Alpha Omega

Take a walk around campus, and try to spot the greeks. On Saturday morning, fraternity boys and their sorority girlfriends can be found lounging on the benches outside their sections, still recuperating from the previous night's revelries. But they can also be found heading meetings for major campus organizations, tutoring children in Durham and working on the latest CPS assignment in the computer lab.

In the eyes of the public, the hung-over fraternity boy stereotype tends to dominate, and those who will determine the future presence of greeks on campus have laid down the bottom line: Embrace your other roles, or perish.

"Nationally, I would say that fraternities and sororities are very clearly trying to move back to founding principles because what they've evolved into for many students are merely social clubs," says Sue Wasiolek, assistant vice president for student affairs. "The fear is that if they don't [adjust] they will self-destruct."

The problem is that the greek system is a microcosm of many of the problems universities face. For example, while administrators try to decrease the prevalence of alcohol on campus, fraternities and sororities provide opportunities for alcohol to be freely distributed.

As schools attempt to introduce diversity to their living communities, students pledge greek organizations whose membership is usually homogenous. And as universities struggle to polish their public image, they make national headlines whenever a local greek chapter is witness to a tragedy.

The future, though perhaps not the existence, of the greek system is in question. Fraternities and sororities continue to provide unique benefits to the institutions that host them, but in order to retain their place on campus, many agree that significant adaptations must occur.

Evidence of Decline

Last year, Duke dissolved Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, ending several years of conflicts with the administration over violations concerning alcohol and vandalism, among other infractions.

As universities and national organizations place more restrictions on the way social events are held--tightening alcohol policies and redrawing residential plans, for example--those groups that base themselves on social activities are finding themselves squeezed out of a system that will no longer accommodate them.

Changing Public Perception

For many greek organizations, the first step toward ensuring a place on campuses of the future is changing their public image. Fraternities and sororities have long been characterized as purely social entities, with all the elitism of country clubs and the dirty laundry of underground secret societies.

"A lot of [stereotypes about fraternities] come before you get here, when you watch movies like Animal House," says Matt O'Brien, Interfraternity Council vice president for recruitment at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "People think we party hard, don't study much, get poor grades and do lots of drinking."

Many students, such as Duke freshman Maital Guttman, associate greek organizations with a campus's social scene. "I think their biggest contribution [to campus social life] is for parties, because they sponsor them and provide drinks and music," she says.

Greeks are often given the credit, or blame, for the prominence of alcohol on campus.

"I do think Duke has an active drinking population," says Jim Clack, director of Counseling and Psychological Services and former interim vice president for student affairs. "In many cases, greeks have taken a leadership [role in contributing to the drinking culture], although many students who drink are not greek."

Part of the reason greeks are pinned as heavy drinkers is that a group is more easily identifiable than separate individuals, notes O'Brien. "We're very easily targeted because the public sees [the group]," he says. "We're very visible."

Taking Responsibility

National greek organizations are already beginning to encourage their local chapters to de-emphasize the role of alcohol in their activities. A number of national fraternities, including Sigma Nu and Delta Sigma Phi, have declared their fraternity housing dry. Others are soon to follow.

Jon Hockman, executive director of Delta Sigma Phi fraternity nationally, says that its prohibition of alcohol in chapter sections was not so much an attempt to decrease the role of alcohol in the fraternity as it was a move toward increasing the visibility of its "defining elements": scholarship, service and friendship.

Natinonally,The Panhellenic Council has developed policies in-step with the fraternities.

Last fall, it implemented a resolution passed in 1998 requiring that their member organizations hold mixers only in alcohol-free facilities.

"Since our Duke fraternities are generally not in that category, our sororities have had to find alternative venues for their social functions," writes Donna Lisker, director of the Women's Center and Panhel adviser.

"This has been a challenge, but it's been a healthy process that has allowed the sororities to think proactively about working together for a better social climate."

However, some criticize these actions, and recent moves by universities, as actions motivated by fear of liability.

"I think [the administration] is trying to pass the buck," says senior Jason Porter and vice president of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. "They don't want to get themselves sued, so they find someone else to blame their problems on."

But, Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs, replies that liability is not the primary concern of the administration. "The University doesn't really react around liability issues," he says. "I focus more on exposure--safety, quality of life concerns rather than lawsuits. When I look at fraternities I don't look at them through the lens of legal liability."

Todd Adams, assistant dean of student development and adviser to the Interfraternity Council, admits that although universities indeed face liability issues, they are not the only ones affected.

"[Society] is more litigious now," he says. "I don't think that greeks are that much different from companies who face corporate liability."

O'Brien agrees, saying, "[The greek system] is going to have to take a stronger stance on liability. It's very hard for fraternities to gain insurance. We have to put more emphasis on academics, community service, et cetera."

Returning to Founding Principles

Today, many parties involved with the greek system--student leaders, university administrators and national organizations--agree that fraternities and sororities need to emphasize the sometimes overshadowed values of fellowship, academics, community and leadership development.

"The idea of a fraternity is brotherhood, the idea of a sorority is sisterhood," says senior C.J. Walsh, president of Duke Student Government and a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. "The Latin word frater means brother; there's nothing in [the Latin translation] about alcohol."

Fraternities and sororities have played significant roles on American college campuses for more than 100 years, and over that time, they have evolved into organizations that many say is a wholly different picture from what they were originally conceived to be.

"There is a great distinction between what [classic stereotypes] are and what fraternity values are," says Adams. "Throughout the years, you see groups stray from what their original values were."

Most of these groups were founded to serve as fellowships for members who strived to develop the qualities of model students. "The purpose of our organization is to challenge each man to greater good," Hockman says.

Alumni are in the special position to mentor their younger brothers and sisters, say many administrators.

"The alumni provide an important link to the past, to core values and positive rituals and traditions," Adams says. "They have lived [the greek experience], and they also know what it's like outside [the University]."

At the same time, officials caution that alumni should not seek to mold the organization into an exact replica of the one they were a part of.

"To assume that the experience of today is like or should be like what [alumni] had is unrealistic," Wasiolek says. "There are different practices and different responsibilities. We have to balance tradition with current needs."

Looking Ahead

The resulting question, then, is this: If you change, will they come? Rushees are still attracted to the social opportunities offered by greek organizations, but leaders insist that those are not the selling points that keep brothers and sisters together in the end.

"I think the fraternities doing well in rush are showing member candidates that they provide much more than simply alcohol," Walsh says.

Hockman adds, "People join because they want to be... challenged to greater good and commitments to service, scholarship, and friendship. Where I think groups get into trouble is when [members] join for reasons other than those."

For those greek groups who find themselves unable to adapt to the changing tides of their campuses and national organizations, Wasiolek offers this warning:

"I would argue that a chapter that does adapt and recognize the need to do that will not only survive but thrive, and a chapter that resists that is down the road to destruction."

If chapters compare their original mission statements to those of the universities on which they reside, carving a niche on campuses of the future should not be difficult.