Quote:
Originally posted by Diamond Delta
Point taken about Princeton. However, there are other sorority and fraternity chapters at schools not as elite as Princeton and they too have no University recognition. I was really aiming my question at the general idea of it all, not specifically the Princeton situation. But I can see why you posted what you did. Valid points about this specific instance.
But what about the other schools with these kinds of chapters. Anyone know how they handle it? What is their nationals take on it and how do they help to enforce the policies like student membership, grades, hazing, panhellenic requirements etc.?
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I would look at two scenarios. There is one where a greek system exists, and then loses recognition. Most GLOs will maintain chapters at these schools, unless the climate and/or chapter dramatically deteriorates.
Then there are schools that prohibit GLOs, have none, and then the interest to start a system emerges. In this scenario we have schools like Amherst, Brandeis, Georgetown, Harvard, and Princeton that now have greek systems. All of these schools, except for Brandeis, had greek systems at one time. Of these schools, all had banned social GLOs and had none before GLOs began to reemerge. There has also been the possible emergence of a single Delta Psi chapter at Williams, as well as unsuccessful colonization efforts at Fordham, Notre Dame and (maybe) West Point over the last 15 years. GLOs are willing to roll the dice on these schools because they are prestigious. These schools produce far more alumni who pad "famous alumni" lists. When alumni from top tier schools get involved with their GLOs at the national level, they are (on average) more effective than other leaders from lesser schools. This makes an entire GLO better.
So, in the case where an underground greek system is emerging, the caliber of the school is evaluated. Janerz222 can let us know if her chapter provided Theta with grades, but I wouldn't be surprised if Theta looked the other way.
As far as other schools go, my fraternity currently has our Massachusetts Beta chapter at Brandeis. They are a great bunch of guys. Brandeis University's charter prohibits fraternities. The greek system is about 15 years old. We've been chartered there for 11 years. Aside from the ability to check grades and a mutually supportive relationship with the school, there is little difference between being chartered at Brandeis or Brown.
Student membership requirements are not an issue at this caliber of schools. The students are extremely busy with other activities on campus, as well as studying. Many of the students at these schools live their collegiate lives on campus, and don't have the time to make the effort to associate with students at other schools. These schools also have few, if any, part time students.
GPA is just not a big issue at these types of schools. The students who go there already have great time management skills. Some lose their focus and fail out, but not at the same rate of lesser schools. I don't know what our Brandeis chapter's GPA is. It could be 0.8. I do know that most of their brothers go onto grad school, so they must be doing something right in the classroom.
With regard to risk management issues, they face similar issues that chapters at other elite schools face. Risk management issues are not enforceable at Brandeis, except that the school likes to let the Waltham police know where partys will be. Schools like Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Penn, Stanford, Swarthmore, and W&L (and others) basically look the other way. Having greek system recognition at elite private schools is no guarantee for risk management compliance. These schools have alumni who make tons of money, donate tons of money, and like to have a few beers when they visit campus. Hazing at these schools, when it occurs, is not questioned by the administrations if specific incidents are not known.
It comes down to a basic cost/benefit analysis. Its worth chartering at Princeton and other top tier schools.