Campus fraternities are in need of reform
“Possible hazing suspected in L.S.U. student’s death.”
“Cornell fraternity closes indefinitely after racially charged attack.”
“Florida State halts fraternity activities after student’s death.”
“Clampdown on University of Michigan fraternities after reports of sexual misconduct and alcohol abuse.”
The academic year is a little less than three months old, and these are some of the national headlines surrounding Greek life on some the nation’s largest university campuses. A quick Google search uncovers other incidents, including the suspension of two fraternities at Lehigh University in Bethlehem following what were described as “alcohol-related violations,” the suspension of a Penn State University fraternity after the hospitalization of an inebriated student, and a lawsuit being filed against University of Oklahoma by a fraternity pledge who said he was hit in the stomach with a baseball bat and forced to watch a video of hogs being slaughtered.
Proponents of Greek life on campus say fraternities and sororities connect students with decades-old campus traditions, offer networking opportunities and foster leadership skills.
Maybe so.
But they’ve also been criticized as bastions of elitism, where students are admitted on the basis of looks or their checkbooks.
Even worse, many fraternities have apparently become the linchpins of campus life for male students who want to engage in the hardest of hard partying, with the results not infrequently leading to something worse than a pounding headache and a couple of missed classes.
Recall earlier this year a Penn State sophomore died during a long night of hazing, and now 14 members of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity will be standing trial in his death.
The New York Times reported last week the Interfraternity Council at University of Michigan is suspending pledging and parties after reports of more than 30 students being taken to hospitals during the weekend of the football game between Michigan and Michigan State, and “hazing in which pledges were put in near-death situations.”
Fraternities and sororities are not going to disappear tomorrow – fraternity membership has been rising, and estimates now have it that one in six men attending four-year institutions participate in the Greek scene. And, sure, there are undoubtedly fraternities out there where the drinking is at a minimum, the parties aren’t reminiscent of bacchanals in ancient Rome, and members benefit from their participation, both personally and professionally.
But consider more than 200 people have died since 1838 in fraternity hazing incidents, with a full 40 of those coming within the last decade.
Other studies indicate men in fraternities are more likely to commit sexual assault than their peers who are not in the Greek system, and women in sororities are twice as likely as to be victims of sexual assault.
The inhabitants of fraternity houses should aspire to something better than “Animal House.”
Fraternities can start reforming themselves by tossing pledging aside, and all the drinking and bedlam that comes with it.
Dismissing the chaos and casualties of pledge periods as so much boys-will-be-boys derring-do should not be an acceptable posture for campus administrators or alumni.
National chapters can shut down the worst offenders, and colleges and universities can make public information surrounding alcohol-related incidents.
The motto of Epsilon Sigma Phi fraternity is, “What we want most to be, we are.” Members of fraternities should want to be more than the perpetrators of debauchery and mayhem.