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This reminds me of the stand the previous Bama Pres & his Administration took. It was commonly known he/they were anti-Greek. I remember when they changed sorority Formal Recruitment from right before the start of classes to taking place the week prior to and during Labor Day weekend. The official stated reason was to allow Freshmen time to bond with the University and adjust to to their new environment before attaching themselves to small isolated groups like the GLOs.
Fast forward to after the current Pres took over. The University hired a consulting group (the name escapes me at this time) to help in developing a plan to grow the student population. The Asst Dean of Students presented some of their findings/recommendations at one of our Greek advisor meetings.
One of the key points was that a successful Univ needed good retention of it's students, primarily freshmen. To encourage that, they cited membership in clubs, etc. as very beneficial. It helps to prevent the student from feeling totally alone in a huge sea of students. It's incredibly stressful for an 18 year old to be away from home for the first time. It's not always easy to make friends with the random people who live on your dorm floor or in your classes. When students get involved in clubs or orgs with other students that had common interests, the odds were much higher they would not only return to school the following semesters but would also become active in other areas of campus life. The support system provided by the greek system was specifically cited as being not only beneficial but should also be encouraged.
I could have sworn I hung on to the handouts from that meeting, including the stats and info from the retention study that was cited. I quickly looked through my files but couldn't find it. It was fascinating stuff. I'll look more thoroughly when I have the time.
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