Quote:
Originally Posted by oldu
While the University of Iowa has been bad for sororities (Alpha Gamma Delta, Sigma Delta Tau & Sigma Kappa all closed during the past decade), it has been an absolute disaster for fraternities. Twelve fraternities have closed chapters during the past decade. At least half were among the oldest and strongest groups on campus. Beta, Phi Delt & Phi Gam have managed to revive as colonies but even they are much weaker today than a decade ago. But Iowa is not the only Big Ten school with this problem. Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State have very similar circumstances. I asked on another thread some time ago why Indiana and Purdue have such healthy systems compared to these schools. Is it because of the University's policy alone, or are other things driving it? Seems to me the make-up of students in Indiana is not much different than the schools with weak systems. Any thoughts?
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I'm not sure what is going on at Iowa, however having grown up in Ohio and now living in Indiana, I can at least compare Ohio State and IU/Purdue. One thing is location. OSU is in a large city with lots to do. Ohio State students may work or even live pretty far from campus. It is also easy to go home of the weekends. The bars are no longer close to campus, so students going out mix with the general population of Columbusites.
IU and Purdue are both in college towns with most things within walking/shuttle bus distance. The bars are basically college bars- they are filled with students. It's not uncommon to stay at school for the entire semester. So sororities/fraternities (and CoOps at Purdue) fill that role of giving kids a place to belong. It also helps that Indianapolis is equidistant from Purdue and IU and we have many of the HQs here- so help is close at hand to keep interest up. Just my 2 cents.