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As an alumnus and former chapter adviser, it saddens me to see how dramatically fraternity life has declined and Ball State. It's interesting to see the Star running a series like this now. A decade ago, it would have been hard to get any press at all in the local paper. It's also interesting that the Daily News (campus paper) doesn't really seem to be paying attention.
In my opinion, for all the talk about the "bad old days" of the 80s-90s, despite all the partying, there were a lot of good things about the Greek community at Ball State. We still did a lot of philanthropy and community service, and I can't recall a time since when our chapter was stronger.
In my experience on numerous Ball State committees, advisory boards, etc., I never heard University administrators express concern over declining numbers, closing chapters, etc. A lot of this change has occured with the change in culture that the University brought about in the last decade. When I was a student, the administration was very concerned about losing its reputation as a "suitcase college". I have seen that concern make a 180 into embracing the "suitcase college" . When I have visited over the years, it seems like there are actually fewer things going on on campus on weekends. This isn't to say that the Greeks are without fault, but I don't think the University has been too concerned about stemming the tide either.
A perfect example is the fraternity advisor position with the University. When I started my undergraduate career, the advisor was also the Director of Disability Support Services.
He was an older guy (kind of 'Dad' aged) and a great guy who used to just drop by the houses from time to time for no real reason. Since about 1990, there have been a succession of low-paid fraternity advisors ( I know about the pay, I checked out the position a few years ago), who only stay for 2-3 years. First of all, the position needs to be higher paying to attract EXPERIENCED advisors, who might be willing to stay for more than 2-3 years. Most of the advisors have been just out of graduate school, and honestly, I think they need someone experienced with a track record to help turn things around.
Sigh. I guess I've vented enough. Honestly though, if you went to Ball State a decade ago and saw all of the changes since then, you would understand why so few students bother joining a fraternity at all.
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