Greek Activities Suspended: 2 Campuses
 

Administration at Arkansas State University has suspended all Greek social activities until April. "High-risk" issues within the Greek community has been the reason given.

http://www.astateherald.com/a-state-...da0213ba0.html

Rollins College(FL) has suspended all campus fraternities for "high risk" behavior. "... all chapter privileges are denied and chapters are not allowed to conduct meetings or activities during the temporary suspension"

http://www.clickorlando.com/educatio...-risk-behavior

One nice thing out of Arkansas State's suspension of social activities, the Alpha Gamma Delta chapter donated $5000 worth of food to a local charity. The food was for their formal which had to be cancelled.

http://www.kait8.com/story/34601214/...anceled-formal

I'll never understand bans like this. Do they think all the students are going to sit in their bedrooms and read the Bible? It just pushes things into unmonitored, unregulated venues.

They are prohibited from meeting??? That is just so unfortunate and absurd. These are public schools. They can't--especially without notice and an opportunity for a hearing--suspend students' right to peaceably assemble because some rando with Greek letters on his shirt did something dumb.

This attitude among University administrators is infuriating.

And the sororities at Penn State are stepping in line with the social activities ban there, as well.

http://onwardstate.com/2017/03/01/pa...n/#prettyPhoto

I thought this was an interesting response from NIC on blanket bans:

http://nicindy.org/news/2017/letter-...-wide-actions/

I think this is one of the most crucial points to get across:

When bad behavior occurs, who would want to report it? And worse, when crimes occur (underage drinking, potentially leading to death; sexual assault, etc.) will members be less inclined to go to the authorities and report these incidents due to potential sanctions against their own organization?

http://www.thv11.com/news/local/arka...tion/412238957

Arkansas State apparently reacted to a rape allegation by shutting down all fraternities AND sororities. I can maybe understand the argument for suspending fraternities. I don't agree with it or think what they're doing is necessarily legal, but I understand the motivation.

Sororities though? How are sororities related to the issue of sexual assault in fraternities other than probably having their members victimized on a greater scale than non-members?

Oh Kevin, get with it! Don't you know sorority girls don't even look at icky boys unless it's a scheduled, approved, monitored event! This ban will solve everything!

So without scheduled, approved, monitored events, all sorority girls will become lesbians?:p

http://www.thesandspur.org/thoughtfu...aternity-life/

Thoughts?

It's a private college. They could get rid of Greek Life altogether. The article states that all IFC delegates and chapter presidents voted unanimously to suspend themselves. It's not wild speculation to imagine that there was at least the chance that if IFC members didn't get on board, then bye bye Greek Life.

Seems most are missing the big picture. Surely everyone here understands that without fraternities and sororities in place, there will be no underage drinking; no sex among undergrads, or between undergrads and faculty/staff; no drug use or trafficking; no students choosing to live off campus where they aren't subject to university rules and whims; and no reason not to spend one's entire college career studiously preparing oneself for one's place in society.

Penn State Greeks Now Allowed ‘Dry Socials’

http://onwardstate.com/2017/03/21/pe...d-dry-socials/

Yea...... about that...

Aaaaaaaand now they're shutting down recruitment...

Penn State Cancels Fall 2017 Greek Recruitment, Imposes Additional Social Regulations
http://onwardstate.com/2017/03/30/pe...l-regulations/

And what is THIS all about?

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.