Frat campaign begins with Meet the Greeks barbeque

Members of the fraternities and sororities gathered on Fletcher Field on Saturday for the first annual Meet the Greeks barbecue, as part of a concerted effort by the administration to reintroduce the Greek system to the community as a group that "can have fun without alcohol," Director of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Todd Sullivan said.

The University hopes to present Greek life as more wholesome and less exclusive, following several alcohol-related problems both over the summer and during the last months of last semester, including the one-year closure of the Zeta Psi house.

Turnout for the barbecue was scant, despite the good weather, free hamburgers, loud music and impromptu football game. Although the actual turnout was less than anticipated, the administration and members of Greek organizations are optimistic that the new campaign will have an effect.

"I will be working with students to make positive changes, such as a greater focus on community service and academics," Sullivan said.

Sullivan also hopes to "[change] the culture of flagrant violations of Tufts policy," though he denied that this included any sort of "crackdown" on fraternities and sororities.

He hopes to de-emphasize the alcohol tradition that fraternities and sororities have, a move which would ultimately "decrease the amount of judicial cases" involving those organizations, he said.

"Students have, and will continue to have, a good time in the Greek system here at Tufts," Sullivan said.

Part of Sullivan's job is to serve as an intermediary between the fraternity and sorority members and the administration. One sorority sister said that "[Sullivan's] addition to the Tufts community will be a change in the right direction. He will do a better job representing us to the administration."

Others in the Greek system, however, are not sure the University is handling the alcohol issues in an appropriate manner. Jay Basu, a Tufts graduate and former fraternity member who was at the barbecue, said recent actions against the fraternities "make for a more hostile environment, where the administration pits itself against the students."

Instead of disciplining fraternities and sororities, Basu said, "Tufts should create an on-campus bar for the over-21 crowd like MIT," an idea he thinks could reduce the amount of alcohol-related incidents in the Greek system.

One current fraternity brother shared similar thoughts. "It's kind of scary to see what's going on recently with the Greek system here. It almost seems as if they are trying to slowly phase out the fraternities through harsh punishment."

Along with the new Greek public relations campaign, the informal fall rush week for fraternities began yesterday. Sullivan said he will use the week to start working on another one of his goals, to "increase the number of members joining the Greek system -- but only those who want to join for the right reasons."