncommon to hear about deaths related to college football (someone dropping dead during training camp etc …). Plenty of other bad stuff too (brain injuries, paralysis etc …). Not uncommon to hear about rapes, sexual assaults, and other crimes committed by college football players either. Most of the time, these crimes are committed by individuals who would never have stepped foot on campus but for their athletic talent.
If frats really wanted to help the charities, and clean up their own act little bit in the process, all they would have to do is instead of putting on some staged fund-raising event is to just give up drinking for one week each year and donate all their alcohol money for that week to the charities.
I wouldn’t cost them one dime more than they were going to spend. They would raise many millions for the charities. And for that one week each year the incidents of drunkenness and sexual assault would go way down too. A win/win. But that will never happen Convincing frats to give up substance abuse for one week is a non-starter.
It’s true that a racist misogynist student on a given campus will still be there if you close his frat, or all the frats. But will the next kid like him be as interested in that school when the frats are gone? He might not be. If you’re running an LAC, it’s something to think about. Guys who want a safe space to be racist misogynists seek out (historically white) fraternity life at different rates than other LAC applicants.
For context, my husband and father were in fraternities, and I’ll be enthusiastically spending this weekend at my husband’s on-campus fraternity reunion weekend, so I live “not all frat guys” every day.
When I went to Big SEC Party School with Awful Greek Life, I went to several parties at small LACs that could out-party us easily. The behavior doesn’t begin and end at campuses with fraternities. Some people just have a snobbish perception that LACs are somehow more intellectually superior to state schools and that the behavior just couldn’t possibly happen there. It’s similar to parents who send their kids to Catholic schools because they think they are better behaved than kids who go to public schools.
How about Football?
There are around 75,000 students playing college football each year, with an average of 2 deaths per year. There are 9,000,000 greeks on US campuses with 6 deaths per year. Assume 25% of the greeks pledge each year, That means you are 10 times more likely to die playing college football than you are to pledging a frat.
Should we discuss the long term effects on those participating?
But the football deaths aren’t hazing.
Football deaths are worse than hazing. They now represent a significant socio-economic diversity that is akin to the Christians and the lions. Football players are disproportionally low-income compared to other areas of campus. The wealthy watch while the less fortunate risk their health for a chance at being wealthy.
The wealthy, who appreciate the long term impact of head trauma have left pop warner football. To offset the pipeline losses, the NFL has actually sponsored programs in low-income neighborhoods.
http://www.nflfoundation.org/applications/programs/view/grassroots
The point is: if you’re looking to make college safer, I can give you a place to start that’s much more dangerous than the frats.
We can get rid of both football and greek life. I could live with that. 
@doschicos Honestly doesn’t sound very good to me.
Football players at the Ivies and elite D3s are generally high income, though not perhaps on par with the sailing and polo etc athletes.
Football is deadly for a reason with no connection to hazing, CTE.
But athletic teams definitely have problems with hazing too, and in the case of Swat, the fraternity and the athletic team were basically the same people.
I have no idea if this was directed at me but trust me, I’m well aware that LAC kids can party like anyone.
My point was, if they aren’t in a frat, they don’t get an entire house of their own to do what they want to in, away from the eyes of the administration and non-frat students. A dorm is a different animal and things can be more controlled there. LAC or Uni, it doesn’t matter, it’s partly a question of having a house or not.
Ask anyone to tell you ONE story about their time in college…it won’t be about a lecture or exam.
I think we need to be careful we don’t try to over-structure everything that people learn as they become independent adults. I honestly think colleges are too strict with alcohol policies, which results in pre-gaming and binging.
^^ And there are schools that give you that option. Why can’t other schools offer football and greek life?
Not true.
The socio-economic backgrounds have shifted in the past 10 years. Rich kids don’t play football.
My prediction: The Ivy League and NESCAC will end their football programs by 2030.
EDIT: The removal of the football teams has the added “benefit” of reducing the Title IX requirements, dramatically reducing the financial burden of athletic programs and allowing selective schools to be even more selective with their admission requirements.
S1 visited Swat and attended a Frat(tends to be allied with the baseball team, I think?) party. He ultimately chose not to go to the school, but he thought they were very low key, smart and normal. Had a nice chat/tour with a frat member and his GF. He didn’t get misogynistic, racist (S1 is mixed race), or big time party vibes(S1 doesn’t drink), at all.
One of the reasons that he didn't attend the school, even though it was a fit in many ways, is he thought the vocal activist minority was over the top. He comes from a large public with a liberal profile(was the target of a scornful Newt Gingrich article) , so he's no stranger to LW activism, but Swat seemed OTT.
The other reason he didn't go was that he thought that this small D3 school known for it's rigor and political activism would have a less than competitive baseball team. The next year they went to the D3 World Series. Ha!
I have no idea what is going on there, in general. Just don’t think of Swarthmore when I think of out of a school with out of control frats. I mean, it’s essentially U of Chicago that’s been in the dryer too long. The place is a study gulag. Who has time to party?
Folks, this isn’t a thread about football. Feel free to start another thread to discuss it.