I know some CC parents will question the validity of this report, but it does confirm that there is a growing problem nationwide at Fraternities, with more frequent incidents of bad behavior occurring or being reported.
These sorts of incidents are no longer allowed to be just shrugged off or pushed under the rug.
“Reports like these have become depressingly familiar. In just the spring semester of 2015, 133 fraternity and sorority chapters at 55 U.S. colleges were shut down, suspended, or otherwise punished after alleged offenses including excessive partying, hazing, racism, and sexual assault, according to reports compiled by Bloomberg.”
Does it show that it’s more frequent incidences of bad behavior, or that these incidences of bad behavior are no longer being tolerated?
Because I gotta tell you - comparing my H./ S’s house (same campus, 30 year difference) - there’s much more clamp-down today than there ever was. The university enters the home. They require IDs and guest lists for parties. If you’re caught, you’re in big trouble. IN our day, the university turned a blind eye to underage drinking.
I’m just curious if it’s truly an increase or a lower tolerance.
Every incident is met by an increase in denial, obfuscation, and attempt to dismiss the problems as purely occasional. The beauty is that it works … if one considers how a decade of discussions on CC on this issue have remained both predictable and unhelpful. Predictable in that parents who happen to have kids active in Greek life will defend the organizations. Students who embrace their raison d’etre will equally be supporting, including some all the way to their deathbed as Lucifersomething demonstrated. The faction that holds an opposing view will not be swayed by the attempts to bury the issues with a set of moronic statistics, but will ultimately give up and move on.
But predictably, some naïve kid WILL die or WILL be drugged or raped at the hands of their peers. And some will find a way to excuse it because the actions are not solely the domain of the frat boys!
Hmmn, let me get this straight–we now have an uber sensitive environment and thus we are now reporting many more events and barred activity than ever before? So, if I have correctly translated that statement, my response is that when you have a social organization that for over the last 40 years has had the following: at least a death a year, violent sexual assaults, batteries, forced drinking, scores of racist and misogynistic incidents annually, it a damn high time they take zero tolerance approach to activities that have no place within an educational institution.
Why is there such a hatred towards greek life on this site? Every time a group does something bad it is posted all over, yet I’ve never seen positivity on here.
Ahem…a death and multiple sexual assaults and heinous acts of racism EVERY year, for over the last 40 years going back all the way to the 1970s?? I think the reasoning behind the polemic stated here speaks for itself.
Right, because the Knights of Columbus are clearly responsible for bad things the Kiwanis or Shriners do. They are all fraternal organizations, you know. Similarly, the New England Patriots and the Chicago Bears are both football teams so Deflategate reflects on both. @@
With all due respect, I am not sure if you are in a good position to opine about what appears on this site. Inasmuch as you have visibly started to post here, and are MOST welcome to contribute to the debate with your own views, it would be hard to consider you a good judge of the history of the debates … here.
In terms of what you posted, you could not be farther from the truth. While there have a number of voices who are repeating the --IMHO absolutely correct-- indictments of the misbehaving frats, such voices are dwarfed by a tide of apologists. Stick around and you will recognize the contents of the posts without having to actually read them.
Obviously, you will be able to do the same with posters like ME who will without apologies and restraint call out the frats for what they ARE and consider them a nefarious presence on a campus. It has nothing to do with hating Greek life but everything to do with wanting the abusive ones being thrown out permanently and NOT receiving the slaps on the wrists that are cruel jokes to the bodies in the morgue!
Oh wait, perhaps we disagree about what punishment should be! How popular on CC would be a vote to agree to PERMANENTLY ban any fraternity where a death or rape occurred (as in really having happened) by negligence, neglect, or intent, and upon the same RE-occurrence by ANY chapter of the same organization a … universal and permanent ban throughout the entire college world?
How would organizations such as SAE survive such “agreement” as they already have collected plenty of scalps? Of course, the vote means absolutely NOTHING. And this as long as you have spineless leaders a la Dr. Kim heading our schools.
We have had hundreds of threads on this issue and we all know what “punishment” has meant to the organizations that KILLED their brothers. Look up the Gordie Bailey story and see what happened to that frat … they are back and the past is a distant memory. Punishment is a five year ban under the misguided notion that it is a different group of students and criminal charges are a rarity and this in spite of the gravity of the crime. White boys do NOT get punished! Simply stated, it is easier to get away with killing someone than it is to install a camera and catch an illegal visit of a gay man on campus a la Rutgers.
Please tell me that YOU would support such a permanent ban and I will change my opinion. I am not even asking Bay … whose answer is predictable.
This kind of thread starts every few weeks. I don’t think there is anything more to be said. Just do a search on CC. I think we should all give it a rest.
Gordie Bailey’s case changed the frat system at CU entirely. Now the school is not involved in the fraternity system at all, and the self policing is stronger than ever. My nephew’s frat is on probation because of a party, something that in the past would have received a laugh from the school and the IFC.
Last weekend I had brunch with 16 women from my sorority. Only occasion was that 1 of the 15 was visiting the area and asked if anyone wanted to get together. Boom, 15 locals showed up. The biggest topic was that one will be honored as outstanding alumnae of the school next year. We aren’t all a bunch of criminals.
The point that not everyone is part of a bunch of criminals is well taken, and why not all frats should be placed in the same bag of shame. It would be naïve to think that frats will vanish from our universities anytime soon.
The best one could hope is that the real rotten apples and the repetitive offenders might be dealt with. As the story unfolds at CU, that appears to be wishful thinking as the rotten apples are back and part of the system. And speaking about wishful thinking, how about finding enough university leaders to address the issue of hazing one for all and make ANY participation an offense subject to immediate expulsion? Why the reluctance to abandon a practice that serves no purpose whatsoever and causes such damage? Again, the forces of the vicarious life are hard to eradicate.
And THAT is the basic problem. The punishment never fits the crime. Never. Ever.
Well, this report only enumerates about 100 separate incidents. Since there are about 12,000 chapters nationwide, one might consider that more than 99% managed to not hit the news in a negative way.
"And speaking about wishful thinking, how about finding enough university leaders to address the issue of hazing one for all and make ANY participation an offense subject to immediate expulsion? "
I have no problem with this provided we can draw a line between spirited hijinks and hazing. Having a brother wear a tie to class on Tuesdays or run little errands for the guys is a whole different thing from forcing someone to drink til they vomit or dropping them in a cornfield at 2 am and having them find their way home.
As to the earlier comment about stuff not being tolerated, there is some truth to that. Society in general is tightening up. I will share a frat story from my dad(he was Greek) at UNC in the 50’s - a used/junk hearse was bought, driven around all weekend as a rolling party, ultimately driven into the front yard of the frat house, and then stoned and burned. Police and fire came but left everyone alone after realizing what was going on. Try this today and the party won’t last 10 seconds.
Wasn’t the borderline of “hazing” hazy enough that Dartmouth fraternities and sororities, under various kinds of pressure and bad publicity, dropped the pledge period entirely? Yes, some activities are obviously hazing and others are obviously not, but there is a range of activities that could be a judgement call with little consensus.