Yesterday the Sun ran an article on the administration’s new plan to crack down on the Greek system. By 2012-2013, freshmen will be barred from attending open frat parties with alcohol, rush will be completely alcohol free, and frats and sororities will be prohibited from having mixers during the pledging/initiation process. Here are some initial reactions/observations on the crackdown:
1) The demand for weekend boozing is not going anywhere, but once freshman are barred from attending open frat parties, there’s going to be a big discrepancy between supply and demand. Think about it: on a given night early in the semester, 500-1000 freshmen (maybe more) will now be looking for a new outlet for boozing. Where will they all go?
2) There are a couple of possible sources of supply: dorm rooms, Collegetown, the woods behind Jessup? Collegetown seems like the most likely destination for the freshmen swarms, but this presents a new problem. From the Sun article: “Dean of Students Kent Hubbell ’69, who was also involved in creating the new rules, said that trying to curb underage drinking and alcohol abuse is ‘a safety issue, not a moral issue.'” Right, but regardless of which new venue freshmen chose, they will be drinking in more potentially hazardous locations than open fraternity parties.
3) Cornellians join fraternities for a number of reasons, but one major draw is the opportunity to attend closed mixers during the spring semester. With this bit of immediate gratification out of the picture, the appeal of Greek life will take a serious hit.
4) Alumni giving certainly won’t go up if Greek alumni feel that the university is trying to drive their houses out of existence.
5) Cornell owns many of the large houses on campus, which will make it extremely difficult to create any sort of private-IFC.
Look for a complete story with reactions from Greek and University officials in the next issue of the Review.
The “it’s a safety issue” is totally bogus. Frat parties are regulated at least somewhat by IFC. If you have a keg or are serving liquor, are not opening people’s Keystones for them, etc., your party gets shut down. In Collegetown we serve what we like to whomever we please. We get shut down if it’s too loud, so we just make sure the speakers aren’t too loud.
In my view, this is simply a statement: The university is saying “We do not endorse underage and/or binge drinking.” High five Cornell for taking the moral high ground. Who cares if your policies undermine the things you actually say you want to accomplish; as long as you can say your hands are clean…