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Dr. Kimbrough @ Syracuse
Hermes - SU News
Issue: 10/07/03
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Reknown author dissects trials of fraternity community
By Zandile Blay
More than 60 students recently gathered in Grant Auditorium, chatting and laughing as they awaited their guest. But the man they came to see, sat in the front row alone.
He wore a simple gray suit and a serious demeanor. For those wondering about the man, his picture projected overhead, displaying a copy of his newly released book and the author's name: Walter Kimbrough.
Kimbrough is a renowned national expert in the field of collegiate greek studies and he is an AFA brother. He visited Syracuse University on Sept. 27, informing the audience from the onset that such publications as Rolling Stone, the New York Times and the Washington Post have quoted him and his work.
And, said Tanya Ortiz of WFB, the sponsor of Kimbrough's visit, hopefully that work will prompt students to think critically of greek-related challenges.
"Our vision was to open up discussion, to get people talking about the issues," Ortiz said.
Kimbrough wasted no time in helping to do so, taking the stage and tackling several hurdles facing the greek community, especially black and latino chapters. He at times, however, used his comedic flare to do so, announcing his distinction as "intergalactic sex symbol" and boasting of his culinary mastery.
He began the presentation with a brief discussion on the origin of fraternities and sororities: literary clubs.
These clubs, he said, emerged around 1753 as an outlet for students frustrated with the academic vigors of college. As universities grew in size, the number of literary clubs declined, and greek letter organizations soon began to take their place.
Greek organizations quickly grew popular and multiplied throughout the country. While doing so, Kimbrough said, they reflected common themes, or a "blue print." This blue print involves five tenants: character, scholarship, fellowship, service and religion.
Kimbrough shared how greeks betrayed these tenents in recent years. To emphasize the point, he quoted a statement he overheard a brother make.
"The university's rules are getting to the heart of what my fraternity is all about," Kimbrough quoted the student as saying. "Drinking and partying."
Kimbrough displayed for students newspaper articles that detailed the decline in greek membership and also described recent hazing incidents, some resulting in death.
But a series of photos proved most useful to the argument, showing pictures of students who had died due to injuries received while pledging, shots of pledges dressed alike and walking in lock during Rush and scenes of hooded figures holding skulls -- symbols now, unfortunately for greeks, are synonymous with college fraternity life.
For Kimbrough, these photos provided an element to the presentation he could not articulate himself.
"The images always tell the story better than I could," he said. "It brings the point home to the students."
And the point is simply this: greek life on college campuses is not what it used to be and, consequently, it needs to be improved. Underscoring this statement, Kimbrough said, is a recently publicized ranking of risks, used by some insurance companies when establishing policies. On the list, greek life is in the top 10, above pesticides and hazardous waste.
The issue is of particular urgency for National Pan-Hellenic Council chapters, Kimbrough said. Though the NPHC's national office official banned pledging more than a decade ago, the group continues to battle hazing-related injuries and deaths each year.
For those organizations looking to minimize the risk, Kimbrough shared a tentative solution he dubbed the Student Development Theory. Chapters should reincorporate pledging back into the membership process, he said. They've got nothing to lose.
"Sometimes you have to try the absurd thing," he said. "And the absurd thing is going back to pledging."
The discussion, however, needs to continue, Kimbrough added. Though books like his own can provide insights into topics of greek life, larger forums can speak to more students and have far-reaching effects.
"This is a lot broader," he said referring to his visit and presentation. "This is more general to include all greeks."
But will such visits by prominent figures in the greek community help chapters boost intake numbers?
"This alone won't help," Ortiz said. "Each chapter has to take a pro-active effort into increasing their numbers."
If one student is any indication of that progress, freshman Tiffany Lewis said she is better equipped to make decisions having listened to Kimbrough.
"I got a lot of insight," Lewis said. "It's going to help me determine what path I want to go down in the future."
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