What constitutes a Pro-greek University?

[Betarulz!]

So often we hear about anti-greek universities shutting down chapters, de-recognizing chapters and liquidating chapter assets and the like...

So what would make a University Pro Greek? What policies or attitudes would you say would make it that way?

[Tom Earp]

Damn Dude, for a Beta you ask deep question! Are working in Hutch summer job?

A Greek School would be one that has a Greek Advisor and President who is not Anti-Greek or just does not show it! Look at Alfred C. in NY. Kicked All Greeks off of Campus for reason of a single Org. being stupid!

Anti Greek School, one who has anti Greek Advisor/Pres. who has little or No experience TRYING to ADVISE Greeks and who care nothing about Greeks, just a Job!

Then when Greeks F**K up they come down on them like a Hitler Youth!

Do Greeks F up yes!!!

Do Greeks Do a lot for many things, Homecoming, charity, campus involvement, WELL YES!

If for any little infraction they are booted of, that is BS!

Damn, I wish I could Be the Greek Campus Advisor somewhere.

There is not enuff working with each other, when a Org. screws up, they should be delt with in a manner of get it together, or you screw up, dead bang you will be gone!

There does not be enuff give and take and there may be the rub.

[Rudey]

Originally posted by Betarulz!
So often we hear about anti-greek universities shutting down chapters, de-recognizing chapters and liquidating chapter assets and the like...

So what would make a University Pro Greek? What policies or attitudes would you say would make it that way?

I say look at the chapters there. How many houses are on campus? What are their sizes?

I don't think that a university punishing chapters constitutes them being anti-greek. Wouldn't the actions and sentiments of the university be reflected in the health of the GLOs? Are the GLOs numerous, large, participating in university life, staying responsible, etc.?

As for strict criteria, I don't think there is any way to put numbers out there.

-Rudey

[Firehouse]

Start with smart university leaders whose goals include the financial advancement of the institution. I cannot think of any pro-greek university where the chapters do not have strong alumni representation. Organized, influential alumni keep a guiding hand on the chapter, and they also make sure greeks have the ear of the admistration, and will not allow self-important lower level staff to browbeat the chapters.
Pro-greek universities recognize the value of fraternities and sororities as they relate to the alumni support of future generations.
Georgia Tech actually tracks financial contributions of alumni by chapter! Other universities I'd characterize as pro-greek include: Florida State, Central Florida, Florida, Missouri, Wofford College, Illinois, Purdue, Nebraska, both big schools in Kansas, Baylor, Texas Tech, Cal-Berkeley (surprising), USC, U-Pacific, Cornell, Penn State, Southern Methodist, Birmingham-Southern, Auburn, Tennessee. This is a very short list, just the ones that come to mind first.
It doesn't surprise anyone to see a few small, private schools strut their anti-greek bias. What does surprise is finding a school you'd expect to be evry pro-greek that turns out to be actively hostile. I've heard LSU is a good example. And, as strong as the chapters are at Ole Miss and Alabama, I'm told the administrations are overtly and covertly hostile to greeks. Too bad; those are great systems.
Policies? If you want a great system, then 1) make sure each chapter has involved alumni; 2) make rush as easy and unrestricted as possible; 3) get rid of the death penalty. If the members misbehave, then get rid of those memebrs but don't kill the chapter. That causes years of bitterness and hostility toward the school.

[enlightenment06]

GW is a pro-Greek university. The administration is trying to increase the Greek popluation, just a built a row of townhouses for Greeks and frequently mentions us in it's marketing.

[SAEalumnus]

Well, I can give an example of both a pro-Greek and an anti-Greek university:

Pro-Greek (my gf's alma mater):

It's small university, perhaps a couple thousand students altogether, but something on the order of half of the student population is Greek including the bulk of the student government and the university president (an SAE incidently ). Naturally, there aren't very many GLOs, but then a campus this small would never support more than a few to begin with. The chapters cooperate as much as one could expect given the inevitable rivalries and so forth, but the university and student government administrations actively support the Greek community.

Anti-Greek (my alma mater):

A considerably larger university than my girlfriend's with somewhere around 20,000 students, only about 5% at most of whom are Greek. The Greek community is also usually considerably under-represented in the student government. Consequently, all of the chapters get shafted like none other when it comes to financial support for programming. The university (especially the just-recently-retired president) have in some cases gone out of their way to block actions the Greek community were trying to take to improve and promote Greek life on campus, including innumerable attempts to create a "real" Greek row. Fewer than half of the 15-20 chapters have any kind of house to speak of, and all of those are in a really nasty area of downtown. A member of one of the sororities was actually murdered a couple summers ago going to one of the fraternity houses in this downtown area. You'd think the university would want to keep students safe, maybe even make a few bucks in the process in rent or property sales, but evidently not. I think I'll stop my rant here, but I think you get the point.

So to round out my answer to your question, I'd have to say that to be classified as a "pro-Greek" university, the following conditions (or at least most of them) would have to be met:

• University financial support
• Ideally a Greek row
• University support of Greek programming
• University support of Greek recruitment

[Munchkin03]

Originally posted by Firehouse
If you want a great system, then 1) make sure each chapter has involved alumni; 2) make rush as easy and unrestricted as possible; 3) get rid of the death penalty. If the members misbehave, then get rid of those memebrs but don't kill the chapter.

So, what if these three criteria exist, but the student body is pretty anti-Greek and therefore the system is small and unpopular? That's pretty much my alma mater to a T--there is lots of alumnae participation and donation, the administration is laid-back, yet firm, and there is no death penalty. We do, however, have a rather PC student (and faculty) body, and the Greek system is unpopular. So, I'd say we were anti-Greek.

