Penn State
 

These developments at Penn State are very concerning. The future of Greek life at PSU is looking bleak. Who is going to join an organization where they are only permitted 10 socials/semester? There are numerous "underground" fraternities and sororities that are not affiliated with Panhel or IFC who function as Thon orgs. These started when their respective chapter charters were revoked. They recruit and still initiate members as if they were never sanctioned. These groups are going to thrive, whereas the organizations that are following the rules will become very unappealing. Would you, as a college student, rather pay $80/semester and live above the law or would you rather pay $800+/semester and live under a microscope. Really a very sad day for Penn State.

So basically they're going to move formal rush to the spring and chapters can COB in the fall. They can't disallow chapters from taking new members because it's a freedom of association issue.

Panhel can simply vote to jack up total and bid a buttload of sophomores in the fall to make up for the semester shortfall.

GreekOne - I think you mean 10 socials a semester. :) 10 socials a week would be kind of impossible. :) If by "socials" they mean mixers, can't they still have regular parties? I know it's a lot different than it used to be but I've never understood the concept of having a mixer from 8-12 and then opening the party up. As a sorority member i would feel like I was beingrushed out the door, sort of.

Depending on when Penn State begins and ends their Spring Semester, there are 15-17 weeks in a semester (subtracting Spring Break). "Only" 10 socials a semester isn't really a cramp in a group's calender- especially factoring in recruitment weeks when there also won't be a social (hopefully).

This will be a huge change for a campus where sororities were "required" to have 3 socials/mixers a week.

Will the recent, larger sorority recruitment bid day numbers at PSU continue to hold-up or is interest waning due to the campus admin attitude? I would hate to see them raise total and have a large number of homes end up under the new number after formal Spring 2018 recruitment.

They adjust total after every formal rush period at least, so I don't think that would be an issue. Panhel can vote to change it whenever they want.

The one good thing here (at least for the sororities) is that they're not hamstrung by having to fill huge houses. If this was happening at one of the campuses where major sorority house building/remodeling was going on, it would really be a hot mess.

I agree, they really can't do this. They will not be able to restrict the number of students that join, unless we're talking about total, but as we know, that's a number the chapters decide amongst themselves.

I do feel for the students who were initially working closely with the administration and complying with sanctions, handling the situation in a mature manner. I think they were just blindsided, and they're pissed off, and rightfully so.