Trinity College(CT) - All Greek Orgs Told to Go Co-ed

[LaneSig]

http://articles.courant.com/2012-11-...ederick-alford

Trinity College's president and board of trustees have decreed that all Greek Orgs at Trinity must go co-ed.

Trinity currently has:

Alpha Chi Rho
Psi Upsilon
Sigma Nu
Delta Psi - already co-ed
Alpha Delta Phi
Pi Kappa Alpha
Alpha Phi Alpha

Kappa Kappa Gamma
Ivy Society (created after closure of Delta Delta Delta)

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by LaneSig

http://articles.courant.com/2012-11-...ederick-alford

Trinity College's president and board of trustees have decreed that all Greek Orgs at Trinity must go co-ed.

Trinity currently has:

Alpha Chi Rho

That's Alpha Chi Rho's founding chapter, Phi Psi.

[thetalady]

In addition to the co-ed requirement, they are also requiring the elimination of a pledge period entirely and minimum GPA:

Besides requiring the Greek groups to go coed, the committee's recommendations — approved in October by the board of trustees — included the banning of a pledge period and a requirement that a group's collective grade point average be 3.2 or better.

Certainly not looking like Greek life will survive at this campus.

[MaggieXi]

How does forcing groups to go co-ed remove the culture of partying?

[janssen2010]

Originally Posted by MaggieXi

How does forcing groups to go co-ed remove the culture of partying?

Agreed plus forcing them to go co-ed defeats what the core of a fraternity or sorority is....i like that alumni are threatening with holding donations just hope there is enough money at stake that the school releases how ridiculous this idea is

[naraht]

Originally Posted by janssen2010

Agreed plus forcing them to go co-ed defeats what the core of a fraternity or sorority is....i like that alumni are threatening with holding donations just hope there is enough money at stake that the school releases how ridiculous this idea is

Sigh, I think there may be a few Psi Upsilon and Alpha Delta Phi brothers who may disagree with you.

BTW, does anyone know if those two are the only NIC members with female members? (Not sure if the ADPhi that is a member of the NIC is just the fraternity or if the Fraternity and the Society are represented)...

Also, does anyone know if this forced change to co-ed has ever happened before?

[Psi U MC Vito]

Originally Posted by naraht

Also, does anyone know if this forced change to co-ed has ever happened before?

It happened at Amherst way back when. The story i heard is that all the Greek Organization were forced to initiate women. The Gamma of Psi U got away with it for a few years by submiting first initials only on the membership form, but eventually they started to submit whole names and got caught. They were brought to the carpet at Convention and were able to successfully able to argue that they didn't violate the tenets of Psi Upsilon. The constitution never says that a member needs to be a male. Granted they probably didn't see that as something that had to be addressed since colleges were mostly all male at that point anyway.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by janssen2010

Agreed plus forcing them to go co-ed defeats what the core of a fraternity or sorority is....

I guess all of the co-ed fraternities out there missed that memo.

I get what you're saying. After all, my fraternity has direct experience with this and fought to stay single-sex. For many, the single-sex nature of many GLOs is part of the appeal. But not for everyone.

The problem is not whether GLOs are single-sex or co-ed. The problem is someone on the outside trying to force them to be what they don't want to be.

Originally Posted by naraht

Sigh, I think there may be a few Psi Upsilon and Alpha Delta Phi brothers who may disagree with you.

BTW, does anyone know if those two are the only NIC members with female members? (Not sure if the ADPhi that is a member of the NIC is just the fraternity or if the Fraternity and the Society are represented)...

Just the fraternity is a member of the NIC. Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity is not co-ed. Alpha Delta Phi Society, formed of some chapters that broke away from Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity over the co-ed issue, considers itself a literary society, not a fraternity. The two groups share the Greek letters, symbols, history and (I think) ritual, but they are separate organizations.

Delta Psi (St. Anthony Hall) is co-ed and is an NIC member. It and Psi U are the only co-ed NIC fraternities I can think of right now.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

The problem is not whether GLOs are single-sex or co-ed. The problem is someone on the outside trying to force them to be what they don't want to be.


