What would you (or any others who might know) say *is* the campus culture? More to the point, are there less men going through rush? And if so, why?

And for what it is worth, the NIC has advocated for years that member fraternities should rush 365 days a year. The concept of a "structured rush week" was more of less to allow freshmen the opportunity to view all the chapters at one time.

I believe this is a large part. IIRC all of the fraternities are required to be dry, regardless of inter/national policy.

Definitely some of the larger chapters are those that closed (FIJI was a very large chapter). I think part of it is the low number of men participating in formal rush.

AFAIK, there are no restrictions such as those

FWIR, Beta was another very large chapter before it closed a few years ago. They've recently recolonized, but are less than half their former size.

I think a lot of men see no need to be in a fraternity, especially if their main desire for joining is socially driven. Bars are 19 in Iowa City, fraternity houses are dry. Those who want leadership positions can find them elsewhere. Greek marketing is not very good.

For what it is worth, oldu has already posted where he (I'm guessing, apologies if I have the wrong gender) gets most of his information in another thread. The bottom line is the information is out there for any one to research. What I am quite thankful for is that oldu has taken the time and care to provide this information in an informative and interesting manner for us on GC to discuss.

Thank you for your responses. A few more questions if you don't mind. (See below in blue.)

Thanks again.

For the record, I am a Greek of many years. I have been involved with my own fraternity and chapter off and on over several of those years. Now retired, I can say that my fraternity experience had more to do with my success than anything else I was involved with. In addition to being interested in the subject, my goal is to motivate more Greeks to seriously address their activities to bringing this opportunity to the youth in college today. This is one of the few forums today in which this can be done and I would like to see it as constructive as possible.

For some reason, I'm having a difficult time replying to TSteven

there... that seemed to work.

I have been told I can be difficult. So I do apologize for being so. ;)

Seriously, I do want to thank you for your candied and insightful view. Yet I have a few more questions if I may.

What do you view as the future of Fraternity life at Iowa? Do you feel that the campus culture has turn the proverbial corner or can they (fraternities) come back to the prominence they had before?

Also, do you foresee any negative effect on the sororities?

My reference to conditions of "now vs. then" at Iowa are more long term. I remember visiting Iowa City several years ago when there were thirty plus fraternities, most well housed and the majority with 60 or more members. Almost every activity on campus was controlled by Greeks. Compare that to today.

It is not a problem exclusive to University of Iowa. Many of our most prominent public universities are going through the same thing, witness: University of California, U. C. L. A., Colorado, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio State, Oregon and Texas. While it is critical for fraternities, the ladies have not escaped the problem either. Go look up how many sorority chapters have closed at the above institutions.

Where have we gone wrong? More importantly, what can we do to convince our brightest students who are attending our preeminent universities that they could gain from membership in a fraternity or sorority?

...

oldu, that is funny since I just got off of the phone with a member of Acacia who is in our age range discussing much the same thing.

As far as Iowa, I get reports but do not have links to list so I do not copy/paste and show them'

But, it seems that each of the Fraternities were pulled for various reasons and from the sounds rightly so. Drugs, underaging drinking, and unsanitary conditions being a few. So, it should not be on the Schools shoulders, but the Greeks themselves.

Don't worry, oldu, some people are unpleasant and must always nitpick.

And some people pretend to be what they are not.

Time for a cat macro!
 

I don't mean to nitpick or be rude. I find this thread very interesting. BUT...

Why is this a goal of many Greeks? At my school every activity on campus WAS controlled by Greeks and while I am a Greek and proud, it was not then and it is not now apparent to me that having "every activity on campus" controlled by Greeks is a positive thing. Were you meaning this as a downfall/problem at ISU or just as an example of "how the mighty have fallen"?

In my opinion it's a better goal for Greeks to seek leadership positions and work with non-Greek affiliated individuals for the betterment of the entire campus--FOR EVERYONE, not only for Greeks.

I was just curious because this is a view I see expressed or implied often on Greekchat and I wondered what the rationale behind it was. Is it just nostalgia? "Remember when we controlled everything...."

I would submit that a Greek system can be incredibly strong and dynamic while sharing power and allying with non-Greeks--and probably ultimately gain more public respect in the long run. Thus I don't see Greeks controlling every campus activity as a goal to work towards, nor do I see it as a sign of/necessity to having a strong Greek system...

I agree. The groups that will be successful in the future will adapt their programming to meet the needs and the interests of today's students. That does not mean we have to meet ALL of their needs. But we do have to respect and be aware that not everyone who can be a real asset to our membership is white, beautiful (or handsome), rich, middle class or already accomplished in eighty kazillion activities. If we're helping students to achieve better GPAs, giving them opportunities to serve their community, connecting them with alums that will help them in their future careers and providing a safe, fun social experience, the Greek system will grow and prosper despite changing campus climates.