Administration calls for improvement to Greek system

A perceived decrease in organization and community leadership among fraternities and sororities has caused University administrators to call for changes within the Greek system that they say will be crucial to its future.

Membership in Tufts' fraternities and sororities has dropped from a high of 18 percent of student enrollment several years ago to 11 percent this year.

According to Dean of Students Bruce Reitman, the University is currently, "not satisfied with the level [the Greek system] is at." "I think there's a potential value in that system. It's not being realized here. President [Larry] Bacow is a member of a fraternity. He believes in their value if they are also believing in themselves as being part of a value system," he said.

The University is searching for a new administrator to work with the Office of Greek Life, in hopes that this will help the system improve.

The future of Greek houses will depend on the abilities of the individual houses to focus more on philanthropic efforts, to encourage more pride and cohesiveness in the system, and to show leadership in the Tufts community, Reitman said. If the fraternity system does not improve, Bacow and the Dean of Students Office will stop supporting it, he said.

A lack of such efforts may explain why interest in the Greek system is decreasing. Both the Alpha Phi Delta and Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternities, among others, suffered from low numbers of pledges last spring, and there has been a generally lower level of interest in the entire system since the 1980s, Reitman said.

The decreased interest is not felt by fraternities alone. Last year, Alpha Omega Pi, was worried that a small pledge class coupled with a large number of graduating seniors would put the entire sorority system in jeopardy.

One reason for the waning interest could be that students view fraternities as places for socializing and partying, not as houses with a specific purpose, according to Reitman. The amount of drinking that goes on at fraternities also worries administrators.

"When we read some of the incident reports and find large amounts of alcohol and kegs, it's a source of concern," Reitman said.

But students involved in fraternities disagree. They say that the Greek system does not focus too closely on social life, nor does it neglect leadership opportunities.

"Gain leadership experience? What has it done for me and the other people who serve on the exec board? It has done 100 percent of that," Delta Tau Delta President Daniel Kramer said. "Being a leader in the Greek System is something that is so recognized and valued. It's the kind of thing that gets you a job."

Others say that fraternities do a great deal of philanthropic activities that the community is not aware of.

"All of them are doing at least some type of fundraising for charity," Inter-Greek Council (IGC) President said. An example of philanthropy efforts is the IGC Mud Volleyball tournament that took place two weeks ago on the Residential Quad, which donated went proceeds to charity. "That's the kind of thing that the Greek system can do for the school," he said.

Fraternities began to feel pressure from the administration to change last year, when Bacow arrived at Tufts.

"Now that we realize that, we've been wanting to work more closely with the University. [The administration] has realized that, and has been working with us more," Zeta Psi President Ken Kozlo said.

Time may be running out for the Greek system though, and Reitman said that remaining opportunities to change may be dwindling. "They have to respond. It's make or break. It should more be viewed as a challenge to succeed, because if they don't, there won't be any more patience," he said.

Though administrators are frustrated with the Greek system, Reitman conceded that some problems may be caused the lack of administrative support, which was the motivation behind the creation of an administrative position to work with the Office of Greek Life.

"Other schools who have Greek systems do provide more of a supervisory structure than we do," he said. "That's why we're now looking to be similar to those schools and give the system a chance to succeed."

The new administrator could help advertise what fraternities and sororities are trying to accomplish, according to Alpha Epsilon Pi President Josh Gold. "This new office will help communicate to the Tufts Community the stuff that we're doing," he said.

Kramer felt, as many members of the Greek system did, that a new administrator and the Office of Greek Life would be an indicator of the administration's already evident efforts of cooperation in trying to achieve change.

"The thing that we as Greek leaders like about this administration is its willingness to talk to us as opposed to impose things. And that's why I think our relationship with the administration is pretty solid," he said. Last year, members of Kramer's fraternity had a dinner with Bacow and other administrators where they discussed numerous issues affecting the Greek system.

Kozlo agreed that administrators have been giving them support to make the changes they are asking for. "I think especially as of lately they've been very positive, more of working as an ally than against us," he said.

The new office would also help by making the fraternity system more organized. "Having a centralized office where the rules are laid out and where we have someone who we can talk to about those rules would help us a lot," Gold said. "Right now it's hard because you have to talk to a lot of different people," he said.

Another change that Bacow has encouraged, according to Adam Biacchi is more cohesion in the system as a whole.

"He'd like to see more Greek solidarity. It's not like there's a lot of in-fighting among the houses, but I guess he'd like to see more togetherness, more pride in the Greek system," he said.

The University is not going to assign a deadline for the requested changes, as Reitman feels it will be clear whether the fraternities are responding to the call for change. And though Tufts is trying to provide fraternities with more support, changes will have to come from the system itself. "I'm not trying to make it sound like an ultimatum, but the President has said, and I have said, to the system that this is it," he said. "You're going to get the chance to respond to needs. It's not clear that you'll get many more chances."