Greek problems at Duquesne University

[DEVODUDE]

Originally Posted by ta kala

I am not going to claim to be an expert on the growth/decline of north east greek life, but it's a little presumptuous to say that all the north east is declining.

I graduated from Pitt a little over a year ago and I would not say that women are joining just for social reasons. I didn't join until my sophomore year and there were definitely enough places to be social without going greek.

Yes. I have noticed that the interest for Greek Life is somewhat on the decline in the Northeast. I can remember back the the 80's where Greek Life in the Northeast was exploding with high recruitment numbers, but then again that was over 20 years ago. I do not know what happen. It's just like the bottom fell out in the mid/late 90's and has continued.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

[MaggieXi]

Originally Posted by DUgrad

I just received a long email from one of my sisters who is currently living on the southside and what is happening at DU. They are on spring break so she was able to give me some answers to the questions everyone has been asking.

She said that housing at DU was a horrible mess this year. Greek groups were sent a memo that was vague and didn't tell them what they needed to know about greek housing. That led to almost everyone losing their full wing housing..I think she said maybe one or two have a full greek wing housing contract.

Greek Life didn't help them with the problem nor did Panhellenic so each group just did what they thought was right. Then, dean of students got upset because the wings were not filled. They all started to yell at each other. She said everyone is demoralized, angry, pissed off, etc. Some are starting to rethink why they decided to go greek in the first place.

Also, they said greek life office demands so much of them that they can't get their studying done. If you don't show up they yell at your group for things and check to see who was there/not there at things that should be fun.

Carnival is stuck in Palumbo this year for just a day or two and none of the greek groups were told much until the last minute. Its been thrown together and they still have to do some cleanup thing on the southside the same day.

It seems like it is a bunch of different issues all coming together at the same time.

From this post (and some of your others) it seems like the issue is the office of Greek Life. Have you spoken with your faculty advisor?

[SthrnZeta]

Originally Posted by DUgrad

I just received a long email from one of my sisters who is currently living on the southside and what is happening at DU. They are on spring break so she was able to give me some answers to the questions everyone has been asking.

She said that housing at DU was a horrible mess this year. Greek groups were sent a memo that was vague and didn't tell them what they needed to know about greek housing. That led to almost everyone losing their full wing housing..I think she said maybe one or two have a full greek wing housing contract.

Greek Life didn't help them with the problem nor did Panhellenic so each group just did what they thought was right. Then, dean of students got upset because the wings were not filled. They all started to yell at each other. She said everyone is demoralized, angry, pissed off, etc. Some are starting to rethink why they decided to go greek in the first place.

Also, they said greek life office demands so much of them that they can't get their studying done. If you don't show up they yell at your group for things and check to see who was there/not there at things that should be fun.

Carnival is stuck in Palumbo this year for just a day or two and none of the greek groups were told much until the last minute. Its been thrown together and they still have to do some cleanup thing on the southside the same day.

It seems like it is a bunch of different issues all coming together at the same time.

Wow, what a cluster-F! I agree that it sounds like the problem lies with the Greek Life office and just poor organization on their part.

[DUgrad]

I'm going to talk to more of my alum sisters and the undergraduates and see if they have been talking to their advisers. I've been getting bombarded by unhappy sisters. Some are talking about buying a house on the southside and not telling DU because they are fed up with the new head of greek life and with the head of student..I think he is a priest..at least that was the guy that was there 4 years ago. The sisters used some expletives when they talked about him

[Benzgirl]

From what I can tell, Sororities only lost one chapter in the last 10 years

[DUgrad]

I'm not sure. I know that the Lambs are gone. Before that, according to my alum sisters, there were Tau Delts, and fraternities are nearly wiped out. Zebes, Betas, STG's, Playboys, Sheiks, Tekes, Kaps, etc. Recruitment is really, really off for both frats and sororities. If you have the largest freshman class and less than 120 pledge a sorority what does that say? Something is terribly wrong. More and more I think that DU and the greek life offices don't want greeks at all.

When I was there a guy by the name of Ron was head of greek life. He motivated everyone. Two of my sisters said they hate the new head of greek life and don't trust her after the housing mess.

Remember, I am hearing this through others. I don't know how this will turn out for the chapters. I had a great experience as a sister and it is sad to see these postings.

[jeremypichi]

I'm a current student at Duq and I heard that greek groups were getting kicked out of their wings mainly because the wings had more independents than brothers or sisters. When living on that campus the only thing that you look forward to is becoming a Junior and moving to the off because its a hell of a lot cheaper and you have a hell of a lot more freedom, so that might be a reason that they can't keep the beds filled. Hell, thats what most of my brothers have done (myself included). Also, there are so many freshman on campus that they now have a couple of Freshman wings in Towers. This is something we discovered last year while helping out with the Freshman move in.

As far as which groups are gone and which ones have stayed, the only local left is Gamma Phi. The Lambs did get kicked off my freshman year and then a chapter of Sig Kap got on campus the following year. The Zebes turned in to SAE a number of years ago (or so i've been told, so don't quote me on that).

Carnival is in Palumbo this year because they're doing work on the football field. It was originally slated for the week of March 3rd and it was supposed to be held in the ballroom in the Union. They then figured out that the ballroom didn't have enough electrical outlets, and that is when it got moved to Palumbo and it is not the week of April 14th. It does suck that everything was changed around but the current change is the best. If it was still held during the week of March 3rd, it would have been right in the middle of mid-terms. Plus now all the groups have a lot more time to get everything together.