[Firehouse]

You make a good point. I've never seen a school like that.

[dzsaigirl]

I don't think I ever viewed the administration at my school as anti-greek, just some of the students.

ANyway, The school seems very pro-greek to me in that they just constructed Greek Row which opens this fall (too bad that is too late for me!). What is interesting about that is the fact that they built more sorority-designated buildings than there are sororities...can you say ready to expand?

[moe.ron]

I don't know bout the financial thing. Most SUNY school will not finance GLO. They have a laize faire attittude. As long as the fraternity or sorority doesn't do anything bad, the school will leave them alone.

[Betarulz!]

Okay after reading the responses I have another question...

Can a university be pro-greek with out promoting the Greek system?

Firehouse mentioned Nebraska as a pro-greek school.

I know that we have a very strong, involved Greek system, and I see some instances of where we have things listed that you guys have deemed pro-greek (Example, DU hazing incident in 2001-2002 with pictures that were circulated around through e-mail and eventually reached Greek Affairs and campus paper, surprisingly DU wasn't kicked off campus, or even closed.)

But here's where my question comes from, because I really don't feel that the University other than Greek Affairs promotes the Greek system (maybe Student Involvement since the Assistant Director is one of Gamma Phi's international officers). During HS Senior Visit days, tour guides are instructed not to take their groups to the open Greek houses unless they want to, and if they don't then you are supposed to let them leave and end their day rather than check out the house. However you are supposed to take your group to the dorms if even just one person out of 50 wants to see a dorm, and everyone has to go.

If a HS senior schedules a campus tour through the Office of Admissions they have to ask to see a Greek house, otherwise no offer is extended, and only a passing reference is likely to be given unless the tour guide is Greek, even that reference is sometimes discouraged.

Also at the HS Senior visit days in the morning there is a college fair type set up with the various departments and colleges. Greek Affairs only has the money to give out pencils, while Housing gives out key chains, koozies, tote bags, and more. For every one student who goes to the Greek life table, I bet 35 go to housing...and the student who went to greek life also goes to housing as well.


I guess, Nebraska is Pro-Greek to the established Greeks, but doesn't do a whole lot to attract prospective/future students to the system...obviously this is a positive stance on Greeks, but is it Pro-Greek???

[HPU PIKE]

I got to High Point University (NC), which I would have to say is definitely a pro-Greek school. In addition to having an awesome Greek Advisor, the school makes every attempt to promote and show off the Greek system. For instance, the latest view book for the university contains quite a few pictures of students wearing letters, as well as giving information on when freshman can rush and the names of all the GLO's at our school.
I believe this relationship is very give and take. The school uses us as a showpoint for prospective students. In turn, we get to enjoy the special perks that the school throws our way. Construction is currently underway on a fraternity row at the school (with only 4 fraternities). It also helps that some of the administration are not only HPU alums, but alumni of some of the GLO's.
In terms of a student prospective, only about 7 or 8 percent of the student body (appx. 3000) is Greek, but the majority of independents love the Greeks cause we are the only reason why there is a social scene at the school. If it weren't for parties thrown at our off-campus houses, there wouldn't be any. In addition, a lot of non-Greek students come out to watch the Greek Week activities (which the school also promotes) and there is an event held at the beginning of each year called derby day which is a huge deal to the university (who invite alums, trustees, parents, prospectives, etc...). The derby day activities just *happen to be sponsored by IFC and Panhellenic.
To sum up, my school is pro-Greek for the reasons stated above.

[Betarulz!]

Before this turns into a "Well my school does this" thread could I have my main question answered, and also the questiosn in my second post?

Again, what would make you consider a school as pro-greek?

Can a school have a positive Greek environment, and still not promote Greek Life beyond work done by the Office of Greek Affairs?

[Firehouse]

A university can be 'pro-greek' in one of two ways. One way is through benighn neglect. By simply leaving the greeks alone, a university can give a strong greek system the freedom it needs to draw strength from its natural popularity and success. In other words, just by staying out of the way a school can help the greek system flourish.
The second way a school can be 'pro-greek' is by encouraging each chapter to be among the top national chapters of their organization. That should be the focus of any 'greek life staff' types. These schools provide alumni organizational support, and fundraising advice. Some small, private universities like this because eventually it all accrus back to the university's benefit.

The third scenario, which sounds like the situation you describe at Nebraska, is not partiularly pro-greek. Those decisions that you describe - discouraging new student involvement with greeks - is most likely a personal decision by lower level administrators. It's usually not a matter of university policy, just the inclination of non-greek or anti-greek employees. You do say that the Nebraska greek life people are there to help. Unfortunately at some schools, the greek life staff is not helpful, and is overly impressed with their own importance.
At Nebraska, because the greek life administration is on your side, and because I know you have good alumni involvement, I'll bet that you can change the behavior and policies of those 'anti-greek' administrators just by identifying the problem to the university president or vice president and asking that it be changed in specific ways. I think you'll be surprised at your success. University presidents are very responsive to small meetings with influential people.

[Tom Earp]

FireHouse, Kuddos To Ya!

While we all have our own Ideas, I think you said it beast.

There is NO ONE ANSWER!

Betarulz, I think is has to be a Combonation of a lot of things to make it a True Greek Positive Campus.

But on the other hand, I am not sure that there is a truely "A Truely Greek Posotive School".

If you look long and hard, there are Damn Few Schools with a Plus % of Greeks to campus. We are still as a Organization who are in the minority.

What is the answer to making Greeks shine in the eyes of the people and Members of the Fauclative of each campus look kindly towards us.

Yes, Greeks are the Social Center of Most schools but how do We as Greeks convey that to the majority of the students to join us?


Maybe it starts with The Greek Organizations Themselves!