According to SMU IFC director Ryan Williams, the numbers for men going through rush, the formal recruitment process for fraternities, has been relatively stable. He admits, however, that “slowly but surely, we’re killing ourselves.”
There are countless reasons behind the decline of the fraternity system, but almost all come back to two central issues: risk management and changing times.
By all accounts, there is a lot at stake financially in operating a fraternity. The Association of Insurance Commissioners rank fraternities as the 6th worst insurance risk in the nation, just behind toxic waste and asbestos cleanup efforts.(emphasis added)
According to Williams, a double digit percentage increase in insurance costs for fraternities over the last few years has made it less financially viable for national headquarters to keep troublesome fraternities doors’ open.
“Every organization is one lawsuit away from closing,” Williams said. “If they’re really big: two.”
The article also mentions challenges such as hazing, alcohol abuse, and multiculturalism that are changing the structure of the Greek system.
Problems with alcohol have led schools like Oklahoma University, where a Sigma Chi pledge died from alcohol poisoning this spring, to ban alcohol in all fraternity houses. SMU has taken steps in this direction by ordering chapters to go dry as part of disciplinary sanctions. There are also two voluntarily dry houses on campus, Sig Ep and Phi Delta Theta, which have dry houses nationally.
The only segment of the Greek population seemingly immune to the shrinking trend are the multicultural fraternities, which are seeing membership numbers skyrocket. Younger than most IFC fraternities at most universities, the Multicultural fraternities may be filling an important niche.
[...]
Students like SMU Sophomore Adam Haller hope that evolution can save his beloved fraternity from going the way of the dinosaur, but he isn’t too hopeful.
“I’m pretty sure fraternities won’t be around for my kids. At least not what we know as fraternities,” Haller said.
Not a pretty picture, eh? What are we doing individually, with our chapters, and at the national level to address these issues? Many glowing program ideas look like "re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic."
smudailycampus.com - The Incredible Shrinking Fraternity System
