Trinity College(CT) - All Greek Orgs Told to Go Co-ed
 

http://articles.courant.com/2012-11-...ederick-alford

Trinity College's president and board of trustees have decreed that all Greek Orgs at Trinity must go co-ed.

Trinity currently has:

Alpha Chi Rho
Psi Upsilon
Sigma Nu
Delta Psi - already co-ed
Alpha Delta Phi
Pi Kappa Alpha
Alpha Phi Alpha

Kappa Kappa Gamma
Ivy Society (created after closure of Delta Delta Delta)

That's Alpha Chi Rho's founding chapter, Phi Psi.

Do you think we will have a rash of new locals now with this? Something similar to this is actually how Psi U went co-ed in the first place. After reading the article, all I can say is wow. It seems like this is just a way to force the Greeks to go. There is no real justification for it other wise. And I can't say I'm surprised, though am kind of sad, that the BB of Psi U seems to be strongly against this.

In addition to the co-ed requirement, they are also requiring the elimination of a pledge period entirely and minimum GPA:

Besides requiring the Greek groups to go coed, the committee's recommendations — approved in October by the board of trustees — included the banning of a pledge period and a requirement that a group's collective grade point average be 3.2 or better.

Certainly not looking like Greek life will survive at this campus. :(

How does forcing groups to go co-ed remove the culture of partying?

It doesn't. It seems to me they are trying to force the Greeks off campus by making sure that they will all lose their charters. Also I saw the Pledge thing and GPA thing. I will admit, they are going all out. They didn't go right out and say so, but it probably means the next step if the Greeks manage to survive is for them to turn into clubs anybody can join. Also I'm bad at google, but does anybody know what the all campus average at Trinity is?

Was there something other than the "scapegoat" comment that tells you they're against this?

In any event, I wouldn't be too sad if they are against it. There's a difference between opposing a fraternity's choice to be co-ed (or a chapter's choice when permitted by fraternity rules), and opposing attempts to force a fraternity or chapter to go co-ed "or else," especially if it feels like Greeks are being made scapegoats or are being shut-down through the back door.

This is the same stupid shit they've done before at tons of "elite" Northeastern colleges. The Greek groups just go underground and the partying and elitism gets 10x worse.

Note to professors and administrators at Trinity (and tons of other elite Northeastern colleges), your students have more money and social status than you ever will and even if they drink their way to squeaking to graduation with a 2.0, will still be in a better job and have a nicer house, car and summer home than you ever had a prayer of having. Get over it.

The paragraph after the scapegoat comment. I can see your point though, though one of the comments struck me really poorly considering how long Psi U has been coed and the fact that at least recently we had a woman executive council member.

Ah, I missed that somehow. Thanks.

Yeah, while I think he has a valid point, I can see how, in the context of him saying it as a Psi U, you found it troubling.

Such irony... 58K/year tuition and we're worried about a culture of privilege? Yikes.

Rich people, they're just like us! :rolleyes:

Yes, and about elitism. Irony indeed.

Right, like Hahhhhvad and Princeton with their final clubs and eating clubs.

The thing is, they are not trying to reform the campus culture. Instead they are trying to kill one of the more visible examples of the drinking culture, but I doubt all the people going to the parties are Greek.

This is particularly sad to me as my chapter (while I was an active) was involved with the installation of the Kappa chapter at Trinity back in the early 80's.

Exactly. They think "ha ha, the rich kids can't have their fun now" when the rich kids will go right on having their fun - and will probably have even more fun since they will (the majority of them) no longer have to pay national dues. If they want to reform the campus culture, they have to change the kinds of students they admit.

I also LOL every time they think that going co-ed is the solution. Does anyone remember in Pledged how she was talking about a co-ed fraternity that drank its asses off and were all having sex with each other? But of course, she was OK with it because they didn't have evil exclusionary membership selection practices like a sorority. Eric Cartman sums it up:

http://gameboom.net/sites/gameboom.n...an-hippies.png

Well, okay, what CAN the administration do to change campus culture? Young adults living alone for the first time are gonna experiment, can that ever be changed?

And it's blindingly obvious what they are trying to do. It isn't even a reform of the Greek system because the three changes are arbitrary. While there is a large difference in amounts of Fraternities and Sororities, there are organizations for both genders. Perhaps trying to increase the amount of organizations of both types if there are large groups of people who cannot get into one or another. I can see the point about pledging, but if they require an open NME process that for the national orgs fits national policy they can nip the bud on both hazing and exclusivity. And the 3.2 GPA seems arbitrary to me. I can definitely agree requiring the organizations to meet the All Campus GPA, but the 3.2 seems like a pretty high arbitrary number to meet. But like I said, they don't want to reform the system, they want to get rid of it. Maybe they realize that an outright ban won't work and are trying to backdoor it.