Just the fraternity is a member of the NIC. Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity is not co-ed. Alpha Delta Phi Society, formed of some chapters that broke away from Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity over the co-ed issue, considers itself a literary society, not a fraternity. The two groups share the Greek letters, symbols, history and (I think) ritual, but they are separate organizations.

Delta Psi (St. Anthony Hall) is co-ed and is an NIC member. It and Psi U are the only co-ed NIC fraternities I can think of right now.

Agreed, force them to be something they don't want to be. *But*, viewed from the *outside*, forcing all the greek letter organizations to admit both men and women isn't that different from forcing them to admit Negros or Jews. I'm definitely *not* saying that this should be forced, but it should be kept in mind the way that those making the decision are seeing the parallels ...

In addition, I'm curious whether Delta Psi (St. Anthony's Hall) has a *significantly* better track record legally than the other fraternities and the sororities? (fewer arrests for underage drinking, etc.). It doesn't sound like that was the reason from the original article. It was more like, we want to transform our student life and making sure that all students can join all groups is one of the things we want to do. Note, getting rid of the pledging period is also one of the rules as is a proposed 3.2 house average, so this sweep may also affect Delta Psi (no idea what Delta Psi's new membership policy looks like). I truly wonder if Delta Psi wasn't there as an example, whether they would have just nuked all of the social GLOs.

[Psi U MC Vito]

Do you think we will have a rash of new locals now with this? Something similar to this is actually how Psi U went co-ed in the first place. After reading the article, all I can say is wow. It seems like this is just a way to force the Greeks to go. There is no real justification for it other wise. And I can't say I'm surprised, though am kind of sad, that the BB of Psi U seems to be strongly against this.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Psi U MC Vito

And I can't say I'm surprised, though am kind of sad, that the BB of Psi U seems to be strongly against this.

Was there something other than the "scapegoat" comment that tells you they're against this?

In any event, I wouldn't be too sad if they are against it. There's a difference between opposing a fraternity's choice to be co-ed (or a chapter's choice when permitted by fraternity rules), and opposing attempts to force a fraternity or chapter to go co-ed "or else," especially if it feels like Greeks are being made scapegoats or are being shut-down through the back door.

[33girl]

This is the same stupid shit they've done before at tons of "elite" Northeastern colleges. The Greek groups just go underground and the partying and elitism gets 10x worse.

Note to professors and administrators at Trinity (and tons of other elite Northeastern colleges), your students have more money and social status than you ever will and even if they drink their way to squeaking to graduation with a 2.0, will still be in a better job and have a nicer house, car and summer home than you ever had a prayer of having. Get over it.

[Psi U MC Vito]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Was there something other than the "scapegoat" comment that tells you they're against this?

In any event, I wouldn't be too sad if they are against it. There's a difference between opposing a fraternity's choice to be co-ed (or a chapter's choice when permitted by fraternity rules), and opposing attempts to force a fraternity or chapter to go co-ed "or else," especially if it feels like Greeks are being made scapegoats or are being shut-down through the back door.

The paragraph after the scapegoat comment. I can see your point though, though one of the comments struck me really poorly considering how long Psi U has been coed and the fact that at least recently we had a woman executive council member.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Psi U MC Vito

The paragraph after the scapegoat comment. I can see your point though, though one of the comments struck me really poorly considering how long Psi U has been coed and the fact that at least recently we had a woman executive council member.

Ah, I missed that somehow. Thanks.

Yeah, while I think he has a valid point, I can see how, in the context of him saying it as a Psi U, you found it troubling.

[Psi U MC Vito]

It doesn't. It seems to me they are trying to force the Greeks off campus by making sure that they will all lose their charters. Also I saw the Pledge thing and GPA thing. I will admit, they are going all out. They didn't go right out and say so, but it probably means the next step if the Greeks manage to survive is for them to turn into clubs anybody can join. Also I'm bad at google, but does anybody know what the all campus average at Trinity is?