The accreditation reports will never tell the whole story. The accreditation reports are concerned with the symptoms of the illness rather than the underlying cause.
LEpops, from your previous posts, it looks like your child was a January 2013 admit. And you were posting your cautionary tale by October of the same year. Will you tell us what happened with your child that spring semester of 2013? I would certainly like to hear what happened with your family. I think other people might benefit from hearing what happened to your child.
Why has Lehigh dropped precipitously in the rankings? This was a school which ranked in the 30s and is now considered on par with schools like NorthEastern. It is important to acknowledge openly and honestly the problems with this school so that conditions may improve and the environment can become safe. All the boosting and p.r. driven posts which have been coming from the same folks for years out here are doing a serious disservice to those who are considering this school.
@LEPops Most colleges have issues with alcohol and drugs. I wonder why you and the kids at Lehigh who respond to the Princeton Review rankings folks think Lehgh is worse than any others. Do you or they have experience with the level of partying on other campuses?
@higheredmom @LePops "No drop in rankings can be attributed to drug use or partying. If you are referring to US News, there is no metric for that. "
That is true directly, but not indirectly. As I am sure you know, Lehigh’s US News metrics seem to support a higher ranking in general, but the academic reputation peer assessment score is low (3.1) compared to similar schools, as is Lehigh’s performance vs. the predicted graduation rate (-6).
It is not unreasonable to think it is possible that a poor reputation for partying and drug use could impact the peer assessment score, and that actual partying and drug use could explain a portion of the unexpectedly low graduation rate.
@Much2learn That post above is the definition of junk analysis. Or, to put it in CC parlance, correlation does not imply causation.
Also, @LEPops has posts going back to 2014 which clearly seem to be about a child struggling with addiction and casting blame.
@Much2learn Your analysis is spot on and gets to the heart of the problem. Lehigh University has suffered a catastrophic decline in its reputation which has led to its drop in the rankings. For a school which should seemingly be ranked much, much higher its peer assessments continue to decline and its graduation rates are far lower than you would expect for a school of this caliber. It doesn’t take a genius to know that the excessive drug and alcohol abuse at Lehigh have led to these problems.
I also can appreciate M2L’s point.
The US News ranking is subjective to a significant extent and an excessive campus drinking culture could certainly influence it in the eyes of those doing the peer assessment.
Lehigh has always had a drinking culture and is probably not much different than most other residential colleges. However, unsafe and antisocial or criminal behavior needs to be immediately rooted out. Last year’s incident of football players beating up two innocent fellow students to avenge their fraternity president’s assault is a case in point. Unfortunately, Greek culture, despite its many positives, is often the source of this behavior. Administration needs to address that aggressively. Changing organizational culture is never easy. The Fratboy mentality needs to go.
I would also say, however, each student needs to do their job too; if you play with fire, you will likely get burned. Lehigh is just a microcosm of the real world and many lessons from Lehigh are not in books (a big lesson in itself).
BTW, M2L, how is your daughter enjoying her first week?
Bless your heart!
Lehigh and Northeastern both have a low Peer Evaluation score. Lehigh may be due to the partying reputation. Northeastern may be due to its unapologetic focus on career preparation. For both schools the objective metrics place them much higher.
@LEPops I hope everything has worked out for your child and your family.
@sonofasa1 She is happy, It is early, but she likes the students, and professorsshe is very happy.
@higheredmom I think it is possible that the relatively low rating is not related to the culture. What do you think the cause is?
Separately, the data that I posted previously from the Greek organizations is interesting. There is a significant difference between the women and the men’s gpa average. I assume that some of that difference may be explained by having more engineers that are male, but I am not sure.
What the data suggest to me is that pledging certain Greek organizations has a significant negative impact on grades. That suggests to me that there may be some hazing going on, or at a minimum the time demands are excessive. 8 of 9 sorority’s pledges had lower pledge semester grades than the members, and one, Gamma Phi Beta, had a more significant difference (-0.38) than the others.
