As a result of the university’s recent sanctions against Greek Life, I will no longer be active on this forum. I have been encouraging students to come to RPI since I was admitted and attended for several years. It’s been a great experience that’s provided me with a lot of opportunity, but I could not imagine it being the same without Greek Life. My time at RPI would have been extremely miserable without my fraternity and I think that the over 2000 students affected by this would say that same.
The above article was written by a recent graduate of one of RPI’s sororities and a leader in student government. If you don’t want to listen to me, at least read her article. Anyways, peace out! I hope you all choose a college that respects your freedom of speech and association!
@joedoe Is sexual assault and/or harassment common at RPI ? My daughter really likes RPI, but from I knew, a few kids in her group chat frequently made inappropriate comments.
in my opinion, this is the school reacting accordingly. instead of being angered at the university, i would be angered at the fraternities and/or sororities who have pushed the administration so far as to suspend all greek life because of their specific actions. the problems with those specific fraternities and/or sororities need to be dealt with by the entire greek community itself. when that’s done, that’s where this should come into place…
also, this is literally stated in an excerpt from the letter shown in the video…
this does not sound unreasonable in the slightest.
Could not agree more with @kalons. Even if there are 2000 students in Greek Life, there are 5000-6000 who are not. Imagine that! People actually graduate from a school without ever participating in Greek life! A lot of them.
The school is calling for a “time out.” Some bad things have happened–not just one thing led to this decision. The school is looking to “enact a culture change” before more bad things happen and they have to eliminate Greek Life. Right now, the plan is no alcohol (boo hoo–get over it) and no recruitment. Fraternities and sororities are free to continue philanthropic work and have social events without alcohol. If that means the end of someone’s social life, that is just sad.
And @joedoe how can you say “My time at RPI would have been extremely miserable without my fraternity”? You have dozens, maybe hundreds of posts about how awesome your experiences at RPI have been. Now it is all about the Greek life? That is shocking to read.
@Polar2000 RPI is a great place, but Greek Life is one of the elements of student life that make it great. I would’ve still had a good academic experience, but I would’ve had poor social/leadership opportunities without it, especially given the diminishing role students are playing in the Union. A few months ago no changes actually went into place, but the student government has removed all references to “student-run” from everything, so I guess that’s that.
Also just an update, the university lifted restrictions after alumni backlash so I guess this post was kind of a waste.
@annamom It’s not common per say, but the article generally talks about Title IX practices being archaic at RPI and other universities. Columbia is another college that’s a good example of that. This is just piggy backing off of the general Greek Life issue the university is dealing with and the emails they’ve been sending out.
They didn’t really lift the restrictions. The new directive suspended all rush activities until after October 18th and banned alcohol at fraternities, even if someone is 21 and the house is privately owned. Every fraternity member or alumni who will participate in rush activities must complete a training program that does not exist yet. Only fraternities in the good graces of the administration will be allowed to participate in rush. Net effect is that it will further reduce participation of students going forward.
I’m not sure what SAJ’s long term goal is wrt Greek Life, other than her attempts to buy the independent houses and manage them as dorm contracts. It would also give them access to some of the prime real estate adjacent to campus and dorm areas. Alumni openly critical of her administrative efforts have largely been Greek. They are the ones who have a communication network not open to administrative input and manipulation.
She brought in two administrators with a history of open hostility to fraternities at previous colleges, Travis Apgar and LeNorman Strong.
I stopped recommending RPI a while ago. My kids were banned from applying.
To each his own. When people go to school and require drinking, and require fraternities, and require certain forms of communities that are unlike anything in the normal world and they get it for a while they are happy. Take those things away but maintain a high caliber education, programs, learning events and nationally prestigious academics, and that causes some people to ban and badmouth that institution. Ugh, what this world has come to. I’m paying for my kid to get the best education he can in 4 years of studious rigor so that he can land a future of freedom to do those things in it’s proper context and place. Like I say, to each his own.
@Magnetron Would you be able to explain why your kids were banned from applying? Is it because of what is going on with Greek Life or is there more to it?
Sorry it took so long, @shuttlebus . I was on vacation since 6/29.
First, it is still a good education for the right type of person, the technical academic grinder. My kids are not that type. No one thinks they or their kids are that type, but mine really are not. I saw how unhappy they were with loads of repetitive work.
Second, I don’t quite know how it is now but it was important to never run afoul of the administration. I have too many sordid details to put into a public forum.
Third, the huge gender imbalance does not work well for many. My kids would not have liked it.
Fourth, as one of more than 300 EEs in my graduating class, I had only a couple of classes with less than 30 students and I did not have a single professor that could have picked me out of a lineup. I had the highest test scores in a class of 120 (the TA told me) taught by my advisor and he still didn’t know who I was. I would not pay private college prices for that experience.
Fifth, we are west coast and have equal or better options for my kids closer to home.
The situation with Greek Life is just icing on the cake. They know that fraternities have a Sophie’s Choice, cheat the rules or wither away. For the record, none of my kids participated in Greek Life but I would have been OK if they had. S1 had the marching band, D had her Honors College and the rugby team, S2 is at a U without fraternities.
