[imsohappythatiama]

Brad:

Thanks for the thoughtful post. You make a lot of good points that I agree with, and others I disagree with...but at the same time, you've got us all THINKING and that is a first step.

I hope you don't see our posts (or at least mine) as "bashing your ideas"! I admire the courage it took to bring such ideas to light, and if our exploration of these difficult (to the point of madness) issues has begun to sound like bashing, let me be the first to apologize.

Whatever remedy is prescribed, in the end, however, will have to be one that has been picked over and bashed from every angle--and survives nonetheless.

You asked for our ideas. Mine is simple. The greek system (fraternities and sororites in tandem) MUST agree to keep (1) ALL fraternity and sorority-sponsored housing SUBSTANCE FREE, and (2) ALL fraternity and sorority-sponsored events monitored by law enforcement and intermediated by third party vendors.

This won't work until EVERYONE agrees to it, thereby holding each other accountable.

I am well-versed in the history of so-called "DRY" fraternity housing. In my opinion and in my experience, the reason it does not work is because a single dry chapter is holding itself to a standard (or being forced to hold itself to a standard) that its greater support community does not espouse. It's like a recovering alcoholic having a peer group made up entirely of alcoholics--at some point, recovery will fall by the wayside.

The same holds true for the recently insituted sorority "dry-mixing" policy. Until ALL NPC sororities are held to this standard AND (this is key) ALL IFC organizations pledge themselves to a dry-mixing policy, fiascoes like those Brad describes (padding guest lists, coersion, etc.) will continue (to my great dismay).

Here is the rub of all of this: to my mind, it's much less complicated than it seems. Granted, this "plan" would require widespread, unified action on the part of IFC and NPC, two organizations that don't always see eye to eye. There could be no "rolling" this plan out piece by piece. It can only work if IFC and NPC agree that beginning at the start of school year 20XX, ALL fraternity and sorority housing will be Subtance-free, and ALL fraternity and sorority-sponsored events will be third-party vended...OR ELSE.

"Or Else" meaning your charter is revoked. "Or Else" meaning we can't pay for your chapter house anymore, have your belongings on the curb by midnight. "Or Else" meaning if you can't see the error of your ways, we would rather remove our organization from the host campus than cross our fingers and hope that we're not the next ones to be sued.

I honestly believe that if IFC and NPC could move together with confidence as a unified front, we could change things for the better. I'm not saying this would solve all of the issues we as actives, alumns, advisors, and national officers will have to deal with, but it would be a major new beginning for a system that I fear is in more jeopardy than it realizes.