ETA: For the above, there are things they can do. One thing that comes to mind is the Minerva House system at Union College. Which oddly enough doesn't seem to cut on the amount of drinking.And honestly, they are a private school. They can boot particular problem children if they feel that it would make a difference.

Nothing is going to change at Trinity. Enough people aren't in these groups that the changes won't affect the party scene on a major basis, and for those who are members, all that will be accomplished is that they don't have a formal name to label them.

Those who go there will just find other ways to get around the rules (just like the students at every other college or university). Heck, they even have a shuttle bus to the Hartford bars.

.

If they don't want to have a culture of privilege and elitism, then they should probably relocate the college out of the Northeast...

That's not what I said. But if you look at it per-capita, this area is well known for having more than its share.

Considering they say they same thing about Greeks at 90% of schools, elitism isn't just limited to the Northeast. Not sure where you're from, but I guarantee it's there too.

Um, how can they force an NPC (Kappa Kappa Gamma) to go coed?

They can't, but they don't have to recognize them as a student organization if they don't go co-ed. Which means, as others have said, they will drive the groups underground and won't have any control over them then.

Similar to the GLOs at Harvard or Princeton (one of the Ivy schools) and at Santa Clara (maybe one or two other schools), why couldn’t the GLOs simply not be “officially” recognized by Trinity yet continue to be recognized by their HQ?

This logically could happen, but (someone correct me if I'm wrong), not if they're coed

I agree. What I meant was that the chapters would remain single-sex GLOs and (perhaps with the exception of Delta Psi which is already co-ed) and no longer be officially recognized by the university. Yet the HQs would continue to recognize the chapters.

Gotcha--I misread and think that is probably the best route for all of them

I'm guessing that's what would happen for most of them.

That depends on whether the group's HQ thinks that the chapter/location is valuable enough to keep it running without any oversight by the school. I don't know about the fraternities, but I think for the most part, the sorority chapters at the schools TSteven mentioned have (knock wood) never had any real risk management problems. Which of course, makes what the school is trying to do look even stupider.

All 3 of them? (I kid, I kid)

As one who grew up in the Hartford suburbs, this just struck me as funny.

Not all of the Northeast is wealthy, and not every school with a larger wealthy population is in the Northeast.

Not to mention, the area surrounding Trinity is very impoverished.

Again, not what I said. My comment was simply meant as a sarcastic suggestion for a way that the college could eliminate the elitist and privileged culture it is supposedly troubled with (obviously the school can't actually relocate). I never said that everyone in the Northeast was wealthy,but it is true that we have an above average number of college students who were born with the proverbial "silver spoon" and thus feel entitled to do whatever they want. In my personal opinion, this attitude has little to do with being a member of a fraternity or sorority and is more of a product of growing up in such a region, as I myself have often observed. Anyways, my main point was to echo what others have said in that the school's elimination of single sex GLOs is not an effective way of solving the alleged problem.

I think this IS part of Trinity trying to change the kinds of students who would even be interested in applying there. Around here, it's got a reputation for being a place for upper middle-class white students from the New York and Boston suburbs, who had decent grades but no admissions "hook" for an Ivy, as well as for international students (who also tend to be wealthy because most colleges don't offer financial aid for international students).

Because of that reputation, they have a hard time attracting first-generation college students, as well as students of color. They also don't have very generous financial aid. They want to make themselves look more inclusive by getting rid of what some deanery see as a last bastion of white male dominance on college campus (their ire doesn't usually extend to NPHC groups).

Yes, there is a major irony in schools with tuition bills larger than the median US household income accusing the Greek system of being "elitist."

Lol well sorry if I was confusing, the "per capita" comes from the economics major in me. Anyways, as I said this all comes from my own observations. I attended school in Connecticut, and several students from far outside the area (Ohio, Georgia, Alabama, Kansas) commented that they perceived the Northeast to be far more materialistic than where they came from. Additionally, since graduation many local friends have scattered throughout the country and say that are much happier living around more down-to-earth people. I myself expect to soon relocate down South, and greatly look forward to being a place where you don't need a shiny rolex watch or hummer to be happy. :)

Co-sign. Unfortunately, they will never be able to attract a different type of student without greatly reducing tuition, which may then cause the school to have to reduce the program offerings which make it attractive to begin with.

Here's an old picture of a Trinity Sigma Nu fraternity house room from way back. It's unfortunate that the administration wants to end decades of history like this.

http://www.roadsidepapergirls.com/images/X/X05649.jpg

My dad had that EXACT pipe holder. Kevin, did the pic say what year it's from?