14 of 16 fraternitiy’s pledges also had lower grades than members. In the case of 7 fraternities, the pledge grades were lower by 0.25 or more: Delta Chi, Phi Sigma Kappa, Theta Xi, and Delta Upsilon appear to be the worst offenders last year. You can see the rest in the previous posts
Lehigh commented on the US News ranking:
Chad Davis, who has served as senior director of the Lehigh Fund for the past three years, said that Lehigh will not compromise what it feels is best for the overall student body just to improve itself in the eyes of a publication. This includes the notion of diverting more resources into a given ranking criteria in hopes of obtaining a higher position on the list.
The difference between #47 and #41 this year was 1 point.
The difference between #47 and #39 this year was 2 points.
That is good to hear…hope she has an enjoyable and productive time at Lehigh.
@higheredmom @kikkydee @lepops @sparklyleo @SonofAsa1 @sryalum @ClarinetDad16 @atrani @galdalf78 @MOMANDBOYSTWO @TomSrOfBoston
Questions about Greek Pledging at Lehigh
Observations based on data.
Last year, 8 of 9 sorority’s pledges had lower pledge semester grades than the members, and pledges of one, Gamma Phi Beta, had a very significant drop in gpa (-0.38).
Last year, 14 of 16 fraternity’s pledges also had lower grades than members. In the case of 7 fraternities, the pledge spa’s were lower by -0.25 or more. In 4 cases, Delta Chi, Phi Sigma Kappa, Theta Xi, and Delta Upsilon, the average pledge gpa for pledges was -0.35 lower than members.
Questions for those who are familiar with Greek life at Lehigh.
- Does it seem normal or is it concerning to you that pledge’s gpa’s are so consistently lower than member’s spa’s, and significantly lower in many cases?
- What do you think is causing pledge gpa’s to be unimpacted in a few organizations, but to fall significantly in others?
Personal Objective
I am trying to understand what is happening with Greek Life at Lehigh. I believe that Greek Life is a positive for students, if it is safe, and so it does not have a negative impact on student’s academics. The gpa data strongly suggest that it is possible that is not the case here.
The members are sophomores, juniors and seniors and the pledges are generally freshmen in Spring, correct?
My guess is that frosh may have lower gpa’s than members because it’s all new to them. The members have already learned how to navigate the system better and generally get higher gpa’s. It might be more useful to compare gpa’s of pledging vs non pledging freshmen to see the effect of pledging on them. I’ll bet Lehigh has compiled this…somewhere.
I commend your analytical spirit but I think it may be impossible to distill what is happening with Greek life from sets of gpa averages. Greek organizations at Lehigh are all different and have different organizational goals. Some are very academic as I recall…some not so much. I think all agree that the bad actors need to be eliminated immediately, though.
My own view, from the perspective of old alum, is that Greek life, like everything else, has both positives and negatives. A strong Greek social experience may distract a student somewhat from academics. Same for being an athlete, which is very time and energy consuming. However, the lessons learned from these other activities, while not part of your gpa, may ultimately prove much more valuable as you go through life. I have seen it many times. The key is to try to balance it all as best you can.
Thank you @sonofAsa1 ! What you describe is the norm at the campuses I advise. And, sororities like my own mandate academic support and GPA standards in order to participate in chapter activities like social events. @Much2learn Lehigh’s Greek Life – and the University resources devoted to fostering a safe, values-based, inclusive community are far superior to most. Lehigh is invested in every way in its Greek life and, in turn, sets the bar high for continued chapter recognition at at Lehigh–and provides supportive leadership, risk management and other training for students – Lehigh’s Greek Emerging Leaders for underclassmen is a best-in-class program that has been nationally recognized and replicated at campuses across the country. Lehigh’s efforts are complemented by the (inter)national values-based efforts of each fraternity and sorority’s umbrella organization: my own sorority provides local, regional and national training for officers and individual members. The challenges faced by Lehigh Greeks are not unique to Lehigh. Students who are challenged by first-year coursework, time management, new independence and developing leadership skills need support to navigate college life, Greek and non-Greek alike.
I am glad to learn that Lehigh has best-in-class Greek Life, I think that is great.
