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Originally Posted by AZTheta
I've seen this happen repeatedly the past ten years; my Greek friends are actively discouraging their sons (and, in some cases, their daughters) from joining fraternities. What I hear over and over is "it's not like it was when we were in school" along with examples of how it's not like it was 20, 30 or 40 years ago.
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There's also the potential issue of incoming students who might look at some of what has gone on and say "why would I want to part of
that?"
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Originally Posted by Kevin
And at most of those schools, the Greek Life system is an asset to its campus.
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They have been, but I think it's dangerous for any fraternity to assume that campus administrations will continue to feel that way.
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That doesn't mean that we shouldn't do what we can to do better and from Pi Kappa Phi's actions, how could anyone conclude they have any other intent other than to try to do the right thing?
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I think it's more than just doing better. I think fraternities have to work off the assumption that we bear the burden of proving to administrations, parents and students that we are an asset to campus life and to student life.
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For public schools, to derecognize Greek Life would be an unmitigated disaster. Alumni donations would come to a screeching halt . . . .
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I think this an overgeneralized assumption. Yes, some alumni contributions might stop. On some campuses it might be lots, but not on all. I know plenty of public campuses where Greek life is relatively small, and I have no problem imagining some administrations deciding that the cons to the school outweigh the pros.
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That the entire American fraternal system should be disbanded because two chapters apparently have a bunch of racist asshats in them? I don't think so.
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Two things:
First, it's not "two chapters." It's at least two chapters in the last two weeks. While we all know that these chapters don't represent all of the fraternity system, we also know these chapters in these lady few weeks are just the latest in a too-long line. But the non-Greek public just sees yet more racist, mysogenist, crude, entitled frat boys. That public perception is what fraternities are up against, and part of the reason is the recurring behavior of too many of our members. The perception that I have heard from a number of people, some of who are not Greek but some of whom are, is that these "isolated" incidents are symptomatic of a widespread, systemic problem in fraternities. That's what we're dealing with.
And second, I, at least, am not predicting mass dismantling of the fraternity system. I'm predicting the possibility of death by a thousand cuts as some campuses decide they can live without Greek life, as some parents do not want their sons participating in Greek life, as some students who might otherwise be attracted to Greek life decide they don't want to be associated with it, and as some alumni decide they no longer want to support it because of what they perceive it as having become.
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