Greek Life at Rose-Hulman--Why is it tolerated?

<p>In a post elsewhere on in the RH string, a RH student wrote about how bad the Greek life can be at RH. He described the "cultlike" hold on many students, the drop in grades, and adverse changes in behavior.</p>

<p>I prefer a school with minimal to no Greek life as I have yet to hear or understand the positive aspects of institutionalized cliquishness that involves often humiliating and dangerous rituals and drinking yourselves or others literally to death. Whereas no deaths due to Greek life have occurred at RH to my knowledge, the fact remains that nearly every post about the social life at RH involves a mention of Greek life and the parties.</p>

<p>One fraternity nationwide has banned hazing because of the number of deaths involved. Insurance premiums are at an outrageous level because of the bad behavior these organizations are prone to. Columbia frats were dealing drugs. Dartmouth was written up in Rolling Stone for its heinous Greek system. </p>

<p><a href="http://nypost.com/2014/02/14/baruch-frat-pledge-who-died-after-hazing-declared-homicide-victim/"&gt;http://nypost.com/2014/02/14/baruch-frat-pledge-who-died-after-hazing-declared-homicide-victim/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-most-out-of-control-fraternities-in-america-20130828"&gt;http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-most-out-of-control-fraternities-in-america-20130828&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/confessions-of-an-ivy-league-frat-boy-inside-dartmouths-hazing-abuses-20120328"&gt;http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/confessions-of-an-ivy-league-frat-boy-inside-dartmouths-hazing-abuses-20120328&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Why is the Greek system tolerated at RH (or at any college, frankly)? At RH it's more of a worry because there basically is nothing else to do at RH. </p>

<p>Hi…thanks for your post and question. I am somewhat confused as to why posts/articles about other schools are being projected on/toward the students at Rose-Hulman.</p>

<p>Less than 50% of Rose-Hulman’s students are members of a social greek society. Those that are recognize why they are on our campus. When a fraternity holds a party, they hire at least one off-duty Terre Haute Police Officer to be onsite for the entire duration of the party. Our students want to do well in their classes. They want to have fun. They want to keep those two things balanced. Are there sad stories from around the country? Yes. Can they happen anywhere? Perhaps. But to say that there is nothing else to do at Rose-Hulman other than haze and party is disingenuous at best and sells our students, our campus activities, and the surrounding community far short of reality.</p>

<p>If you would like to speak to one or more of our students, feel free to let me know. I’d be happy to set it up so you can hear from them what is and isn’t happening on our campus. Of course, that offer stands for anyone else in this forum as well.</p>

<p>Jared Goulding
Associate Director for Graduate and International Admissions
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology</p>

1 Like

<p>Thank you. I understand your frustration. Using examples that don’t directly involve R-H may not seem fair. However as a parent who’s seriously considering this school for a child, the Greek system should be looked at closely. Why is social life bound up in such a system at R-H? 50% is a large percentage. The Peterson’s guide to Greek life states that 50% is a “dominant” proportion. (i don’t think CC will allow me to post the link.) They say this is especially the case in small colleges with populations around 2000 people. They say the influence of such a strong presence is the (summarizing here) de facto lack of other social outlets (because a small community only has enough time and space for so much socialization and if the Greeks are dominant, then other forms of socialization don’t occur.) They also state a mitigating factor of Greek life is if the school is located an urban setting. Clearly R-H with a 50% Greek life at a small school in a rural setting–Greek life is dominant, and because it is so strong, it very likely keeps other social groups from forming. Peterson’s also says “Greek houses are exclusive by nature.” In other words, they are institutionalized cliques that are often associated with excessive drinking, disrespectful (often dangerous) behavior to members and non-members, and often outright sexual and other physical and psychological abuse of males and females. Are there safety bars on the frat and sorority windows near R-H? As it turns out falls from high places are pretty frequent events–and don’t get written up in papers. (<a href=“Why Don’t Colleges Get Rid of Their Bad Fraternities? - The Atlantic”>Why Don’t Colleges Get Rid of Their Bad Fraternities? - The Atlantic) “The fraternity lawsuit is a lucrative mini-segment of the personal injury business.”</p>

<p>I appreciate that you replied to this question. Hopefully R-H will look at other schools, like Union and Dartmouth, Binghamton, U Maryland and others and start think about ways to replace some of the Greek social scene with something else before it becomes a national headline there. </p>

<p>RHITAdmissions said “less than 50%”, not 50%.</p>

<p>According to what is on College Board, the figures are 28% for men and 26% for women:</p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search;

<p>The Common Data Set has higher figures - 36% and 33%, respectively:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.rose-hulman.edu/media/1153164/cds_2013_2014.pdf”>404 | Rose-Hulman;

<p>Excellent. Thank you!</p>

<p>Dustyfeathers - Your comments on Greek Life are interesting. As a college counselor, I usually advise students to explore Greek Life and deicde for themselves if it is a good fit. Fraternities and sororities provide many benefits besides social partying. Leadership, networking and community service are great benefits. Also note that scholarship is also a high priority with greek organizations. I have yet to find a school where the independent student GPA is HIGHER than the greek GPA. This includes Rose-Hulman where the greek GPA is consistently higher than the GPA of independent students. </p>

<p>“Why is the Greek system tolerated at RH (or at any college, frankly)? At RH it’s more of a worry because there basically is nothing else to do at RH”</p>

<p>I doubt there is “nothing” to do at RHIT. Just the opposite actually. Have you visited the campus and talked to the students? You’re making sweeping generalizations without any real knowledge to back it up. </p>

<p>I always find it a bit deceptive when people state that the Greek GPA is higher than the general population. While true, there is a reason for that - most schools have a minimum GPA to pledge in the first place, so you’ve already filtered out a lot of the poorer-performing students from ever joining the Greek system. </p>