@Magnetron thanks for the clarification. If I understand correctly, you meant RPI is not a good fit for your kids.
I have to laugh (not at you) on “it was important to never run afoul of the administration.”, I felt the same even for our public high school and it does not limit to administrators. My taxes paid for their salaries.
I have to say, while I didn’t want my son to join greek life, it has made a huge positive difference in his life at RPI.
This school is intense academically, and in a city that is just depressing to live in.
People rail against athletes and greeks all the time, but these are the things that got him there (athletics) and are keeping him sane (greek life). His grades improved after joining greek life, but more important, his happines and sanity.
Studying improvements is fine, but slowing down recruiting would be a huge financial burden that will threaten the existence of some frats. Just because many do not participate does not mean this is not useful to others. Why have any clubs or majors that appeal to a niche ? Why not shut all down ?
This is guilt by association, plain and simple. A frat behaving badly should be shut down, but to punish all is ridiculous. RPI does not realize the long term impact this will have if handled wrong.
I can assure you my son will never donate a nickel to rpi as an alum if they take this away from him.
In my opinion the only reason for this crackdown is because Greek Houses compete with mandated sophomore housing. It is a barely concealed attempt to balance the budget on the back of lower level undergraduate students
Useful context on the Greek Life Task Force: https://info.rpi.edu/greek-life-task-force/state-greek-life-nationally . While the RPI admin has not enumerated all of the alcohol/drug abuse, hazing, or sexual harassment/assault incidents they are claiming precipitated this, there is a current problem recognized across the country.
What we explored of Troy was rather nice at Summer orientation – I can see it getting dreary over the Winter though, but still there’s lots to do for “involved” students on-campus. I don’t think the Greek situation is such a simple situation, “conspiracy” or naked aggression/slam against fraternities as some are making this out to be. RPI is not the only school going through this, by far.
You are correct that there is no simple solution regarding what some (myself included) consider to be “conspiracy” or naked aggression/slam against Greek Life. RPI is trying to balance its budget by requiring an ever increasing number of students to live on campus and participate in the meal plan. 2 students sharing a dorm room would be expected to pay at least $755 per month (10 months, cheapest on-campus housing according to http://catalog.rpi.edu/content.php?catoid=18&navoid=436. Those same two students could rent an 1178 sq ft 2 BR apartment with WD in the apartment, and 80 sq ft bath and about 250 sq ft common space. That is luxury. For $325/mo 4 students could share a 4 BR. (Google 12180 apartments). My guess is that most Greek Houses require fees close to $325/mo than $755 (utilities cannot account for the difference). The 7x3 meal plan equates to $160 per week (assuming 4wks/mo over 10 mos).
Participating in Greek Life (based on the fees I paid vs RPI) enabled me to save $, to learn how to ensure I saved $ from those with more experience, and then pass along the same.
I am very disappointed that attendance at the first meeting of the task force is invitation only and that an RPI employee is chairing the meeting. The goal of the first meeting should be to identify the positives of Greek Life, the challenges of determining group v individual accountability, and to develop a good Samaritan policy (Greeks asking for help from RPI and Nationals).
It is in the best financial interest of RPI and maybe even a financial necessity that RPI bankrupt the Greek System. RPI’s current leadership (administration and trustees brought this on themselves) but they need to make the Greeks suffer. Based on information from F16 Greek Enrollment, Current Tuition and Fees for RPI, and the % of auxiliary services revenue which is profit; if all Greek Housing were eliminated there would be an additional $6.4M available to RPI. The combination of banning rush and the Summer Arch would result in an additional $3.2M in 2019-20. This would result in a 50% loss of revenue for Greek organizations instead of the 15.6% expected.
What better way to eliminate competition than to bankrupt them? Based on data posted on Renew Rensselaer RPI has bond payments of $9.5M in 2018, $10M in 2019, $10.2M in 2020, and $216M in 2021. Ensuring bankruptcy by 2020-21 will have a significant impact the ability to make these payments and possibly make it easier for a renegotiation of the 2021 series.
I know the comparison of RPI’s administration and trustees with the government of Iran will raise eyebrows and stir emotion. I am not a supporter of Iran although I understand its theocracy-based constitution. So please, read this from a purely analytical perspective.
When I first read about the new requirements for rush, I thought of the Guardian Council. The Guardian Council vets qualified people prior to them being declared able to run for election. RPI is doing the same to Greek Organizations eligible (based on Relationship Statement and Greek Commons Agreements) to recruit new members. The “commitment to RPI values” is so vague that anything could result in a yes/no decision. I do not know anything about how a qualified person applies to the Guardian Council for permission to run for election. However the procedures RPI has established for allowing Rush are overly cumbersome. The Dean of Student’s office is serving in a role similar to the Guardian Council, restricting the rights/privileges of those who are eligible to rush.
The Supreme Leader of Iran either directly or indirectly appoints the members of the Guardian Council. RPI’s President either directly or indirectly appoints those in the Dean of Student’s Office who will decide if an eligible Greek Organization is permitted to rush.
