“All fraternity and sorority chapters are prohibited from holding new member events, chapter meetings, chapter organized tailgates, socials, philanthropy, retreats, intramurals and organized participation in Market Wednesday and Homecoming,
A ban on alcohol has also been issued at all Recognized Student Organization events during the interim suspension.”
https://amp.usatoday.com/story/836890001/
Thoughts?
Just about everything I’ve heard about fraternities and sororities over the years is bad; I’m pretty sympathetic to the idea of banning them. Not enough data in the linked story to say if they were actually at fault, though.
And banning alcohol tends to *encourage *dangerous patterns of drinking, especially binging.
My college had no fraternities or sororities. We were perfectly happy. Not once did I hear a student say anything like “I wish we could form a fraternity at the college.”
I was an older student when I went to college - 22 my freshman year - and I didn’t live on campus, so frat life wasn’t even on my radar. But I remember a particularly heated series of letters to the editor of the school paper debating whether dorm residents or frat/sorority members or those who lived off-campus were more mature. It made me laugh knowing these “mature” students wouldn’t even be there if Daddy and Mommy weren’t footing the bills. Anyway, I don’t recall seeing any arguments that convinced me of the value of the Greek system.
When I went to college, most of my friends were independent as was I and yet we went to fraternity parties whenever we wanted. (Although they were happier if visitors to their parties were female; this was a school with many fewer women than men.) And we could drink as much as we wanted without paying anything.
Meanwhile the fraternity brothers had to host the parties, pay for the alcohol and clean up after. They also had to do regular maintenance and repair work on the chapter house, including some time in the summers.
So I wondered; why join a fraternity?
I certainly don’t blame any institution for banning them. They may provide benefits to the students who join, but I’m guessing the costs they bring are just not worth the headache.
I never saw the value of Greek life. My college had it, but less than 20% of students were involved. There are a million other clubs outside of Greek life that usually serve some sort of a purpose. Make all the rules you want, hazing doesn’t stop.
Except like the NRA, AARP and other special interest groups, they are more powerful politically than the numbers would indicate. At my school, the Olympus Party regularly won student elections even though fraternity and sorority members were in the minority.
Other media are reporting this as an “indefinite suspension”, not a ban (the linked article also describes an “interim” action).
Once the frats and sororities promise to be good little boys and girls (and hype their alleged civic niceties) they’ll be back in business, maybe with a smidgen less alcohol and physical abuse heaped on recruits.
I went to RPI late 60s early 70s. Fraternities provided much of the housing for upperclassmen. Areas around the “Tute” weren’t very liveable - rundown for the most part. We were nerds that got along. There were a few rowdy houses who got rightfully shutdown but it was a small minority. We built a new fraternity house with RPIs aid (minimal land lease). It was a strain on some finances and we had to put on our big boy pants to run a much bigger budget operation. We had stewards for food and finance; did our own cooking, maintenance and upgrades. We formed strong bonds with each other through shared worked and had a great time. I’m still friends with my brothers 45+ years later. We keep up with each others travels, families, and jobs.
If you are independent, great. I was a somewhat socially inept nerd who wanted to belong and grow. Fraternity life was a big assist in becoming the beloved idiot I am now.
There are both benefits and drawbacks to Greek organizations, but to my eye, the drawbacks outweigh the benefits. Now, I’m not the one who’s making the decision, so my opinion doesn’t matter much… but apparently those who are making the decision agree with me.
While frats and sororities are all but useless, I think letting them die a quiet natural death would have been better than banning them in this heavy-handed manner.
The problem with waiting for fraternities and sororities to die a natural death is that in the meantime, pledges and others are dying very un-natural deaths. Like Timothy Piazza, who died at Penn State after a night of forced excessive drinking and then injuries sustained while stumbling around the basement of the frat house. Multiple frat brothers were aware that he was injured and needed medical attention but did nothing.
Same here. For all those who wonder about the socialization aspects of fraternaties, that’s a lot better accomplished by requiring on-campus housing for freshman and sometimes sophmores. They’re a lot better at policing bad behavior than depending on frats, and when students need to let off steam there are plenty of off-campus options for them.
Sounds like my college.
I suppose the reason people joined fraternities at my school was that everyone (about 50% of men) did and there wasn’t much else to do. Much of the social life centered around the fraternity system. At least it did freshman year when most people were too young to drink in local bars (which tended to be a bit “towney”).
Sure, it was fun living with a group of 30 of your friends. Some of who I’m still friends with 20 years later. OTOH, I also found it to be a tedious, classist, jockocracy that promoted alcoholism, drug use, and general douchey behavior. I also felt it somewhat limited my college experience. And since graduation, there have been a number of incidents reported that make me not really give a crap if the house ends up banned.
It was your college, just fifteen or so years later.
That’s exactly how I read the press release.
So they’ll hold a bunch of highly publicized meetings where everybody valiantly works to create new code of conduct filled with soaring language and high ideals. Then the suspension will end and they’ll go right back to business as usual.
I mean, really, what kind of “new normal” are they going to create that will have any sort of effect? It’s not as if their current rules have “ways to kill a kid” loopholes.
Isn’t it unconstitutional to ban fraternities and sororities?
Sounds like a knee-jerky over-reaction. But it’s Florida, so whatever. Ain’t nothin’ right down there.
I believe there are a number of quality schools that do not have or support a Greek system. FSU can become one of them, if they choose. My daughter is going to one now, and I hope to steer my son away from fraternities when he goes to college. I see no advantages and a lot of disadvantages to them now.
My exposure to fraternities extends only from repeated viewings of Animal House, to a few parties while I was in school, but I never joined one, and never saw any reason to do so.
I am sure the majority of fraternity brothers and sorority sisters get a lot out of Greek life and do not get into any trouble. But if the school wanted to rid itself of it’s Greek system and all that goes along with it (such as the occasional unscheduled overdose or alcohol poisoning, the douchey behavior, etc.) they may have to step-up and fill whatever gap is left (social aspects, housing, etc.). The point being the college can operate just fine without all the liabilities of a Greek system.