Attended the Greek Committee on Standards on Wednesday, a strange and uncomfortable experience.

To bring non-Greeks up to speed, Dean Kenney wants Fraternities to voluntarily adopt a body of Standards, or at least propose one, before she lifts the Alcohol Moratorium that's wreaking havoc on the Greek scene. This has instantly factionalized the Greek Community. On one side are the Fraternities, which see the Inter-Fraternity Council mostly as a way to keep insurance rates down. Either that or their National Organizations force them to join. Hence, they're more than a little reluctant to give IFC the power to enforce Standards on their individual chapters. Some Standards would include a mandatory level of Philanthropy, a minimum GPA average, etc.

On the other side are the Sororities, under their Pan-Hellenic Council. They're more than happy to delegate powers to the Council, and more then happy to create a body of Standards, especially since it's Fraternities that will have to bear the brunt of them.

I'm on the Fraternities side. So were the majority of the attendees. But it's clear the Administration is on the other side, especially since most other Universities have already successfully created a body of regulatory Standards.

I was placed on the Philanthropy, Academics, Pledge Education Committee, and argued all three for awhile.

Sorority Girl: 'We have to hold Fraternities to Philanthropy standards in order to create a good image of the Greek community. It's an embarassment that some Chapters try so hard to raise money for causes and others don't do anything.
Fraternity Boy: 'There's something fundamentally wrong with forced Volunteerism. I'm not interested in the 'Greek Community,' I'm interested in being a Brother of Alpha Delta Phi (or whatever). Hence, I have even less interest in being forced to support the Greek Image.'

Sorority Girl; 'Greeks have so many advantages in keeping a high GPA, like Exam Files and Study Nights, that it's only fair that we insist their House GPA be higher then the University Average.'
Fraternity Boy: 'There's wide variations in average GPA. A house full of Engineers will have to work twice as hard as a house full of Poli Sci majors; that hardly seems fair. And these 'Greek advantages' seem entirely anecdotal. You've no evidence that Greeks have any sort of competitive edge.'

Sorority Girl: 'What kind of stuff do Fraternities teach their Pledges?'
Fraternity Boy: 'How can that possibly be any of your business? So long as we don't haze, and we don't, what we teach Pledges goes firmly under 'Our Business,' not 'meddling Greek Council Business.'

And so forth, and so on.

If a compromise is going to emerge, it'll be a program based on open standards and incentives for good behavior. For instance: posting which Chapters did Philanthropy, how much they did, and rewarding them accordingly. This seems like the only way to avoid an unacceptable level of interference with Chapter autonomy while still promoting some sort of Community spirit. But first, the Sorority and Administration side have to stop reaching for a stick whenever a Fraternity Chapter doesn't hold up to their levels.

I'm not confident this will happen.

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