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There is an evolution element to greek life that has ensured not only its existance but its growth since its birth in 1776 (and earlier if you consider elder non-greek orgs). This is just another step in that process that makes us stronger. If we would like to pass this legacy on to our children, grandchildren, and even further down the line we must evolve and realize that the focus on alcohol in the greek system is killing ALL of us.
It doesn't matter if you are from a chapter who is currently dry, or has never had a single inccident involving alcohol...the outside world groups all GLO's together. When one chapter, be it local, a national, or an international, makes a mistake we all pay. Through rush, retention, and respect on our campuses, the media, and the world at large. All things that do not evolve eventually go extinct.
If you look at the founding of your respective fraternities and sororities you will find many noble values, principles, and causes that inspired your great organizations. I'm sure that no ritual or ceremony written by your founders, who dreamed that the group they worked so hard to create would continue long after they're gone, seeks to pass down the less noble elements that seem to plague our chapters today. Look back at the real stories and legends of your GLO, the one's where the true meanings of your houses are reflected...where are those stories today? They are replaced by stories of drunkeness, distruction, disrespect, and death. Those great things that we all STILL do: philanthropy, academic excellence, involvement, brotherhood, sisterhood, the list goes on...they are all overshadowed and will be until we remove the root of the problem. We need to get back to our foundings.
Do not suppose to disguise alcohol as a vital element of brotherhood or sisterhood. It only taints and poisens the real positive influence that a fraternity or sorority can have on the men and women who find the deeper meaning of being a member.
I'm not going to kid myself, I drank, and I still drink. I'm not anti alcohol. It has a time and place in society. But the fraternities and sororities are not where it should consistantly be found as the root of so many problems. Removing alcohol from the house is a step in the right direction. I can tell you that my house went from "damp" to dry while I was an undergrad and while there was some resistance in the beginning the benefits in the end made the short struggle worth it. But it takes more than just an exercise in chapter house prohibition...our collective attitudes about alcohol and the role it plays in our fraternities and sororities needs to change. These attitudes took over a couple hundred years to form and will take years to change but we need to start somewhere now. We may not have a few more hundred years left to evolve again. It can be done.
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