Asking Umass-Amherst Greeks
 

Hi, former Umass LXA alumni here. I was in Amherst recently and noticed alot of changes to the greek system.

I was hoping that some current Umass-Amherst students involved in Greek life could give me some insight on what is currently happening, any future plans, and how Greek life is in general right now.

Thanks!

Amherst
 

I was there recently and was shocked at the condition of the
once-gorgeous and well maintained fraternity houses. They
are now replete with broken stained glass windows, sprayed
graffitti and deferred maintenance. This old man would cut a
few nuts and render a few filberts sterile...but that might be that
I am out of touch. The "freedom" and the whining of some of you
is interesting, with guilt-ridden divorced parents paying the bills.
But it is here, too, in Boulder, but AMHERST. one of the old, old
greek bastions...The gay rights groups, et al. may be bright, they
may be creative, but they are not, seemingly, house keepers.

I know that the school has a much more positive attitude about greeks..new and returning groups are being encouraged, but.....Housing is the big issue. Most of the houses on N. Pleasant are not owned by the fraternities in them.(Only SDT and IGU still own their houses) School is talking about greek housing, but on a UConn model, with very little security for each organization.

You wouldn't happen to know which organizations are new on campus?

I'm pretty sure that Alpha Sigma Phi just came back and that Kappa Sig is about to. When were you there,BTW

I was out of there by '01. Heard it was doing well by some and not so well by others.

UMass
 

TKE has been off the UMass campus for a coupla dozen years but
now has a colony, so-so in progress. The housing and status of
the Greeks in all of MA is kinda in limbo and I have never been able to figure out those folks...but anybody who continually puts
Teddy Kennedy back into the congress has an oar out of the water. Do not know if this comment is inappropriate for this site
or not, but I am being a daring sort at this point.

Erik, thanks for the info. Any idea of other organizations that are wanting to colonize?

Re: UMass
 

Actually, that's not completely true. There have been pushes for housing at many of our respective schools, and some schools (WPI, MIT, for example), have a solid amount of Greek housing.

Also, not all of us are Teddy Kennedy boosters; some of us are even Republicans.

KSigKid
- Boston U. Greek alum

How is the status of Greeks in MA in limbo? I advise at two schools here in Boston, and we are all thriving.

That's what I'm trying to figure out. I heard conflictng stories about Umass-Amherst Greeks. I refuse to believe that with thriving Greek communities in Boston, Conn., New Hampshire and Rhode Island, that there is no interest in Amherst.

UMASS-GREEKS
 

I know DU built a new house on N.Pleasant and has an active chapter.

Exactly - the Greek systems aren't as large as in other states, but by no means are they "in limbo."

Possibly More Interest by some Mass. Schools than some profess?

I dont know and I am just as interested here as GammaZeta is.:)

I know we're (ADPhi) happy with Massachusetts. We've had an affiliate at Northeastern for 1-1/2 years now and are just starting working with a group at Brandeis. We've been chatting with some guys at Harvard and hope to formally organize a group of interested men at BU. While chapters tend to be smaller in the NE, and it can be difficult to work with the admins at some of the schools (look no further than Colgate), but most of our NE chapters are doing quite well. Our Hamilton chapter is more successful now than it ever was when we still had our house. We are talking with NYU about coming back to campus next school year. Also, the short distances between schools leads to a fair amount of synergy, as a field rep can visit two or three chapters in the same day. If our plans are all successful, nearly 1/4 of our entire society will be in Mass. and almost 1/2 in the NE.