[DUgrad]

Jeremy,

Thank you for your response. When I was a junior I moved to the southside too. It is way cheaper. The dorms are ridiculously expensive. Do you have any answers as to why so few are even going through recruitment? If the freshman classes are so large why did less than 120 women sign a bid card?

The housing problem only seems to have gotten worse but the anger towards res. life, greek life offices and Fr.H. is really, really bad. My sisters just hate the three of them combined

[jeremypichi]

Unfortunately I can't answer that question for you. I'm a brother of A-Phi-O, so we aren't too involved with Panhell or IFC. As far as this semester goes, it might have just been a small turn out. In the fall we had 8 men come out to rush and four pledged (we usually have 4-8 men pledge each semester), but this semester it was like pulling teeth to get people to come to rush. We work very closely with GSS and they have had between 25-40 girls come out each semester. Compare that to this current semester where the pledge class number was only in the high teens. It might also just be a problem with general promotion. In years past, I recall Panhell rush posters being everywhere. The only place I really saw them this year was in the Union (they may be in the dorms, but I haven't been in there in 2 years). I also recall seeing a handfull of fraternity fliers around campus, too. But again, it may have just be one of those years with a low turnout.

[33girl]

Ok, I hate to sound like the traditional yinzer xenophobe, but is the Greek life director from there? Or is she trying to run things like you guys are out in the middle of nowhere (i.e. Slippery Rock, W & J etc) instead of a school in the city? Because it isn't the same, that's for sure.

[DUgrad]

33girl,

You are so right! A city school is way different than a school in the sticks(sorry to all of you in the rural areas...no bad feelings). I don't know the new head of Greek Life at Duquesne. It is very different to live and go to school in the city. There are alot of places to live besides dorms! The dorms were always expensive at DU but they forced you to live in them through the sophomore year.

The juniors then went to live on the southside or in Brottier..another dorm that was once an apartment building. From what I gather. Greek Life, res life and Fr. H wanted juniors living in Towers which is now a freshman/sophomore dorm. No junior in their right mind is going to pay to live in that dorm when it is way cheaper to live in Brottier, split the cost 2-3-4 ways or live on the southside.

They bullied all the greeks and tried to force them to live in Towers and the girls in my chapter told res life...forget it.. That's when alot of the trouble began. There are more independents and others living in Towers...no junior will live there. Besides, the girls told me their parents said no way to the expense of living on campus...its too expensive when you have tuition, books and room and board.

[RedRover]

Duquesne was rare for a Catholic university in permitting fraternities and sororities to exist on campus. In the very old days, the fraternities took their member along ethnic lines, ADP was predominately Italian American, Betas were Polish American (according to some Beta I knew when I was at Duquesne, Beta Pi Sigma stood for Brotherhood of Polish Student), Kaps and Gamma Phi were predominately Irish American.

When I was Duquesne, 1976-80, the Greek community wasn't that large -- hey, it was the 70s. I understand that the Greeks prospered in the 1980s and 1990s. The university has gotten a lot larger since I graduated.

In addition, when I was in college, the Social Clubs (Sheiks, Playboys and Mynx) were quiet large as were some of the pharmacy organizations (Phi Delta Chi, Kappa Psi). Alpha Phi Omega functioned more like a social Greek organization than a service organization.

The wing system in Towers never quiet worked in practice as it should have worked in theory.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by DUgrad

They bullied all the greeks and tried to force them to live in Towers and the girls in my chapter told res life...forget it.. That's when alot of the trouble began.

That's why I always get a little nervous when they start talking about "Greek Villages" at any of the state schools...it would be great if it worked, but I'm afraid it would turn into 1) shunting the Greeks into an out of the way area and making them even less visible on campus 2) forcing people into housing when they can get better, cheaper housing elsewhere.

You guys are really hamstrung because Duq does hold more power over the students than the other local universities.

[DUgrad]

Does anyone who is a Duquesne alum or a current sister or brother know why Brottier is so much cheaper than the other dorms?

[jeremypichi]

Originally Posted by DUgrad

Does anyone who is a Duquesne alum or a current sister or brother know why Brottier is so much cheaper than the other dorms?

Brottier actually costs about the same as the other dorms, depending on your apartment configuration. The rates are posted here. To live in any other dorm on campus, it'll cost you $4273 a semester, that is including a meal plan. For Brottier the costs $4450 for an unfurnished studio apartment per semester, which can fit two people. To my knowledge, that doesn't include a meal plan but I could very well be wrong. I'm also pretty sure that you have to sign a year lease, so the summer rent is another $1780. You also need to factor in that Brottier is kind of a shit hole. They have had many problems with roaches (more than the other dorms), and earlier this year a hot water pipe crashed through the ceiling of an apartment and landed on a person's bed. Thankfully the person wasn't in the room at the time, but all of their belongings were pretty much ruined.

It is a lot better to just move off campus. I get a loan refund check every semester for about $3500, which covers most of my rent and bills for about 9 months out of my 12 month lease (my place costs a bit too much). Depending on where in the city you live, it is very possible that you could cover rent, bills, and food for the entire duration of the lease with little to no out of pocket expense. Mt. Washington has nice places with dirt cheap rent, as well as some places on the Slopes. There are additional costs such as groceries or a commuter meal plan or a parking permit, so in the long run it costs about the same to live on campus for the academic year as it does to live off campus for a calendar year. Another thing that most commuters don't realize is that the University still has jurisdiction over you because you are still a DU student. Even though its harder to get in trouble being off campus, the University can still punish you for "that kegger the frat threw last week", assumming they get wind of it.

long story short, it costs roughly the same to live in towers, brottier, or off campus. I could be completely wrong because I suck at math, but thats why I'm a music major.