Greek problems at Duquesne University

[MsDGP007]

Wow...I actually read through this whole thread. I really hope that the situation improves at Duquesne.

Also I would not say Greek life is "suffering" in Pittsburgh....although it may not be as big as it once was. Pitt and CMU seem to be doing pretty well Greek life wise...and didn't some nationals recently colonize at Robert Morris?

[DUgrad]

DU Greek and others:

My sisters made a suggestion about housing. Why not move all greek housing to Brottier?

Since others on this chat disagree with you about Towers and it does appear to be now a freshman and sophomore dorm, why can't Brottier now be the center for greek housing?

[DUgrad]

DU Greek:

Sorry, my cats needed to be put out. Anyway, my sisters suggestions were to move all greek groups to Brottier and put them, floor by floor, in that type of group housing. Recruitment numbers would go up as they others would be excited about liviing in Brottier over Towers.

Its a suggestion and certainly not a negative post as you have pointed out in numerous postings.

[DU Greek]

DU Grad,

This is certainly your first positive posting. Thank you.

The Brottier Hall would make an excellent all-Greek dorm. But as you certainly know, when the University bought Citiline Towers, it had students living in it from other schools, especially Robert Morris's downtown campus and a few of the culinary/medical/business schools in town. It wasn't until Fall of 2007 that the building had all Duquesne students in it. Currently, the idea to create Greek housing in Brottier is on the table, but due to the shortages of housing on the entire campus, it hasn't been able to occur yet.

But this idea is certainly a valid one and holds strong potential for the future.

But don't forget that every time a new building gets built, students are going to rush to move into it. We can't keep asking for Greek Housing to continuously get moved to the newest available dorm. Until Vickroy was built in my Freshman year (1997) at Duquesne, Towers was THE place to be Greek. It was tremendous. Every chapter had a wing and everyone was happy.

So we have to decide if moving into Brottier is going to be the long-term solution. If it is, then everyone has to be prepared to keep quiet when new housing becomes available. Will YOUR sisters be proud to live in Brottier for the next 25-30 years even in the face of new dorm housing options??

HOWEVER, this may not be an option soon because plans are in place to tear down one of the dorm buildings between Vickroy and Mercy for a new dorm. This could increase the stress on campus housing until the new place is ready.

FURTHER, the University has made and is making acquisitions of property along the Fifth/Forbes corridor between the University and the new hockey arena. These plans are also viable options for Greek Housing.

This is why the Greek Alumni Council is the resource you need to use to get information about what's going on in Greek Life at Duquesne. While I have been accused of "drinking the hater-ade," I certainly have more of the information that will help us all make a mutually beneficial decision than the nameless, faceless complainer who accused me of such.

There are representatives from each chapter, both active and inactive, who come to the Greek Alumni Council meetings where this information is discussed. You should find out who your GAC rep is and ask for a recap after our semesterly meetings.

Thank you again for your positive posting.

Craig

[DUgrad]

DU Greek:

THANK YOU for Hearing what my sisters have had to say. It is only when people listen and then look for a way to fix things that issues are resolved.

Maybe we can start to work together!

[RedRover]

DU Greek which old dormitory is the university thinking of tearing down -- Assumption, St. Martin's or St. Ann'?

[33girl]

Originally Posted by DU Greek

This is why the Greek Alumni Council is the resource you need to use to get information about what's going on in Greek Life at Duquesne. While I have been accused of "drinking the hater-ade," I certainly have more of the information that will help us all make a mutually beneficial decision than the nameless, faceless complainer who accused me of such.

That comment was in response to the rude and offensive things you said regarding local fraternities and sororities. It had NOTHING to do with the housing issue. I would say the same to anyone who dismissed locals across the board in such an uncouth manner.

And when you say things like that, it seriously damages your credibility on other matters. Just consider it a lesson learned.

[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?

[Xidelt]

Hey Otis, If recruitment is down nationally, then why did 6 state schools in my area open up for extension this year?

[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.

[OtisAllan]

FYI...I found this from a colleage today.....its from the "Center for the study of the College Fraternity"...

www.indiana.edu/~sao/cscfsite.com

this shows the exact recruitment trend I am speaking off

[MaggieXi]

Your research seems to be coming from a majority of Northern schools and IFC. I suggest that you do some research regarding Panhellenic Sororities in the South before you make blanket statements regarding all of Greek Life.

[perdido88]

this is exactly what I talked about in the other post, where I asked about the fraternities Kappa Sigma Phi and Beta Pi Sigma at Duquesne? I will post more answers tomorrow.. as for the sycophants in this thread, there are more reasons than you claim to admit. take the veil off your eyes.. Duquesne student 1988-1992.. GDI (non-Greek).. for the latecomers, that meant "goddamned independent"...
Red Rover.. what's up?! here we go again!!!

perdido88