"Worst of times" for Greek life

[LaneSig]

Originally Posted by oldu

My previous post dealt with the "best of times" for college Greeks -- this addresses the opposite:

I think the latter is far more troublesome for the Greeks. Fraternities and sororities enjoyed a healthy bounce back following the Depression/World War II years of decline. The Greek system has never fully recovered from the late 60s and 70s. Attitudes and emphases have changed. To sustain growth national organizations have sought new institutions to add chapters lost at the older more esteemed campuses. While some groups have grown, many are still faltering. A much smaller number of campus leaders today feel that Greek membership is of value to them.

What are your thoughts?

I know a lot of people agree with the bolded statement, but I don't. The Greek system has certainly evolved and had to face some major changes in the last couple of decades (risk management issues, institutionalized discrimination, etc.).

But, the 1980s saw a fairly large surge in Greek Life. Sigma Chi chartered a huge amount of chapters in the '80s - as did other groups. Look at how some groups are growing now. Gamma Phi Beta has added how many chapters in the past couple of years? I think that the attitudes of the '60s and '70s may have hurt somewhat (many chapters closing, fewer going Greek at the time), but a new attitude and atmosphere have helped to enlarge and improve Greek Life overall.

[MysticCat]

^^^ I think I would agree with you, Lane. I know that for us, the last 20+ years have been among our best in a long, long time. I would suggest that perhaps the "troubles" of the 1960s and 70s prompted some necessary self-examination and evolution that lead to the new attitude and atmosphere.

[SWTXBelle]

One interesting fact from the NPC website (www.npcwomen.org) is that while the number of chapters has remained constant,(over the past two years) overall membership numbers are up - meaning that more women are joining and being retained.

[Benzgirl]

Originally Posted by LaneSig

I know a lot of people agree with the bolded statement, but I don't. The Greek system has certainly evolved and had to face some major changes in the last couple of decades (risk management issues, institutionalized discrimination, etc.).

But, the 1980s saw a fairly large surge in Greek Life. Sigma Chi chartered a huge amount of chapters in the '80s - as did other groups. Look at how some groups are growing now. Gamma Phi Beta has added how many chapters in the past couple of years? I think that the attitudes of the '60s and '70s may have hurt somewhat (many chapters closing, fewer going Greek at the time), but a new attitude and atmosphere have helped to enlarge and improve Greek Life overall.

Agreed. My chapter closed in 1972 and recolonized in 1980 with a very strong pledge class. We were at campus total by the second year. We never lost the house, but it was rented out as a boarding house during the time the chapter was closed.
The OP and I have the same alma mater, and for sororities, I feel it recovered more in the 80s, but saw a drop off in the 90s due to various reasons. I think fraternities suffered more than sororities

[bejazd]

As far as NPC membership goes, I think the worst of times isn't confined to a particular era but rather a mindset, when women were excluded from membership because of their race, religion or social standing in their hometown. While it's far from perfect, there's never been a better time than now for a woman to participate in recruitment and be evaluated based on her own merits...not her legacy status, or who wrote her ref etc. I'm glad my experience was being part of a chapter that was full of women from all kinds of different socio-economic, racial and religious backgrounds. Those women enriched me and my life, and that's what our Founders intended for our sisterhood to be about!