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Tom, we are coming toward the end, I think, of this era. It had its roots in the whole "zero tolerance" thing that grew out of frustration over a rampant drug culture twenty years ago. The problem on campus is that the death penalty has been instituted for every infraction. Have a beer? You're gone. Pledge wash your car? You're gone. Crawl onto the porch of a sorority house at 4 am? You're gone. Whether you engage in dangerous practices and a pledge dies - or - if you require the pledges to wear red ties with their blazers, the result can be the same in front of one of these university judicial boards. You hang for a penny as well as a pound. The problem is especially compounded when the school tries to turn the disciplinary process over to the IFC/chapters themselves. Reacting the outrageous abuses by college administrators, Greek alumni and undergrads got Congress to pass the Freedom Of Association Act in 1996. The schools know there's a limit to what they actually get away with, so they place the process in the hands of the IFC, then claim that - gosh! - the fraternities decided this themselves; we had nothing to do with it. Two bad things are at work here. First, some ivory tower administrators apparently believe that this whole thing qualifies as a "learning process", and the fact the fact that your house is put out of business is just part of this wonderful educational experience. Second, the administrators make it clear to the IFC that if they don't take Draconian measures ("make an example"), the school will step in and shut down the Greek system. The school knows that they could not actually get away with it, but the undergrads don't know that. Plus, once the undergrads are in charge, chapter rivalries enter into the picture. The Lambda Chis in trouble? We'll, they're leading in intramurals; let's kick them out of sports for the rest of the year so my Alpha Beta Gamma chapter can win. The Sigma Nus too hard to compete with in rush? Well, we'll fix that!
On some campuses, the alumni have taken strong action to fight back these hateful administrative abuses. Back in the late 1990s the Univerity of Delaware came up with the horrible "Delaware Plan": layer upon layer of excrutiatingly detailed forms and requirements and punishments. The courts correctly struck this nonsense down.
Yes, there is bad behavior. We're dealing with college age boys, and we always will be as long as there are colleges and 18-21 year-old students. They are boys and they will do what boys do, regardless of the gender-feminists' wishes to turn them all into the cast of Will & Grace.
I think the administrators would all be very happy to see the whole greek system go away, but then, administrators and faculty have largely felt that way for 200 years. It's one of the reasons fraternities were founded in the first place. It is the reason Sigma Chi sued Purdue University more than 100 years ago, and won.
Enough rambling. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year, Tom.
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