Let’s be clear, what a rich, rural, and small private college can do about its Greek system has exactly 0 relevance to the vast majority of publics in the country. Do you seriously believe that the University of Oklahoma, Cal State Fullerton, or Georgia State University can follow Middlebury’s model? They can’t.
These schools would have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build on campus housing and then convince students that they should live there rather than the already constructed, and likely much cheaper, private student housing. Especially in a college town, the local landlords would repeatedly shoot down university proposals for more zoning for on campus housing (see Isla Vista and Norman), which means that even if such a project were feasible, it would be put on hold for years, jacking up insurance rates.
Personally, I think the current Greek system, especially as it exists at Southern state schools, is in desperate need of reform. If it were up to me, I would encourage the universities to require rush to be moved to second semester freshman year or later so as to encourage as much bonding as possible. It’s absurd that before freshmen even have the chance to see college, to understand that universities aren’t just what the movies show, they’re grouped into houses they are supposed to affiliate with for four plus years. However, for a number of reasons this is politically unfeasible at many schools.
CU Boulder made waiting until second semester to accept frosh pledges a condition for recognition of the fraternities, among other rules (including obeying drinking age rules). Most fraternities (16 out of 19) went completely off campus.
And colleges with the residential system put freshmen randomly into houses for the next 4 years. Like it or not, the groups are formed. At least with Rush, both sides have a choice.
Many schools do have spring rush only. My niece’s school did, but she attends a school that doesn’t have houses so no rents to pay, no meals to cover. It works in some places, doesn’t work in others. CU’s sororities rush in the fall and the university doesn’t seem to have a problem with it.
Given that on most campuses, Greek housing seems to be partially owned by the university, I wonder if CU’s houses were just an exception. My school requires Greek houses to be dry (of course, approximately 0% of IFC and Multicultural frats actually follow this rule) and if there’s no house parent requirement, it seems that most houses have one.
The impression I get with California public universities is that fraternity and sorority houses are commonly completely off-campus (whether or not there is any recognition by the schools).
That’s actually not true with Harvard. Harvard college undergrad spend the first year in various dorms in and very close to Harvard Yard so there’s mixing among freshman both in their first-year dorms and among other freshmen in the yard. It is only starting in one’s sophomore year and later that one is placed into a residential house.
Show me one elite school’s student populationthat reflects the general population of our society. Does that mean we should eliminate those elite schools? Maybe we should tell those schools that if they couldn’t be inclusive and not use those “holistic admission policy” then they shouldn’t be allowed to operate.
Each school and each house is different, so I will only speak for my kids’ sorority (they both belong to the same sorority at the same school) and their experiences. When they have mixers or formals with a fraternity, they are either picked up by the brothers or the fraternity provides bus shuttles. Their sorority requires drivers to be sober during the event. They have stopped having mixers with fraternity for violating the sober agreement. My kids’ sorority also assign few girls as soberer at each event, and they all take turns for such duty. They can’t drink when it is their turn. Their job is to make sure the sister do not get too drunk. I am told the signal is to give a bottle water to anyone who has had too much to drink.
All of those safety measures are not full proof, but I certainly feel better than if my girls were going to random parties (Greek or private off campus) without people looking after them.
How about greater societal needs to mitigate against both exclusion, racism, sexual assault, and death–all of which have occurred within the Yale greek system.
Boolahi,
All of those things have certainly taken place at Yale outside the Greek system. This is the problem many of us have with your reasoning. Eliminating the entire group because of abhorrent acts by individual members. Will you advocate for banning all athletic teams if someone dies on the football field? Yale doesn’t need sports to survive. Or if an a Capella singer dies of alcohol poisoning; will all of those groups be banned too? Your logic is arbitrary to those of us who value the Greek experience.
I think the drinking age was raised for the same reason why Greek life needs to be eliminated according to some people. I am just going by the the same logic as you that those very wise men must know what they are doing.
And it is not arbitrary at all, rather it taking a plenary account of all factors—again, this is not coming from some rogue extreme quarter, but again, this is the vantage of many college presidents and BORs. As a person who has both experienced overt, in-the-face racism, from the system, as well having a daughter involved in a rather tawdry and unseemly episode with the greek system–one in which, I had to become the person that offered a proverbial “olive branch”, lest two young men would be taken up on criminal charges, I have a distinct and visceral view. I ask you again in earnest, with this happening to your first born daughter, would you be so forgiving and take such a profound defense and advocacy of these same entities?
College students drank when I was in college and they are doing it now. Unless you can think of a way to stop it, I opt for doing it safely. Kind of like saying, “Why do people have sex before they get married? Just say no.”
I have not read the previous 200 plus posts in total…just a smattering. But it sounds like there is a bad vs good discussion regarding Greek life. I would like to share a story.
I recently had lunch with a high school and college friend who was in a sorority in college. Her house was in a terrific location right off the college green. We were reminiscing about college…and I reminded her how nice her sorority sisters and house mother had been to me…not a member…for three years. I often studied there, slept over (friend had an extra bed in her room), and had both dinner and breakfast there. The house other knew me by name, as did the members.
I should add…I never would have been considered for membership…but that didn’t diminish the fine friendships of these young women.
The previous summer, my friend and her sorority sisters had a reunion. They convinced the chapter to open the house, usually closed in the summer, for the long weekend…and they had a ton of fun.
This group did huge local community service projects in the area, and I often tagged along. I remember thinking that they were generous, and giving of their time, and energy.
I think this is just a “different strokes for different folks” issue. No rights or wrongs.
I should add, my nephew is president of the Panhellenic council at his state university, which has provided him with excellent leadership skills and training.
Do these kids drink? No more or less than any other group of college students, in my opinion. But I don’t hear anyone saying “let’s ban the dorms.”
What you actually do is conflate drinking and the greek system…while they do possess an overlap, they are distinct issues, and moreover, it does not help your line of thinking.
“The incident in Oklahoma, that is a real argument for getting rid of the system altogether, in my opinion, even having been through a fraternity. Because when you break it down, it really is about creating cliques and clubs and being exclusionary.”
Was that a quote of mine trying to reconsider a paradigm shift in which we view the greek system??—actually no–Delta Tau Delta, USC, Will Farrell.