"Worst of times" for Greek life
 

My previous post dealt with the "best of times" for college Greeks -- this addresses the opposite:

The depression of the 1930s dealt a devastating blow to fraternities and sororities. Enrollments dropped dramatically and many who were able to go to college found Greek life an unaffordable luxury. Younger groups with limited financial assets and little alumni support simply could not survive. Ironically, many of the chapter closings were not from lack of members but financial insolvency from overly ambitious housing choices. Several national organizations disintegrated and dissolved, while others merged into stronger groups. Only a small handful of the oldest and wealthiest fraternities and sororities avoided a loss of chapters. There was little or no expansion for more than a decade.

During the late 1960s events took place which again threatened the Greek system. Starting on each coast and in some major urban areas as a protest against an unpopular war, the "cause" grew at a phenomenal pace to include almost any and all authority or tradition. To many students, being Greek was irrelevant and our numbers dropped dramatically. The situation spared no group, no matter how large, small or wealthy they were, and chapter after chapter closed. The national organizations frenziedly placed chapters in many small and younger institutions in order to survive. Several groups were absorbed by larger stronger fraternities and sororities because they had become finaiclally insolvent.

I think the latter is far more troublesome for the Greeks. Fraternities and sororities enjoyed a healthy bounce back following the Depression/World War II years of decline. The Greek system has never fully recovered from the late 60s and 70s. Attitudes and emphases have changed. To sustain growth national organizations have sought new institutions to add chapters lost at the older more esteemed campuses. While some groups have grown, many are still faltering. A much smaller number of campus leaders today feel that Greek membership is of value to them.

What are your thoughts?

1860's- a lot of fraternities had to close for their members to fight in the Civil War.

I remember as a pledge being impressed that Gamma Phi Beta did not lose a house( the actual physical structure, not the chapter) during the Depression.

I know a lot of people agree with the bolded statement, but I don't. The Greek system has certainly evolved and had to face some major changes in the last couple of decades (risk management issues, institutionalized discrimination, etc.).

But, the 1980s saw a fairly large surge in Greek Life. Sigma Chi chartered a huge amount of chapters in the '80s - as did other groups. Look at how some groups are growing now. Gamma Phi Beta has added how many chapters in the past couple of years? I think that the attitudes of the '60s and '70s may have hurt somewhat (many chapters closing, fewer going Greek at the time), but a new attitude and atmosphere have helped to enlarge and improve Greek Life overall.

^^^ I think I would agree with you, Lane. I know that for us, the last 20+ years have been among our best in a long, long time. I would suggest that perhaps the "troubles" of the 1960s and 70s prompted some necessary self-examination and evolution that lead to the new attitude and atmosphere.

Current Greek Situation
 

One interesting fact from the NPC website (www.npcwomen.org) is that while the number of chapters has remained constant,(over the past two years) overall membership numbers are up - meaning that more women are joining and being retained.

I understand the impact the 1960s had on Americans and Greeks, in general.

However, many NPHCers consider the 1960s to have been great years for NPHC organizations. Older NPHCers, people in certain areas, and people at certain institutions saw how NPHC organizations and organizations like the Urban Leage and NAACP were very active in civil rights (including but not limited to the rights of blacks as a minority group). Many older NPHCers look back at their collegiate or graduate days of the 1960s and discuss how "excited" they were over what groups such as the NPHC had to offer for public service and for an ability to "let their hair down" and get their minds off of social problems/have fun.

This was very empowering, even if it was prompted by disturbing events and social conditions. In the midst of protest, there were social institutions that served as a voice for communities and a foundation for social action and change.

Agreed. My chapter closed in 1972 and recolonized in 1980 with a very strong pledge class. We were at campus total by the second year. We never lost the house, but it was rented out as a boarding house during the time the chapter was closed.
The OP and I have the same alma mater, and for sororities, I feel it recovered more in the 80s, but saw a drop off in the 90s due to various reasons. I think fraternities suffered more than sororities

As far as NPC membership goes, I think the worst of times isn't confined to a particular era but rather a mindset, when women were excluded from membership because of their race, religion or social standing in their hometown. While it's far from perfect, there's never been a better time than now for a woman to participate in recruitment and be evaluated based on her own merits...not her legacy status, or who wrote her ref etc. I'm glad my experience was being part of a chapter that was full of women from all kinds of different socio-economic, racial and religious backgrounds. Those women enriched me and my life, and that's what our Founders intended for our sisterhood to be about!

I can definitely see that. What a great legacy!

While the NPC numbers show membership up slightly during the past few years, the problem is that the enrollment figures at those same institutions have risen substantially. As an example, today Big Ten schools have an average of 14.5 NPC groups. In the late 1960s that number was 19.5 That is a 25% decrease in chapters while enrollments were nearly doubling! Even in the SEC schools, probably Greekdom's most popular area, the average number of NPC groups on each campus dropped from 13 to 11.8 -- at a time when the student population nearly tripled. It cannot be healthy when a continually smaller percentage of students determine that fraternity or sorority membership is of value to them. By the way, the fraternity figures are far worse than the soririties'.

oldu, I find this interesting as most Fraternities are in a expansion mode of sorts.

Granted there some being closed for numbers and R M. I am not sure how the balance is coming out in the long run.

Always intersting data from you!

You would have to look at the actual number of women in the sororities to determine whether it hasn't kept up with student enrollment. Most NPCs would rather have 10 chapters of 100 than 20 chapters of 50. It's getting more and more expensive to run a chapter, and smaller, unprofitable chapters are closed much more quickly than in years past.

Also, many multicultural groups have sprung up in recent years, so membership of ALL Greeks needs to be looked at, not just NPC groups.

We're still not mainstream enough to be included in "Greek Life."

Even though the percentages you quote are down, it doesn't mean that Greek Life has taken a hit. Let's face it...on larger campuses, such as the Big 10, there is so much more to do than in the 60s. Students have cars, they have jobs, there are more ways to network than 40 years ago, and there is more diversity. Bottom line is that students have more options, but I wouldn't say that Greek Life ise in the Worst of Times by the sheer percentages.