Greek Life at a Crossroads article
 

https://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-t...025-story.html

Interesting article that focuses on Lehigh University(PA). The articles does discuss the decline of Greek membership, but acknowledges that it is growing in other places (specifically mentioning West Chester University).

One thing I did like that Lehigh is changing: their Greek Life blog was mainly about infractions and sanctions. They are going to move that to another page and focus their blog on the positives of Greek Life.

A big thing they didn’t really mention: Lehigh is freaking expensive, and West Chester is not. I’m guessing a lot of kids who normally would have gone to the private schools are choosing WC or Delaware and taking their interest in Greek life with them.

Just the result of years of liberal college administrators looking to shut down greek life altogether. They think they are solving problems, but all they are doing is pushing them off campus were they will have less structure and control. Case in point, last week at IU there was an off campus party which ended in a shooting.

A lot could go into lower membership, especially with the rising cost of going to college. There is only so much expendable funds people can afford.

Also when schools are so Anti Greeks it shows and the results show it. Then toss in things like hazing/Alcohol Deaths so widely report, parents get up set and tell kids no way do you Greek or you get 0 funds from us. :rolleyes:

We have been in a Anti Greek war for years and it will be an ongoing battle as we know.

I look at the Cost of even the State Universities in Kansas and go, OMG, how do kids afford it today?:confused:

I see the cost of my Fraternity going up yearly so, they want more money.

We all know, there is only so much money out there for us to spend and it is not going up as does the cost of expenditure. Ergo, what has to go? Go Greek and eat less or just concentrate on one thing. Then that is the decision one has to make!

"An increasingly diverse student body, both geographically and socioeconomically, is choosing to get involved on campus in other ways, and traditional Greek groups haven't figured out how to attract newcomers."

I think this may be a part of it. Since public schools are going up in price, more lower income kids are getting hip and rolling the dice for scholarships at private schools. These students may not feel there is a place in GL for them, or it may come down to finances, as 33 mentioned.

I think Penn State is kind of its own case at this point, with the history there.

The move to deferred recruitment has had an impact for kids I know. Whereas, students used to arrive on campus and have an opportunity to pledge right away, by the time second semester has arrived many of the students who were anxious to affiliate in the fall have joined other clubs and organizations. Because they have already found a strong group of friends and feel their schedule is full, many don't see the need or have the time to commit to Greek life. You don't see this conflict in the SEC where recruitment starts before classes begin. This is a stated goal of the administrations who are mandating this and it seems to be working.

I've always felt that if a campus has deferred recruitment, and the claim is that students are finding other outlets in lieu of the Greek System, then the Greek system is doing something wrong. They've got a whole quarter/semester to show the benefits and foundations of Greek Life. If they are doing it right, then there should be a clamber of students trying to rush.

This. I used to believe what you stated GreekOne, but I came to realize that there are schools where deferred recruitment fits perfectly, mine being one of them. But even if it doesn't, if students are claiming after one semester that they've filled their schedules so completely that they don't have time to join a Greek org, there are other issues here.

With filling your schedule yeah a freshman can sign up for 1000 clubs and maybe stick to one or two by the end of the first semester. But as ASTalumna said, it all depends on the school. I see it working at Indiana, but on the other hand it's such a big thing to join first semester in the fall such as at the SEC school.

One thing I don't get is why they don't do deferred in the south when the weather would be more manageable. Meanwhile, a lot of northern schools will do formal in January when it's snowing and freezing outside.

This x 1000. The “maybe joiners” have had a semester to see what a great thing it is. I know that being in a very Greek-heavy dorm definitely influenced me to rush. If I’d been at a “pre-first semester or nothing” school and had nothing to go on but stereotypes, rather than the great fraternity and sorority members I got to know, things would have probably been a lot different.

And I will never forget our idiotic former Greek advisor instituting first semester rush years later “to get them before they know better.” This “strategy” was partly responsible for the closing of two chapters.

You seem to be at odds with risk issues and authority. Each fraternity and sorority has created risk policies to combat hazing. Most campuses have addressed it as well.
Whether you agree with each chapter or university is up to you. But it is not your call. I don't doubt you will complain about it, tough.

Creating policies that don't eliminate risk, but push risk off campus isn't a solution. Banning kegs accelerates the move to hard liquor which is easier to hide and causes twice the problems. Pledge rides have prevented countless DUI situations -- but now they call it "hazing" and are banned. Etc. Etc. The people "in charge" don't have a clue as to the unintended consequences of their policies.