<p>"Princeton University President Shirley Tilghman moved to ban freshmen from joining fraternities and sororities in the 2012-2013 academic year after an internal report said the groups encourage exclusivity and alcohol abuse.</p>
<p>Members of sororities and fraternities will also be forbidden from any form of rush, or recruitment, of freshman students, the Princeton, New Jersey-based school said in a statement on its website.</p>
<p>While about 15 percent of Princeton undergraduates participate in sororities and fraternities, the organizations arent recognized by the university, dont have residential houses and have been prohibited during most of the schools history. The report on campus social life produced by a 13- member panel of students, faculty and staff last year, said that the groups lead students to narrow, rather than expand their set of friendships.</p>
<p>We have found that they can contribute to a sense of social exclusivity and privilege and socioeconomic stratification among students, said Vice President for Campus Life Cynthia Cherrey and Dean of Undergraduate Students Kathleen Deignan, according to a letter to students cited on the website. In some cases they place an excessive emphasis on alcohol and engage in activities that encourage excessive and high-risk drinking. </p>
<p>"In some cases they place an excessive emphasis on alcohol and engage in activities that encourage excessive and high-risk drinking.
^^ ya think?????</p>
<p>I’m wondering how a college can ban a student from associating with an organization that is completely independent of the school (unrecognized, no house on campus, etc.) Princeton can certainly bar on-campus recruiting, but the recreational activities students engage in off-campus seem beyond their purview. I smell a legal challenge…</p>
<p>They can if they are a private college and the ban against joining organizations can be justified for educational/community related reasons. That seems to have been the arguments used for my LAC’s(Oberlin) bans on Greek organizations they were contrary to the college’s values of promoting an inclusive campus community. </p>
<p>Then again, most students who opt to attend my LAC do so precisely because they don’t want the Greek social presence and those who do tend to apply/go elsewhere.</p>
<p>Then again, some have analogized our Residential/Dining CO-OPs as our versions of the Greek social scene. IMHO…that is overstretching it…</p>
<p>The primary focus of the eating clubs is to … eat, which last time I checked, is legal under the age of 21! Too much of the focus of Frats was to encouraging underage drinking, which is why the ban on recruiting Freshman was initiated.</p>
<p>from the press release at Princeton</p>
<p>“A major concern is that they select their members early in freshman year, when students are most vulnerable to pressures from peers to drink, and before they have had a full opportunity to explore a variety of interests and develop a diverse set of friendships. We hope students coming to Princeton will want to expand their circle of acquaintances and experiences, not prematurely narrow them.”</p>
<p>menloparkmom, eating clubs are pretty selective, from our experience. kids do or don’t get in based on their socioeconomic status, campus popularity, and for women - looks. In other words, a lot like sororities and fraternities, or those “study clubs” at Harvard.</p>
<p>I thought the parties with alcohol were at the eating clubs. Is that not the case? I agree that this seems an odd thing for Princeton to do–maybe the Greeks were beginning to compete with the eating clubs.</p>
<p>They are banning Frats from trying to recruit Freshman [ only] in an attempt to cut down on the underage drinking. As I understand it, the eating clubs are open to upperclassmen, not incoming freshman. So they are trying to get a handle on Frats, which have a history of encouraging new members to drink.</p>
<p>The way it’s worded makes me wonder if Princeton sophomores will be free to join Greek orgs.</p>
<p>I know several schools (UVA, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest) don’t allow freshmen to rush until the spring, so this would end up being a little stricter but similar if so.</p>
<p>It’s already illegal to drink if you’re under 21. The law doesn’t eradicate underage drinking - it just drives it underground. The same is true for deferring rush to sophomore year, but it may be a positive message to send nevertheless.</p>
<p>Since the school already does not recognize these organizations, I really don’t see how this is going to work. Recruitment has been going up at Princeton for a few years, and they have never been recognized by the school. By the school refusing to recognize the organization, they have NO authority over them, which means that they have less control than a typical student organization. The national organizations continue to recognize them and so far have been silent on this latest letter. Unless the national orgs say they are voluntarily closing the chapters Greek Life will be alive and well at Princeton and Harvard for many more years.</p>
<p>There are many drinking opportunities for freshman guests at the eating clubs…it’s an understood part of the recruitment process for later. If anything, the bicker process is more harsh and elitist than the sorority recruitment process at Princeton.</p>
<p>Considering that at Princeton all girls who go through recruitment are placed, I think sororities are much easier to get into at Princeton. I was told that the last few years there has been a strongly-worded note about fraternities, but they never say things like a student or group who goes against this rule will be suspended or expelled. So is this letter really different? Will Princeton freshmen actually have consequences?</p>
<p>How can a college stop a student from joining an organization that is outside of the college community, though? They can’t stop a student from walking into town and joining the Garden Club, or a faith-based organization, or the Junior League, or whatever. I totally get that they can prohibit it on their campus, not offer it recognition, etc. but I don’t see how they can prevent a student from joining an off-campus association.</p>
<p>To me, what’s interesting is that I didn’t even know that there was Greek life that attracted a significant enough portion of the student population. I thought the eating clubs were supposed to satisfy all of that need for clubbiness. I wonder what the needs are that the eating clubs aren’t satisfying, and why that is. Doesn’t Yale have the same thing - a residential college system, but also some fraternities / sororities that are not recognized?</p>
<p>Considering that there are 3 sororities and at least a dozen fraternities, there is obviously something that students are finding. I wonder if joining helps when it comes to getting into an eating house?</p>
<p>According to an article in the Daily Princetonian, 89% of Greek members chose to bicker, and that number was less than 40% for non-Greeks.
Of those, 70% of Greeks who bickered were accepted and 48% of non-Greeks were accepted.</p>