Amherst College Bans Students From Joining Fraternities

[SOM]

Amherst College said Tuesday it will ban students from joining fraternities and sororities, beginning this summer.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/0...tent=FullStory

[33girl]

This will just push them further underground and make any sort of regulation obsolete. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

[NinjaPoodle]

Originally Posted by 33girl

This will just push them further underground and make any sort of regulation obsolete. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

^^This right here.

[Psi U MC Vito]

Hasn't Harvard been trying this for decades with no results?

[Sen's Revenge]

I am very uncomfortable with a university regulating off-campus conduct to this degree. I kind of hope some students quickly become a freedom of association test case.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Sen's Revenge

I am very uncomfortable with a university regulating off-campus conduct to this degree. I kind of hope some students quickly become a freedom of association test case.

When institutions that pride themselves on their liberalism act in most unliberal ways.

[Sen's Revenge]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

When institutions that pride themselves on their liberalism act in most unliberal ways.

How about THAT!

[KSUViolet06]

Princeton has been "banning" Greek Life since I was AT LEAST a sophomore in undergrad. They've been sending the same "Greek Life ban letter" to incoming freshmen since I was like 19. I'm 29 now.

http://www.princeton.edu/reports/201...es-sororities/

See also: Santa Clara University. GL is still present there although no one is technically supposed to be joining it and the University doesn't recognize any of the chapters. They "banned" it in 2001.

http://www.scu.edu/studentlife/osl/greekstatement.cfm

[KSUViolet06]

This is Santa Clara's Panhellenic site:

http://mkenniston.wix.com/scpanhell

ETA: Princeton's site.

https://www.facebook.com/PrincetonPanhellenic

So banning. Such prohibition. Much suspension.

[clemsongirl]

It looks like Amherst had already banned on-campus recognition of Greek Life but allowed them to function off-campus since 1984, per this article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...n_3373131.html I don't see how the school can enforce this ban. How would these hypothetical "violations of the Honor Code" be reported, and by whom?

[Low D Flat]

No, Harvard has never tried to prevent students from joining GLOs or final clubs. It just doesn't recognize them as student organizations or let them do anything on campus/use the university name. There's no rule against joining, like Amherst has here.

[sigmagirl2000]

When I was an undergrad at UMass AMherst, I'm pretty sure that Amherst college students were members of fraternities at UMass.... I'd be interested to see how this plays out

[XAntoftheSkyX]

Originally Posted by sigmagirl2000

When I was an undergrad at UMass AMherst, I'm pretty sure that Amherst college students were members of fraternities at UMass.... I'd be interested to see how this plays out

It could be something like current Amherst students in GLOs affiliated at UMass are allowed to continue membership but bans uninitiated students from joining. I remember hearing one Phi Sigma Kappa was not a UMass student, but different orgs have different rules about membership and who qualifies.


I agree that this is a dumb idea on the college's part, but Amherst never struck me as a place where students really wanted Greek Life. I suppose if a potential student liked Amherst but also wanted the Greek experience, they could find another university either in the Pioneer Valley or a college with similar credentials.

[AGDee]

This goes way beyond NPC and NIC groups: Students will be prohibited from on-campus activities "relating to rushing, pledging, initiating or otherwise admitting to or maintaining membership by any student of the College in any fraternity, sorority or other social club, society or organization (however denominated)," the email said.

That's a pretty broad definition. I'm willing to bet a whole lot of student organizations on their campus could be a "social club, society or organization".

[33girl]

That it is. This silly policy may make some strange bedfellows.