Quote:
Originally Posted by oldu
My previous post dealt with the "best of times" for college Greeks -- this addresses the opposite:
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?
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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.