Delta Zeta Reportedly Sues DePauw

[texas*princess]

Originally Posted by Alphagamuga

I got the impression that maybe Texas*Princess thought we just cast people out into the darkness for gaining five pounds back in the olden days of 1987. Actually, Texas*Princess, I didn't think you meant any harm at all, but I did want to reassure you that the values weren't that different back then.

No that's not what I thought at all.

Actually this has nothing to do with weight or anything like that. I was talking about the way the "re org" was handled. (Casting people off in the middle of the semester - regardless if they were a size 10 or a minority, or really just not that into recruitment)

NPC sororities (from what I've noticed) like to keep all their bases covered a lot more now than they might have in the past. Third-party vendors at formals, gotta do everything by the "book" to make sure there are no risk-management issues, can't drink in letters, etc. etc... all for the sake of protecting our good name.

Which is why something like this (kicking the women out of their housing in the middle of the semester and yet late enough in the semester to make it a pain in the rear to have to find an apartment. I don't know about you, but back in D-town, if you didn't know where you were living next Fall by the time March or April rolled around, you were screwed) was really surprising.

You'd think a sorority like DZ would have some better sense and the foresight to see the repercussions of their actions because everything sororities have done recently seems to be to prevent PR-disasters like the one at hand.

And I'm not really sure what you mean by "running to Mom & Dad" with their problems, because on my old campus, a large portion of people I knew had their own jobs, payed their own rent and were for the most part self-suffecient. If my sorority kicked me out a few weeks before my finals, of course my parents are going to hear about it... not because I'm trying to be a whiney (*&#$ but because that's some major crap to have to deal with at a very crappy time in the semester.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by texas*princess

And I'm not really sure what you mean by "running to Mom & Dad" with their problems, because on my old campus, a large portion of people I knew had their own jobs, payed their own rent and were for the most part self-sufficient. If my sorority kicked me out a few weeks before my finals, of course my parents are going to hear about it... not because I'm trying to be a whiney (*&#$ but because that's some major crap to have to deal with at a very crappy time in the semester.

Right, and I think the DZ housing situation was exceptionally bad. But I don't think it EVER would have been okay with a university, and that actually colleges probably used to be even more involved in student housing decisions than they are today.

( I don't think the last 20 years have changed things that much. If you went back even further, however, you might find a time when more schools guaranteed and supervised or expected supervision of student housing. If everyone has to be in the dorm at a certain hour and checked in with the dorm monitor, I think it would be unlikely that they'd be as cavalier as DZ was about the housing at DePauw, but we're talking more than 20 years ago to get to those days.)

I think increasing concerns about liability have changed a lot about the way we all live now and do our jobs. I'm not sure that it's worse for sororities because of concerns about being PC or looking bad, but maybe I'm wrong.

I think that it's possible that in the past a group might have gotten away with something like the DePauw incident a little easier than they did today, but I disagree about the reasons why.

About the moms and dads comment: it seems to me that in general a greater percentage of college kids rely on their parents for more and more help running their day to day lives. It may not be true for you or on your campus, and one of the things that surprised me about the DePauw deal was how the parents weren't part of the story at all. In any other story about problems with greek life: hazing, risk management, whatever, the moms and dads figure in. When you read about differences that college professors identify with students today versus students in the past, they mention parents calling to complain about grades. I regret mentioning it in the DePauw context, and I didn't mean it as an accusation about you or your school, but it's one of those comparing then and now things that's interesting to me.

ETA: I'm not casting any stones on the parents deal: I've always been someone to talk to my parents a lot. I don't mean getting them to intervene for me. But we're close, even today. There's nothing wrong with parents advising their offspring, but they shouldn't still be taking care of a lot of stuff for their kids if the kids are in college or beyond, and that seems to be what people complain about: parents calling advisers, greek life coordinators about bad rush results, HR directors at the first job, etc. I'm a little surprised that no angry mom or dads have surfaced in the reporting about DePauw if all the stories about "helicopter parents" going to college are true.

The parents thing is a weird and random digression and I apologize.

[GeekyPenguin]

I think a large reason parents figure in more these days is because of the price of college. My mom and I went to the same school and we both had half scholarships. She was able to make up the rest in working part-time and a few grand in federal loans. I had to take out five figures of federal loans, worked part-time, and had to get help from my parents. She paid off her loans within 5 years of graduation. There's no way I'd be able to do that.

[UGAalum94]

Yeah, the cost of college is said to have increased at a rate far beyond inflation. It's interesting that you can compare within your own family so directly.

(I think that the perhaps "over-involvement" of parents is part of a broader societal trend, but maybe it is about the expense of raising kids and college is one aspect.)

[cjr]

I think that some folks posting to this thread are a little too concerned with legality. That is, many are defending Delta Zeta National's actions, simply because they were legal, and at least a few are decrying DePauw's expulsion of Delta Zeta as illegal (in violation of their agreement). Let's face facts, for most people, perceptions are reality, and certainly most people perceive the actions taken by the Delta Zeta National Organization to be at least poorly executed, if not actually illegal or unethical. Similarly, most people perceive DePauw's response as appropriate, even if it stretches the bounds of legality. Please note that I do not have the expertise to pass an opinion on the merits of the lawsuit from a legal standpoint, but from a public perception standpoint, it is clearly a loser. It remains to be seen exactly how Delta Zeta in particular and Greek organizations in general will be affected, but I have a hard time seeing anything positive coming out of this situation, regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit.

Full disclosure: I came to this thread looking for a link to the text of the lawsuit. I am neither an active nor alumni member of a fraternity. My interest in this matter? As the saying goes, my daughter - and my money - go to DePauw. She is a freshman who intends to pledge a sorority, but has decided for a variety of reasons to wait until her sophomore year. My feeling is that parents are much more involved in their children's lives on campus than they were a million years ago when I was in college; surf the net for articles on "helicopter parents" for some back up. I'm doing my best to resist the impulse to run my daughter's life on campus. We've talked about the Delta Zeta situation, but no more than exchanging opinions on what happened and why.

cjr

[frisbee]

"Full disclosure: I came to this thread looking for a link to the text of the lawsuit. I am neither an active nor alumni member of a fraternity. My interest in this matter? As the saying goes, my daughter - and my money - go to DePauw. cjr[/quote]"


I have text of the lawsuit but it is as a pdf file and I can't copy a link here. I will try and see if I can figure a way to private message it to you, or exchange emails.

I am a former DZ from DePauw (older than most of you posting here for sure). I've had a few chuckles at your debates on what things were like in the '80s. I can tell you that even before that, things were pretty much exactly the same as they are now. The more things change, the more they remain the same.

I also know that the Greek situation at DePauw is far different than it is at most schools. With over 70% Greek, being in a house is just about like living in a different housing unit. There are very few dorms, and few apartments off campus. Greencastle is a tiny town. Being evicted midyear would present a huge problem in housing in a very small time window.

Frisbee
DZ, DePauw
Long ago and far away

"Life is a long walk uphill. Drop the Rocks."

[LXA SE285]

Robert G. Bottoms, DePauw's President Since 1986, Announces Retirement Plans

Probably unrelated to the DZ debacle, but the timing is interesting ...