Universities with Greek Life Activities Suspended

[APhi2KD]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Regarding your second paragraph, with underage drinking being illegal, we can't have guidelines to check on drunk pledges because theoretically, all of our pledges are under the age of 21 and therefore shouldn't ever be drunk. In other words, our organizations can't adopt policies to ensure our members' safety when our members are violating the law. Their violating the law was their own choice and the organization can never be responsible for underage drinking.

Having just moved back to the US, I stupidly forgot about that.
I completely understand the legality issues you brought up.
But—I wish it wasn’t the case.

I know many schools have implemented alcohol awareness training (Think Drink, etc.), but that doesn’t go very far. I think it would be wonderful if GLOs trained their members (while never supplying alcohol themselves) how to behave IF they were to come across a group of people who had magically become inebriated.

If, for argument’s sake, the drinking age were 16 and it was acknowledged that drinking would occur, there ARE things that can be done—designated sober pledges required to monitor the intake of guests (hand stamps, etc), cut them off if necessary, drive them home, look out for drunken coeds. Teach all members never to leave a drunken friend, how to recognize signs of alcohol poisoning, etc.

I know of some places these practices are starting to be seen, but I’m also aware we’re in a world where some GLOs are still bruising people, so...

[33girl]

Originally Posted by APhi2KD

I know many schools have implemented alcohol awareness training (Think Drink, etc.), but that doesn’t go very far. I think it would be wonderful if GLOs trained their members (while never supplying alcohol themselves) how to behave IF they were to come across a group of people who had magically become inebriated.

Teach it as part of a seminar on entering the work force. "Networking Away From The Office: Be Social, Not Sloppy." Targeted of course to post college behavior when everyone will be nice and legal. (But you can use it before then, nudge nudge wink wink.)

I think that more and more kids are coming to college with zero experience around alcohol (gone are the days when parents bought a keg and took keys to keep things safe, or even a beer or cooler at a family gathering) and they're going from zero to sixty in about a minute and a half. Couple that with the increased isolation-that's-saturation from social media, and it's no damn wonder things are the way they are.

[NYCMS]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I think that more and more kids are coming to college with zero experience around alcohol (gone are the days when parents bought a keg and took keys to keep things safe, or even a beer or cooler at a family gathering) and they're going from zero to sixty in about a minute and a half. Couple that with the increased isolation-that's-saturation from social media, and it's no damn wonder things are the way they are.

Agree. And binge drinking is a massive trend over the past 10 years or so - yes, college students have always been drinking a lot, but the binge drinking is a newer trend. That and students - not just girls, guys too - not eating before going to parties (to avoid weight gain) so they're drinking on empty stomaches. In the mental health field, a term has been coined for this: "Drunkerexia". Way worse consequences.

[mkaytay]

A student at my alma mater Case Western wrote a very thoughtful letter to the editor of the paper on this in 2016.

http://observer.case.edu/gurian-greek/

While a large percentage (usually about 1/3 of the 5000 undergrad students) of CWRU students are greek, as a whole it is a much smaller group of students to work with than the larger schools mentioned in this discussion, CWRU had membership reveiws for several fraternities, with one eventually also having charter revoked by nationals in 2016 (though looks like they're set to come back in 2020). From the alum rumor mill this (and an increase in required programming by the GLO) seem to be keeping things in line.

Like everyone else I don't know what the answer is. College kids are going to binge drink. I live near Ohio State and have heard rumors about fraternities or just a group of members going "underground" and off campus to live like they used to. I'm sure most of this is just an expression of frustration, but if the desire to belong to greek institutions exists, students will find a way to do it, so is it better to have it regulated?

I think about the OSU tradition of jumping into mirror lake before the Michigan game. The university did everything it could to try to stop it or try to separate themselves from liability but students still participated and one lost his life in 2015. After that, even with USG saying they wanted to end it, the Univeristy basically had to drain mirror lake and has been redeveloping the entire site for three years with no certainty that once it's reopened students won't go back to jumping in it in late November.

The threat of or actual closing probably still needs to be on the table as a stick in case the carrots don't work, but I don't know if a middle ground exists.

[Tom Earp]

Kansas University has suspended all Fraternity social functions shortly after S A E BAN from Kansas University.

[SWTXBelle]

Gamma Phi Beta at Texas State is up and running again, so I assume other chapters are jumping through the hoops and doing the same.

http://gato-docs.its.txstate.edu/jcr...an-02-2018.pdf

We missed our 50th anniversary celebration, so now they will do it in the fall - when I cannot attend because of the Texas Renaissance Festival. Thanks, President Trauth!