Sorority & Fraternity Rankings (?!) at U of Iowa

exlurker · #1 11-11-2004, 01:50 PM

Oy vey. Are you sitting down? The local newspaper in Iowa City has published an article giving the breakdown of non-traffic citations or arrests (largely alcohol-related) of students at the U of Iowa. One of the five tables printed deals with fraternities, while another deals with sororities – BY HOUSE NAME – for the last six academic years. Other tables deal with residence hall students, athletes (male and female), and so on. The tables appear to indicate that a higher percentage of Greeks are cited or arrested than residence hall students.

A vice president of one of the NPC chapters is quoted as saying, “We are not going out more or drinking more than we have before. It's the increase in enforcement. They [the police] are all over the place." An alumnus of an NIC fraternity is quoted as saying, "We have several fraternities that seem to be significantly out of line with their peers. . . .I would be in there pounding the table.”

All in all, not the sort of publicity that U of Iowa Greeks probably want, especially those chapters that have high citation/arrest percentages. I’d guess that in some instances local, regional or national advisers / officers will get involved, but I certainly could be wrong.

For at least one sorority there may not be a whole lot of "pressure": the percentage of members cited /arrested in the entire 6-year period is ZERO for Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.

http://www.press-citizen.com/apps/pb...411110322/1079

Kevin · #2 11-11-2004, 02:01 PM

How are these statistics collected? How do they know what fraternity/sorority someone belongs to when they are arrested? I have a difficult time believing the police would collect that kind of information -- and if they did, what fraternity/sorority member would be dumb enough to provide it?

valkyrie · #3 11-11-2004, 02:13 PM

I'm not commenting on the validity of the article because I have no idea if the information is correct. Although it has been a few years since I was at Iowa, I was able to predict which sorority would have the lowest arrest percentage and which dorm would have the highest. Some kids party more than others -- I personally don't think it's a big deal.

exlurker · #4 11-11-2004, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ktsnake
How are these statistics collected? How do they know what fraternity/sorority someone belongs to when they are arrested? I have a difficult time believing the police would collect that kind of information -- and if they did, what fraternity/sorority member would be dumb enough to provide it?

ktsnake, decent question; the article gave the source of the data as the U of Iowa Office of the Vice President for Student Services. You might want to contact that office with questions about the statistics.
Their e-mail and snail mail addresses are listed at

http://www.uiowa.edu/~vpss/contact/index.html

hugsandkisses · #5 11-11-2004, 02:38 PM

I think it would be very easy to find out that information. First of all all student organizations keep records of their members and that info is easily avavilable. Secondly, they probably had their letters on their car when they were pulled over! I can think of very few undergrades that don't have letters on their car.

PhoenixAzul · #6 11-11-2004, 02:41 PM

Campus secuirity citations are public knowledge. Any person is allowed to look at the police blotter to obtain knowledge. As a journalism student, I have to read the blotter every week. This information is also typically published in a "campus social issues" publication. Also, information involving "problem" areas (ie properties) can be found through searching court records. So more than likely these statistics are coming from security/police blotters or court records.

ISUKappa · #7 11-11-2004, 02:47 PM

The Press-Citizen prints this every year. I think this year they're taking an extra hard look at it because the city really wants to make the bars 21 and over.

The article said the report was compiled by the Office of the Vice President for Student Services. So I'm guessing that the office got the names of students from the police log (which is public record, right?) and then matched them with the information they have in their records--which would include current Greek rosters.

No city ordinance is going to keep students from drinking, whether they are under- or of- age. And it is true that the ICPD is being much more stringent on enforcing the laws than they may have been in the past. Personally speaking, as an adviser for a U of I chapter, I view my job is not to police the women I advise, but to teach them to make more responsible choices and give them ownership for their actions via Risk Management and Standards.

WCUgirl · #8 11-11-2004, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by hugsandkisses
I think it would be very easy to find out that information. First of all all student organizations keep records of their members and that info is easily avavilable. Secondly, they probably had their letters on their car when they were pulled over! I can think of very few undergrades that don't have letters on their car.

These are non-traffic related violations.

It seems to me that they don't clearly define what is considered as a citation. I know that when I was an undergrad, even if you were of age, if an ALE officer approached you during tailgating at a football game, if you didn't have your ID on you to prove you were 21, you were written a citation.

It's also obvious that they truly have cracked down, as almost all of those #s have seen a significant increase from the 2002-2003 year to the 2003-2004 year. Just b/c the #s have increased doesn't mean the alcohol use has increased.

33girl · #9 11-11-2004, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by hugsandkisses
Secondly, they probably had their letters on their car when they were pulled over! I can think of very few undergrades that don't have letters on their car.

These aren't traffic related citations. And if they were and cops were noting it on the tickets, they'd be in serious trouble for profiling.

Plus, without chapter totals or showing the numbers of people who live in each dorm, it means nothing. You can say XYZ had 50% of their members arrested, but we have no idea if that's 5 people or 60 people.

What a ridiculous, stupid waste of newsprint.

XOMichelle · #10 11-11-2004, 05:58 PM

ehhh... Kids in college drink. Is that news? Not so much, no. I hope they learn how to be safe, drink responsibly, and take care of eachother.

kk_bama · #11 11-12-2004, 02:24 PM

Woo! Go Gamma Phi! 19%!

lol, I'm totally kidding, but knowing the number of people in each GLO or in each dorm would be good if they really wanted this to be helpful.

I'm also wondering if parties/swaps/socials, whatever you want to call them, have been broken up by cops-- maybe this is where the large percentage is coming from?

axidhawkeye · #12 11-12-2004, 03:57 PM

there's been a lot of debate in Iowa City to raise the age of the bars to 21 as opposed to 19 like it is right now, and because of that there have been more citations, and being out on a thursday - saturday night, you can see them out in full force, stopping at the bars numerous times a night.

this is the article from the UI's Daily Iowan: http://www.dailyiowan.com/news/2004/...p-802881.shtml

the tickets were more than likely posession of alcholol under the legal age, public intoxication, and probably some sort of (i can't remember exactly what it's called) having an open container in public..., and some were probably also being in a bar after 10 pm if you're under 19.

33girl · #13 11-12-2004, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by axidhawkeye
the tickets were more than likely posession of alcholol under the legal age, public intoxication, and probably some sort of (i can't remember exactly what it's called) having an open container in public..., and some were probably also being in a bar after 10 pm if you're under 19.

If you have to leave the bar by 10, what on earth is the point of going?? Nothing ever gets started at bars here till 10 or 10:30.

IowaStatePhiPsi · #14 11-15-2004, 03:56 PM

this really doesnt surprise me since UofI has the highest number of arrests for public intox, highest number of arrests for marijuana and highest reported numbers for rapes of the regent-universities in Iowa.

KSigkid · #15 11-15-2004, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by IowaStatePhiPsi
this really doesnt surprise me since UofI has the highest number of arrests for public intox, highest number of arrests for marijuana and highest reported numbers for rapes of the regent-universities in Iowa.

Not an Iowa fan, are we? I sense a bit of the Iowa State/Iowa rivalry peaking through here.