Greek problems at Duquesne University

[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.

[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.

[OtisAllan]

It is clear that this is all rediculous. Why does there always have to be a rift between local and national organizations? It is senseless and gets us nowhere. I agree with the quote that the greek system is its own worst enemy and until we are ALL willing to work togather nothing will be acheived.

The housing issue has currently been brewing for years. Please do not attribute anything to the new Director of Greek Life. It is uncalled for.

I do not beleive that Brottier is the solution to housing. Major renovations would be needed in order to provide common areas, etc. And lets face it, the University will be reluctant to go along with that becuase Brottier seem to be more of a money-maker than towers is. I strongly feel there is no way that we are going to get ANY form of housing in any other dorm, existing or new, until we can prove ( as a Greek System) that we want housing in the first place. We are not doing this by not filling our wings in towers. We must solve our own problems first, before we have any grounds to go to the University to try to prove that we deserve new housing.

As far as the recruitment issues are concerned, recruitment is down NATIONALLY. Students coming into college see no benefit in greek life. Have any of you ever read any literature on the Millennial Generation? Please do and you may understand the problems greeks face with recruitment. Housing may help, but again, is not the sole solution. People do not need to join a Greek organization for housing, just the same as they do not need to join a Greek organization for Drinking. Nor should we want them to by, the way. But again, this problem will not be solved by new housing. Recruitment is something that we as a system must evaluate. Until we are willing to change our messages, no incoming student will understand the benefits of greek life.

I think we all need to evalute where Greek Life is going. Or where it should go. I graduated just a few years ago and I would say even now, Greek Life needs to be different than when I was in school. As an alumni of any organization, you must realize that Greek Life is probably not the same today as it once was.

the answers lie within ourselves, folks

[kddani]

Originally Posted by OtisAllan

As far as the recruitment issues are concerned, recruitment is down NATIONALLY. Students coming into college see no benefit in greek life.

Got anything to back this up?

[MaggieXi]

Originally Posted by OtisAllan

As far as the recruitment issues are concerned, recruitment is down NATIONALLY. Students coming into college see no benefit in greek life.

Umm, have you done any research on greek life in the south? Recruitment is certainly not down.

[OtisAllan]

I feel that Greek Life as a whole is facing many problems right now, and that recruitment is certainly one of them.

From 1972 until 1992, total undergraduate fraternity membership in the United States increased steadily. However, after 20 consecutive years of growth, total membership has dropped steadily. Fraternities stand at a crossroads. Is it busines as usual or has the time come to jump-start the recruitment process? Passive IFC and chapter recruitment efforts must be transformed into active, direct practices. Friendship, the principal benefit of joining a Greek organization, has not gone out of style and is still very much in demand on every campus, but our market demands a more personalized and individualized conversation about the benefits of our organizations.

This was taken directly from the NIC's website....

In addition....


On April 12th, 2006, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Dean of Student’s office, with support of the administration, presented a plan to Greek alumni termed ‘New Initiatives.’ This plan called for sweeping changes in the Greek system at RPI including, but not limited to, alcohol, chapter management, and recruitment.

Current Situation
Greek recruitment at RPI has suffered from several issues lately. The following issues have been suggested for evaluation and possible action by RPI. These issues can affect recruitment numbers, or have other undesirable side effects, such as negative community relations.

• Greek recruitment numbers have been lower than in past years.
• Lack of constraints on rush and new member education could be affecting academic performance.
• Certain members of the Greek community practice unethical methods of recruitment, such as employing alcohol.
• The Greek recruitment process is ‘out of touch’ with today’s Rensselaer student.
• Decreasing cooperation between Greek chapters.

This initiatve came up under a google search, and honestly, this sounds as though it is PROBABLY a common theme among most campuses, or at least among the extensive contacts that I have with people involved in Greek Life across the country.

I hate to refer to specific schools, but I read that IFC recruitment at Cornell University, which is considered to have one of the top Greek Systems is down 13 percent.

I would love to do a case study on this but obviously time does not allow. I am sorry to disappoint anyone......It has been a trend though, that Greek Life was at an all time high in terms of chapters during the 90's, and now many national fraternities have drastically decreased their number of active chapters over the past decade or so.

In terms of a Longitudinal study, I feel that it would be revealled that recruitment is not good, if anyone would take the time to do one, or if one was done, that it would actually be able to be found on the internet. Honestly, I would not want numbers posted about my school reflected in a negative way publically. BUT, as fellow greeks we should all be able to talk about these issues openly, and I do feel that recruitment is one of them.( of course despite the fact that non- greeks can read this)

I mentioned literature on the Millennial Generation. Students are becoming faster paced, less focused on alcohol ( yes according to the generational theory it is true), better relationships with parents, ( parents usually dont support greek life because they know what it was like when they were in shool), more tech savvy ( which means they read all the bad press that Greeks receive) they are more involved with extra cirricular activities regardless of Greek Involvment, and thus Greek Involvement is less of a necessity for them.

With all of this being said it paints the picture that it is tougher now than ever to recruit. However, if recruitment is focused on some of the things that the Millennial students embrace( which are all things Greeks do well but just may not report on as well) such as, relationships with parents and facutly, high levels of service and academics, professional networking, leadership skills, etc., recruitment does have hope for the future. However, this needs to be instilled accross the board to our undergraduates, as I suspect most of them still use parties/alcohol etc as the major of not single recruitment tool.

Look at the ABC show Greek. It portrays Greek Life in a horrible way, and more than likely it is high school aged teenagers watching the show above all else. What do you think this will do to recruitment efforts for the next generation of incoming freshman classes?

Trust me, recruitment is an issue. Sure there are always success stories, and sure we are all still here, but I feel there are enough underlying problems to pose a major threat to the future of all of our organizations.

But what does all this say for Greek Life at Duquesne as that is the primary issue we are to be discussing?.....It is not solely a problem of Duquesne University that its Greek System is facing issues, as many others are across the country, and now more than ever should be a time for everyone assocaited with Greek Life at Duquesne and elsewhere to truly evaluate the messages that our organizations are sending, and how we can deal with the messages that others outside of Greek Life are sending about us, because that is really what it is about, and we are the only ones that can change it.