I am also encouraged that President Simon appears to be taking student safety and academics seriously, and I realize that it is important for students to make good decisions.
I was also impressed with Lehigh’s Hazing prevention website. It looks like they are taking this issue seriously. http://studentaffairs.lehigh.edu/hazing-prevention
I also understand that freshmen may find college challenging, but that should not be particularly acute in only one sorority and a half-dozen or so fraternities. While it seems to me that the data I have reviewed so far suggest a significant likelihood that certain Greek organizations may not be following the rules, I can do some additional information gathering. There is more data available.
@sonofasa1 “It might be more useful to compare gpa’s of pledging vs non pledging freshmen to see the effect of pledging on them. I’ll bet Lehigh has compiled this…somewhere.”
That is a great idea. I know other schools publish this data. I looked and did not see that information, but I agree that they must have it. I think that if the administration can show that Greek Life is neutral or possibly even a positive for students academically, especially during pledging, that would eliminate my concern, and should also go a long way toward dispelling the negative hearsay commentary that is so often repeated by supporters of other schools about Lehigh.
Hi @Much2learn !
Glad to hear your D is enjoying Lehigh! It sounds like she’s off to a great start. Hopefully she will get to experience some of that beautiful fall weather soon - I just checked and it looks like it’s still summer in Bethlehem, 91 today, ugh.
My D is currently a senior and a sorority member at Lehigh.
In one sense, joining a Greek organization is like joining any other club, there will be responsibilities and time commitments your student will be expected to fulfill. This is especially true during the pledging period, referred to as New Member Education which takes place during the first 6 weeks of the spring semester, culminating in Initiation when the pledges become full fledged members. Time management, especially during pledging, will become really, really important to any new member. IMHO, some students are very surprised at the time commitment expected of them. Outside of the pledge process there are social and community service events (for the specific cause supported by the organization as well as those supporting the university and surrounding community of South Bethlehem). It is fairly common for a student to go all the way through sorority recruitment, receive a bid and then drop partway into pledge process because they just don’t want to commit that much time.
You mentioned Gamma Phi Beta in your post - they were affected by a larger than usual drop in PNMs (potential new members, i.e. pledges) last semester so their sample size of new member GPAs was smaller than the other 8 panhellenic sororities, making it more likely that a couple of “poor showings” pulled down the whole group. It happens.
The OFSA does a good job of explaining Panhellenic Sorority Recruitment, IFC Recruitment and New Member Education. Since 2012 they have conducted parent webinars on the above topics that consist of a presentation and then a Q&A session with OFSA staff. You can access the webinars from last winter using the link below. It might be helpful to listen and then formulate some questions for the upcoming sessions this winter.
http://studentaffairs.lehigh.edu/content/parent-webinars
To be continued as I have more to say but need to step away for a bit… 
@Much2learn Just call the OFSA office – they should have all-women, all-men and all-student average GPA info. But understand, a Division 1 athlete, band member or other very involved, non-Greek student at Lehigh can also face the challenge of time management, juggling coursework, etc. Lehigh’s acapella groups travel during the school year, some with robust concert and practice schedules. Do we need an all-acapella average for those groups too? Or do we maybe need to empower our young people to make the right choices, give them the right tools, and learn from their mistakes without the whir of helicopter parents?
@higheredmom “Or do we maybe need to empower our young people to make the right choices, give them the right tools, and learn from their mistakes without the whir of helicopter parents?”
The attempt at labelling legitimate concerns as “helicopter parenting,” are not helpful. A lot of people have these questions about Lehigh. I am just voicing them. I am not comfortable with the concept of everyone looking the other way until someone is seriously harmed, and then make excuses and blaming the victim.
It seems to me that Lehigh, and new President Simon, have an opportunity to bring about positive change and rein in the most risky behaviors by following Dartmouth’s lead by banning pledging and hard alcohol. A few small steps like this could make the campus environment safer, more appealing to potential applicants, and address the most frequently raised concern about Lehigh, without having to significantly harm the Greek Life traditions that are part of what makes Lehigh unique.