"We still have some work to do to get where we need to be," said Dustin Struble, a senior and the president of Chico State's Interfraternity Council. "But I think our Greek community has a chance to get back to its core values, to be what we all know it can be. It has a chance to be a model, one of the best in the United States."
Chico State University President Paul Zingg, a former fraternity member himself, laid down strict guidelines for fraternities in the fall. No hazing. A one-semester ban on recruiting. A minimum grade point average. An emphasis on volunteering and good citizenship. A de-emphasis on partying.
Fraternities were told to either accept the rules or be eliminated.
[...]
After the one-semester ban on rush, the spring semester started and recruitment began. Guess what? With higher expectations, a better caliber of pledges became interested in fraternities.
[...]
With quality came quantity. Struble said 140 young men accepted bids to become fraternity members. Last spring, that total was 93. The numbers could be higher because there was no fall rush. However, the fraternities have an answer to that, too -- and it's another positive development.
[...]
Current students bought into the new philosophy better than many alumni.
"It's hard for them," Struble said of certain alumni. "When the Greek life task force was meeting early, there were alumni from fraternities saying you have a constitutional right, you have to fight the university ... They came into a different Greek community, but Greek life has changed. We're getting rid of those stereotypes. And not all of the alumni understand that. There's always opposition. There's always a fear of change and a desire to hold onto tradition."
Give the fraternity and sorority members at Chico State credit for trying to start a new tradition.
Greeks living up to expectations
Technorati tags: Chico State, Fraternity
